PHA-Exchange> Human Rights Reader 93: The Rise of Rights (2)

[Claudio]

From: "George Kent" <kent at hawaii.edu>

Here are a few comments.

In relation to paragraph 1:
(gk1) Folks who talk about the human rights-based approach should be 
explicit about the reference: it is an approach to what? As I understand 
it, it refers to the question of how international agencies, both 
governmental and nongovernmental, formulate their programs.
Yes, with few exceptions the international agencies tend to be timid 
about human rights. Of course they all proclaim that they support human 
rights, but they all do that selectively, if and when and how they wish. 
Most of them fail to acknowledge that they too have human rights 
obligations, and therefore they too are capable of violating human 
rights. I address this issue in an article on "Human Rights Obligations 
of International Governmental Organizations" that wiill appear soon in 
the UN Chronicle.

In relation to paragrah 2:. 
(gk2) Agree. And we should emphasize the fact that one of the most 
fundamental requirements of any human rights system is to provide 
effective means through which rights holders can seek remedies if they 
believe their rights may have been violated. Rights require remedies.

In relation to paragraph 3:
(gk3) Yes. But rights are not simply about resources. They are also about 
things like services and appropriate infrastructures. The human right to 
adequate food, for example, is not about primarily about the duty of 
government to feed people. Rather, it is more fundamentally about the 
obligation of government to assure that there are enabling conditions 
that allow people to provide for themselves.