PHA-Exch> Food for a righteous thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 194



*KEEP IN MIND: IN HUMAN RIGHTS WORK WE ARE IN A STRUGGLE NOT ONLY FOR
ACCOUNTABILITY, BUT ALSO AGAINST IMPUNITY.*

* *

It is not enough to just open the gates of opportunity; all our citizens
must have the ability to walk through those gates; we seek not just equality
as a (vague) human right and a theory, but equality as a fact and equality
as a result. (Lyndon B. Johnson)  But sadly, reality has the nasty habit to
creep into our dreams: If we were to wake up some morning and find that
everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other causes
for prejudice by noon. (G. Aitken)



It is pertinent that, at this juncture, this Reader revisits some human
rights  principles:



1. To begin with, at the core, is the *Principle of Universal
Jurisdiction*which says that human rights (HR) are everybody's; they
have to be sensitive
to cultural and religious concerns --*if* there are valid reasons for them.
[We note that many of the objections that have been made against the
universality of HR have *not* come up with valid reasons other than
something along the lines of "HR are a Western construct"].



2. In terms of bearing HR duties, the *Principle of Individual
Responsibility* applies regardless of how high or low the official function
of the violator(s) is(are)  --and beware, the neglect of such
responsibilities does carry culpability.



3. Impunity for such a neglect of duties goes against the *Principle of
Accountability* (linked to Individual Responsibility). The principle implies
that we cannot just establish accountability, we necessarily have to also
deal with severity with the perpetrators --even if the latter is not really
the purpose of HR work. Demanding accountability gives a) the victims a
chance to at least know the truth, and b) society a chance to learn the
lessons of the past. [The other side of the coin here is that redress can
only be fought-for after accountability has been actively established].



4. To actively seek and establish accountability, we must encourage victims
of HR violations to make use of the recently approved Optional Protocol of
the ICESCR that allows victims to launch formal complaints on economic,
social and cultural rights. Through it, reparation and redress after gross
and/or systematic HR violations have now become legally more expeditious.



5. There is thus now an established *Right to Petition* by individuals or
groups that are victims of a violation of any of their rights.



6. Nevertheless, realistically speaking, denial of justice (or of timely
justice… or denial due to the high costs associated with accessing justice)
still remains a major problem to overcome even with the new Optional
Protocol. It will take time for the latter to become fully operational --the
shorter the time the more all of us become involved in helping people to
seek redress.



7. The critical issue thus remains to empower poor and marginalized people
in general, and an up-to-now passive workforce in particular, to strengthen
their resistance and struggle against the HR violations perpetrated against
them.



8. Keep in mind that empowerment has to go hand-in-hand with coalescing the
empowered into social movements that can exert influence. Why?  Because
ultimately, poverty --which is universal-- is the denial of people's power
and resources in many, many places at any given time. Or stated otherwise,
poverty is a human condition characterized by a sustained or chronic
deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power
necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other
fundamental civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. (UNHCR)



9. In a very real way, poverty 'paralizes' people's political existence. In
this context, *HR violations represent the non-income face of poverty,
deprivation and marginalization.* From this perspective, the effective
integration of the HR framework into poverty reduction strategies is thus
paramount.



10. But out there, there is a huge gap between verbal commitments to,
political intentions about and actual implementation of poverty reduction
strategies --and HR are yet to even be seriously considered in that context.



11. Rich countries' governments still control the governance of the world
economy in a bid that concentrates wealth in the industrialized countries
and de-facto actually excludes the poorest countries *and* people from a
fair share in the global 'prosperity' they create.



12. Needed is for the rich countries to actively be held accountable for the
countless broken commitments they have been making the world over for years
(many of them resulting in or perpetuating clear HR violations). Also needed
is for national governments and for international financial institutions and
donors to fundamentally restructure existing patterns of spending that have
historically failed to do away with unacceptable levels of  poverty
worldwide. Here are prime candidates for using the new Optional Protocol…



13. Deplorably, much to the contrary of what is needed, we have witnessed a
rollback of  states, rich and poor, from their HR responsibilities. So much
for getting away with impunity….



Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

cschuftan at phmovement.org

[All Readers can be found in www.humaninfo.org/aviva  under
No.69<http://www.humaninfo.org/aviva%20%20under%20No.69>
]

__________

Adapted from W. Benedek et al, Understanding Human Rights: Manual on Human
Rights Education, 2nd Edition, European Training and Research Centre for
Human Rights and Democracy (ETC), Graz, Austria, May 2006.
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