PHA-Exchange> Food for a potentially beneficial thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 166



*IT IS ONLY WHEN POTENTIAL INDIVIDUAL BENEFITS ARE SEEN MORE CLEARLY AS
BEING HIGH THAT PEOPLE ARE MORE WILLING TO ACTIVELY ENGAGE IN WORK LEADING
TO THE REALIZATION OF THEIR RIGHTS. *



1. Let us recall that human rights (HR) originally encompass four main
principles: participation, inclusion, accountability and the rule of law.
The sequential steps we envision in a truly progressive and deepening
HR-based participation and inclusion process are: community organization,
de-facto participation practice, community conscientization
(politicization), community mobilization for self-help, for lobbying and for
placing their claims and demands, and consolidation of movements (including
networking and solidarity work).



2. Insisting on de-facto popular participation in decision-making is not
about pitting civil society against the state. Rather, the goal is to create
opportunities for dialogue and to enable the local population to take part
in, have voice *and* influence important decision-making. Ultimately, in the
HR-based framework, the individual must be reaffirmed in her/his role as an
agent of development (thus exerting her/his right to direct
democracy).   (CETIM)
 [Note: Thinking is not sub-vocal speech. Claim-holders need to speak up and
be heard!].



3. To get there, we need to develop a broad movement of popular education
and mobilization (human rights learning) that deploys all our pedagogical
potential on HR issues in order to prevent the infernal spiral of HR
violations from continuing unabated. (CETIM)



4. What this entails is: a) bringing the people together in common strands
that link their particular histories of abuse and exploitation, and b)
breaking with all defeatist attitudes and c) placing ourselves resolutely on
the path of solidarity,  transparency and creating
communities-of-social-interest centered around proactive work in HR.



5. But beware, in HR work, when claim-holders participate, outsiders should
not be the ones to decide on HR priority actions of any kind. Prioritization
should be the result of direct negotiations between claim-holders and
duty-bearers on an equal footing. (T. Pogge) (Monitoring such an equal
footing may well be a task for outsiders…).



Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

cschuftan at phmovement.org <schuftan at gmail.com>    NEW ADDRESS



*A poem by Esperanza Martinez* (adapted)

Behind the worst wars of the past and present centuries,

behind the pillage of economic and financial resources,

behind the instability and pauperization of  numerous nations,

behind coup d'etats, dictatorships and manipulated democracies,

behind the submission of salaried workers,

behind the financial debt of the last thirty years,

behind the slow extinction of numerous indigenous people,

behind the pollution of our clear water and of the seven seas of the world
and of the air of our cities,

and as the principal cause of human deaths in the world,

there are violations of human rights.
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