<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2180" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Human Rights Reader
132<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">IF A STATE
HAS RATIFIED A TREATY, IT IS LEGALLY BOUND TO IMPLEMENT IT: A
REITERATION.</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><FONT size=3>Part 1 of
2</FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">1. This Reader keeps
reminding you that the Rights to Health, to Food, to Development are all Human
rights (HR), not<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>policy-options-that-governments-can-choose-to-adopt-or-to-ignore!<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">It is thus not tolerable
that governments observe only their commitments to economic and trade agreements
and ignore their international commitments to people’s rights. It is the
realization of this evidence (from the bad old days) that has taught us that
rights can only be secured through struggle (to be understood in the sense of a
“positive subversion”). (H. Pestalozzi)<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">1a. [</SPAN><FONT size=3>As
someone said in a literary parable:</FONT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">
</SPAN><FONT size=3>”There is only one animal capable of dying of hunger without
a fight. All beasts attack and die fighting for their food. Only man lets
himself die of hunger without breaking the windows of a supermarket to survive.
Men who do not obey their instincts --or the sequence of violations of their
rights they are subjected to --die”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>(M. Scorza, La Danza Inmovil, Plaza y Janes Literaria, Barcelona,
1983)</FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">2. National institutions
that look after HR do exist. But many of them are controlled by those who wield
political power; and their mandate is often limited to civil and political
rights. But governments do have binding commitments on economic, social and
cultural rights as well!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">3. On the other hand, local
social movements, civil society organizations and NGOs committed to and working
on the defense of the rights of the oppressed, master neither the theory of the
international HR instruments nor the workings of their practical application at
the national level. At best, they have a catalogue of unanswered questions. In
such a situation, it is easy for them to fall in the irrelevance trap. (F.
Nuscheler)<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">4. There certainly is a job
to be done here since seeking redress for HR violations can be done
individually, but much better with the support of a social movement or a civil
society organization specialized in the protection of HR. The need for the
training of such institutions is unpostponable since almost no mechanisms are
currently in place to ensure compliance with any legal norms on HR. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">5. Additionally, the
ignorance of HR principles and standards by local judges makes it difficult for
HR activists to get redress using the judicial system. So, some training is
needed here too. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">6. But our problems do not
stop there: Rules, regulations and laws are ineffective without the will to
enforce them. So it is the non-governmental HR watchdog organizations on whose
shoulders this responsibility falls.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">7. Most development debates
still miss the preceding points. The debate on the HR-based approach to
development (HRBA) is still nascent, vague and bland …as many a church congress
(or a G8 summit…). What we need instead is to have leveled stinging critiques of
the current trends in development work that are violating HR with impunity.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">8. The HRBA holds up a
mirror to society, a provocative and discomforting mirror, allowing society to
understand that these problems are not ‘accidents’, but are a systematic
consequence of the<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>deliberate
social and economic choices being made which benefit a few and marginalize many.
(A. Shukla)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">9. Moreover, some see a
conflict between public health and the HRBA to health: Public health aims for
the best for the majority, now and in the future. In HR, we struggle for the
best for each individual <U>now</U>. (U. Jonsson)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Claudio Schuftan,
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Ho Chi Minh
City</st1:City></st1:place><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1.5pt solid; mso-element: para-border-div">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><A href="mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Mostly
adapted from The Right to Food, CETIM, September, 2005,<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>D+C, Vol.32, No.11, November 2005, and
D+C, Vol.33, No.2, February 2006.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>