PHM-Exch> Food for a yet to be claimed thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 261



*CLAIM HOLDERS HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS ‘INSIDE THEM’. HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NOT JUST
GRACIOUS CONCESSIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW.*

                                                                    -We
cannot take scarcity-of-resources as a reply to claim holders’ demands
without asking *why scarcity*.

An individual is seldom either a duty bearer or a claim holder; individuals
and groups enter into claim holder and duty bearer *roles*. Strictly
speaking, it is therefore misleading to talk about a meeting of claim
holders and duty bearers; key actors are to meet to discuss and agree on
their respective roles as claim holders and duty bearers.



It matters little whether human rights (HR) are rhetorically endorsed,
action needs to materialize... materialize into political action.

I say this, because our efforts in HR work can (and have) be(en) subverted
by traditional community norms and rules of patronage that stand in the way
of claim holders’ action. Our work will have to face this challenge
creatively and in a culturally sensitive way. Clientelism (that requires
reverence and submissiveness) plays an important role in this and is in
direct conflict with the notion of HR; HR challenges the dominance of
clientelism and of patron-client relationships.

You can access the full Reader at

http://www.socialmedicine.org/?p=5228

Claudio
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