PHM-Exch> Food for a no nonsense thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 294



*PEOPLE HAVE RIGHTS, BUT THAT IMPLIES LITTLE IF THEY LACK A SPECIFIC
UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THAT MEANS IN PRACTICAL TERMS. *(part 1 of 2)



It is better to light a light than to complain about darkness. (Confucius)



[I will illustrate the implications of this by using the example of the
practical application of the human right to health in communities in Cape
Town].



The human right to health has wrongly been contested for many reasons.
These include i) attacks from neoliberal ideologues for its lack of
practicability, ii) its focusing on individuals’ rights over the public
good, and iii) the more general criticism that human rights reflect a
‘Western’ construct based on norms that are not universally accepted. Of
course, these arguments have been overruled by i) examples of the practical
application of the RTH like the one that follows here below, ii) a better
understanding of individual and collective notions of human rights that
have helped to understand and explore what kinds of strategies are most
effective in promoting health equality; and iii) an emphatic assertion
about the universality of human rights.



The analysis of the right to health inescapably falls within the realm of
power analyses, i.e., an assessment of who makes decisions, within what
institutional framework and with what consequences for equality in health.
As such, to advance health equality the human rights-based approach
confronts conditions of vulnerability through strengthening the means by
which those who are powerless are empowered to actively demand their rights.


For the full Reader, go to


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

Claudio
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20120805/f797b32d/attachment.html>