PHA-Exch> Food for a thought to keep an eye on

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 178



*OF CLAIM HOLDERS, DUTY BEARERS AND AGENTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY. *

* *

Human rights are indeed a very powerful framework for bringing change to the
unequal power structures and relationships that perpetuate poverty and its
accompanying human rights violations provided the proper accountability
mechanisms are in place. (Equalinrights 2007)



1. This Reader has not emphasized enough an additional actor in the human
rights (HR) discourse. Actually, in any well-developed system of rights
there are *three* major roles to be fulfilled: the *claim holders*, the *duty
bearers* *and* the* agents of accountability*. The task of the agents of
accountability is to make sure that those who have the duties carry out
their obligations towards those who bare the rights. Thus, to describe a
rights system, we also need to know *the procedures* through which a
government (and/or civil society) assure(s) that the duty bearers meet their
obligations towards the claim holders. These *accountability
mechanisms*include, in particular, the remedies and restitutions
available (or not) to
the claim holders themselves.



2. In essence, the system should work as follows:

·        Rights establish the standards and goals of the system.

·        Duties describe who must do what to achieve those standards and
goals.

·        Accountability mechanisms are the institutional arrangements that
are required to make the system work.

·        The essence of a good system of rights is having good mechanisms of
accountability directly available to the claim holders.

·        If they do not have real, explicit opportunities to pursue their
own rights, it is not a proper system of rights.

·        Claim holders thus need to know their rights, as much as they need
to know what they can do to assure that their rights are respected.



3. But beware, not all rights are human rights. Some rights, such as
property rights for example, have little relation to human rights. The key
distinguishing features are that HR are about matters essential to human
dignity, and they are universal.  Rights that are established only within a
particular country, perhaps by its constitution, are sometimes described as
civil rights.



4. The human rights-based framework emphasizes that in pursuing key social
objectives, it is not only the ends (the outcomes), but also the means (the
processes) that must respect HR. The objectives must be met in ways that are
transparent and open to broad participation by the intended beneficiaries.



5. Among other, this has implications for foreign aid and its relation to
HR: Development cooperation should, but does not contribute enough to the
development of capacities of duty bearers to meet their obligations and/or
development cooperation should, but does not, contribute enough to claim
holders claiming their rights.



6. For development projects/programs to be human rights-based, their
planning, programming and execution must be anchored in a clear articulation
of who has which rights and who has which duties, as well as anchored in
mechanisms of accountability designed with the view of a workable and
effective implementation.



7. Local dialogues with claim holders and duty bearers on the meaning, on
the relevance and on the application of human rights-based strategies is a
critical starting point for the HR-based approach. This, because HR have to
come from within, not from without.



8. So, for HR workers, supporting the HR cause is about facilitating the
internal learning and the self-empowering processes of the people they work
with (Equalinrights 2007).



Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

cschuftan at phmovement.org

[All Readers can be found in www.humaninfo.org/aviva under No.69]

Adapted from the writings of George Kent.**
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