PHM-Exch> Food for a practical implementation thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 273



*THE CHALLENGE IS TO GO FROM RATIFIED TREATY TO LAW OF THE LAND. AT THE END
OF THE DAY, NATIONAL LAWS PLAY THE FINAL CRITICAL ROLE WHEN ASSESSING A
GOVERNMENT’S REAL COMMITMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS. *



Integrating human rights is not simply a technical matter resolved by
adequate training; it requires negotiation, adapting and working within the
local culture. Moreover, developing capacity in human rights will have
little impact if, to start with,  laws, institutions and policies fail to
de-facto recognize human rights prerogatives.


On December 10, 1948, 48 countries signed the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The rest is history --history not to be taken lightly since human
rights (HR) are just not any rights. They are specifically laid down in
treaties. Treaties are contracts between governments. This means they are
legally binding on the States that are party to them and call for compliance
with the principles and standards contained in each instrument. Not so well
known is the fact that signing these treaties already creates an obligation
in the period between signing and ratification, i.e., states agree to
refrain, in good faith, from acts that would defeat the objectives and
purposes of the treaty.



Governments are actually required to harmonize their national legislation
with international HR standards. For that, they need to examine their
domestic legislation accordingly and carry out an analysis of existing
policies; also, to refer to constitutional and domestic legal *standards, as
well as the government’s signed and ratified international HR obligations*.*


*: We constantly need to remind governments that, at the 2005 UN World
Summit. they did re-commit themselves to integrate the promotion and
protection of HR into their national policies. As civil society, we can give
them technical assistance to meet those commitments, but comply they must.



To get the full Reader, go to


http://wp.me/plAxa-1te


Claudio
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