59. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INJUSTICE ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT. (Part 5 of 16)
It should not come as a surprise that social and economic injustice is not an accident. It springs from the very nature of capitalism, now in its phase of globalization.…
58. IT IS THROUGH IDEOLOGY THAT SOCIETY ULTIMATELY EXPLAINS ITSELF. (Part 4 of 16)
‘In-the-way-things-are’, society makes disprivilege look right. Human rights (HR) violations are simply ‘explained-away’. Although development scholars sometimes engage in an ideological debate with the culture that breeds them, they almost…
57. WE HAVE TO LEARN TO LOOK AT TOTALITIES, RATHER THAN AT FRAGMENTS OF REALITY. (Part 3 of 16)
When looking at totalities, what will count as facts will depend on the concepts we use, on the questions we ask. Asking different kinds of questions produces quite different kinds…
56. OBJECTIVITY IN THE ANALYTICAL STAGES OF THE PLANNING PROCESS IS NOTHING BUT A MYTH. (Part 2 of 16)
Two questions arise in relation to the objectivity of our work: a). Would the outlook for eliminating human rights (HR) violations in the world be any better if the people…
55. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ARE PART OF A SOCIAL DISEASE WITH HISTORICAL ROOTS. (Part 1 of 16)
It is the prevailing determinants of the social and economic conditions of a society that lead to the violation of the rights of a sizeable sector of the population; these…
54. SOME WELL KNOWN AND SOME LESS WELL KNOWN ASPECTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS WORK.
We know that the human rights-based approach pushes organizations to focus more on law making, influencing policy, and bringing about empowering participation. In other words, only by contributing to social,…
53. HUMAN RIGHTS ARE UNIVERSAL, BUT THE RISK OF HAVING ONE’S RIGHTS VIOLATED IS NOT.
Rats and roaches live by competition under the law of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and rights. (Wendell…
52. THE LAW IS THE LAW…AND HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NOT YET THE LAW.
A neglected avenue is becoming increasingly important for human rights activists to pursue in order to more effectively meet the various Human Rights covenants’ goals. The avenue: to more actively…
51. THE NEED TO STRUGGLE IS ACTUALLY A BUILT-IN PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN RIGHTS WORK.
The check has come back from the Bank of Justice marked ‘insufficient funds’. (M. L. King) If the title is right, it behooves us to closely examine the processes that…
50. NGOs SHOULD NOT BE HUMAN RIGHTS BLIND AND SHOULD BE JUDGED BY THEIR POLITICS.
Too many NGOs are fragmented and trapped in project work; they are often human-rights-blind and mainly service oriented; many are caught up in sustaining themselves financially. Service-oriented NGOs will find…