PHA-Exchange> Food for a violated thought (2)

[Claudio]

Human Rights Reader 108

 

Always check if the Government is 'putting its money where its mouth is': A guide to using budget analysis to advance human rights.  Part 2 of 2

 

15. Meeting one's human rights obligations is not necessarily about spending money, but the reality is that very often it does take money to fulfill these obligations. Therefore, a 'human rights framework' (as the one repeatedly depicted by this Reader) is needed as a reminder that the welfare of human beings --and the needed investments for that-- should be the driving motivation of our work. 

 

16. Work driven by a concern about poverty and social justice gains legitimacy through the use of a human rights framework. Such a framework makes clear that fiscal choices must not violate human rights; this, since human rights standards often direct governments to give priority to certain types of expenditures over others. Therefore, it is strongly contended that human rights plus budget analysis leads to greater power. Budget analysis looks for upfront guarantees that governments are protecting human rights. 

 

17. Starting with a 'rights frame of mind' --a perspective that considers a situation through the lens of rights-- means looking for rights issues in all what we do in development work, as well as looking for strategies to advance rights. The human rights struggle is one for the recognition of and respect for human dignity.

 

18. Starting with a rights frame of mind also means always analyzing whether what one is seeing is a violation of a right; so bringing this frame of mind to our work is essential; and for that, access to information regarding public matters is crucial --and this per-se is a right under international human rights law.  Information produced by budget analyses is key and potentially powerful public information to be used at national policy level; it can have even greater impact when shared with and used by communities so they can hold their local government officials accountable.



19. In the case of health, the more vulnerable the situation a person finds herself in, the fewer guarantees she has that her right to health will be fulfilled. Why? Because the health system is conceived that way: The higher the level of marginalization, the poorer the health services.

 

20. Despite the absence of explicit discrimination against human rights in existing policies and laws, the system itself seems to be discriminatory. And it is absolutely crucial we all understand this.

 

21. Slavery and torture are today universally condemned as human rights violations. Why is the discriminate and well-known lack of access to health of the poor not condemned??

Basically, because what may not feel like a violation of human dignity at one point in history or in a given place may be perceived as a significant infringement at another time or in a different place. In a way, thus, our role is to act as an avant-garde accelerating time..

 

Using budget analyses for human rights advocacy:

 

22. Together, human rights and budget analysis provide compelling evidence of a government's compliance or non-compliance with economic, social and cultural rights obligations. Any strategy that is effective in protecting and promoting human rights can be that much more effective through the forceful insistence on new budgets integrating the findings derived from budget analysis.

 

23. It is important to stress that a confrontational approach is not a necessary part of the human rights framework. It is an approach that has been used by human rights organizations in a large number of countries where they have found the government otherwise unresponsive to their concerns.

 

24. Be it as it may, getting the facts straight is fundamental to address any human rights issue. What the government has spent or not spent to address a problem can be a pivotal factor in our advocacy. Budget figures can be a valuable tool in our armamentarium since the budget is an embodiment of a government's policies and laws including those on human rights.

 

25. A community becomes effectively energized to demand accountability from local government officials when it is provided with specific information about expenditures the local government is supposed to make.

 

26. But also parliaments should be brought into this discussion, so they can exert needed pressure. Moreover, when the government fails to follow through on its rights obligations, it is often necessary for civil society to initiate litigation to put pressure on the government.

At times, it is even necessary to go to regional/international human rights bodies in the hope that pressure from the international community will move a government where domestic pressure alone has been inadequate. 

 

27. NGOs are also called to develop 'shadow reports' and to submit them to international human rights bodies to point out inaccuracies in the government reports on these matters.

 

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn 

Mostly taken from Dignity Counts: A guide to using budget analysis to advance human rights, Centro de Analisis e Investigacion (FUNDAR), International Budget Project (IBP) and  International Human Rights Internship Program (IHRIP), Mexico, 2004.
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