289 THE CORNERSTONE OF EQUALITY AND OF HUMAN RIGHTS IS TO VALUE ALL PERSONS EQUALLY.
-Inequalities are staring us in the face now, but will be shouting at us after MDGs-year 2015. (C. Gore) -Once and for all: There is no such a thing a…
288 HUMAN RIGHTS ARE COMPELLING IN THE ABSTRACT, BUT IMPOSSIBLE IN PRACTICE AS LONG AS THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
1. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) both serve accountability purposes, but must be directed towards human rights standards and principles if they are to have even a chance to improve the…
287 IN HUMAN RIGHTS WORK, IT IS THE HIGHLY UNEQUAL RELATIONS OF POWER THAT SEVERELY LIMIT THE TERMS OF CITIZENS’ ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION.
1. Oppressed people that lack the capacity for collective action are historically doomed. That is where empowerment comes-in in human rights (HR) work. Actually, for us, the very meaning of…
286 ALTHOUGH IT IS POSSIBLE TO CONTEST THE IDEA THAT HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS, IN REALITY, THE WIDESPREAD POLITICAL CONSENSUS IS THAT IT CANNOT BE PLAUSIBLY ARGUED THAT THE CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS IS AN ARBITRARY CONSTRUCT.
Relativism in no way precludes the possibility of cross-cultural universals 1. Moral and cultural relativism have indeed affected the human rights discourse, but on the philosophical level only. 2. Unfortunately,…
285 INEQUALITY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE IMF IN 2011.
Inequality is at the root of human rights (HR) work. Should I thus find it cynical that only in 2011 has the IMF ‘come out of the closet’ in a…
284 WHEN IT COMES TO IMPLEMENT THE HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED FRAMEWORK, A CUT/COPY AND PASTE COURSE OF ACTION IS TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE.
A few loose ends will benefit from some further clarification; this is what this Reader attempts. On obligations 1. The obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of…
283 TWO POSSIBLE STYLES OF DEALING WITH THE ISSUE OF THE RIGHT TO HEALTH.
1. As a general comment on the Readers, I would contrast two possible styles of dealing with the issue of health rights: a. Taking the human rights (HR) approach as…
282 AS A HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST, EVERY DAY, I BELIEVE LESS IN FORMAL REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
1. Political pressures from the powerful and the abuse of public office affect a government’s commitment to human rights. This is especially true in the arbitrary world of autocracy (the…
281 IT WILL ONLY BE THROUGH THE VIGILANCE AND MOBILIZATION OF THOUSANDS OF CITIZENS-WHO-CARE THAT WE WILL EVER WREST FROM OUR GOVERNMENT(S) ANY DECENT HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY OR ACTION.
In development work, ‘advocacy’ is a word in everybody’s lips. But what is it really? 1. Advocacy can be defined differently depending on the context it is being used-in. One…
280 HUMAN RIGHTS-PROOFING DEVELOPMENT PLANS.
1. We have a tremendous underutilized accumulated knowledge on the past and ongoing ‘development processes’ that, for the most part, have been human rights-blind. Allow me just a few examples.…