PHA-Exch> Food for a thought to keep an eye on: HRR 178 (4) [re:AGENTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY].

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Leslie London Leslie.London at uct.ac.za

I would describe the view below as overly legalist

Human rights are much more than just a legal claim on a duty bearer, if they
were only that, the world would be a much less dynamic place and real gains
in access to socio-economic entitlements would have been impossible.

A rights perspective enables not just legal claims (e.g. holding states and
other parties accountable; seeking redress) but also using rights to shape
public policy (pro-active) and as part of social mobilisation. This is not
to say a rights approach doesn't rely on the frameworks generated by
international human rights law, but to make rights real, social mobilisation
is essential.

Amartya Sen writes very clearly about this in his article "Elements of a
Theory of Human Rights" (Philosophy and Public Affairs 2004; 32(4): 315+)
where he describes human rights as "primarily ethical demands" and that the
implementation of which goes far beyond legislation - in fact, others have
pointed to the notion that confining human rights to a juridical model
strips rights of its transformative potential. So, NGO's are in good company
if they think that human rights have "moral" implications.

There are also layers of accountability. For example, in the following
example, it is not the individual duty bearer who solely holds
accountability, but the system which constrains the duty bearer. In a
context of poor quality care, because of understaffing of services, the
health care provider can't be held responsible if the health department
doesn't provide sufficient posts to provide sufficient care, similarly the
health department in a developing country can't be held responsible for the
fact that there are insufficient providers in their clinics when developed
countries poach health workers from developing countries, etc.

So, I myself don't think the analysis in the Reader is particularly
confusing (as U. Jonsson claims).
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