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<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=2>Human Rights Reader 145<?xml:namespace
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<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>WORKING WITH THE MARGINALIZED AND THE
EXCLUDED, AND ATTENDING TO THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS NEEDS, REQUIRES TIME AND
PASSION.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=5> <FONT size=3>
</FONT></FONT></o:p><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">We all know that it is easier to fight </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> for
one’s principles than to live up to</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> them.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=5> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>1. Human rights activists are repeatedly faced with the need to figure
out the four or five most binding constraints that are behind major human rights
(HR) violations to then focus on lifting those few as a matter of priority. This
is not an easy task in the area of health. The obvious risks in this are (a)
trying to fix all the problems at once, and (b) starting with reforms that are
not crucial. It is, of course, best to focus on the reforms whose direct effects
are expected to be significant. As a rule of thumb, across-the-board reforms are
politically difficult and often fail.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>2. A decision tree methodology, used in conjunction with the claim
holders, helps to identify the most binding constraints. The aim is to
differentiate the essential (and important) from the merely desirable (and just
interesting). </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>3. But to concentrate on just four or five constraints, our peer
activists must have knowledge of most other prevailing constraints, as well as
the capacity to remove them. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And
this is not easy in the area of health. Most constraints must thus be identified
in both the corresponding situation and capacity analyses. Therefore, a key step
in the situation analysis is to figure out which of these constraints more
directly and acutely refers to the identified major HR violations. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>4. To subsequently make the right choices, the activist needs do develop
a strong sense of the consequences of potential policy changes. To do this,
empirical hypotheses will often have to be tested using indirect evidence across
time and geography. Based on the strength of such empirical evidence, claiming
for the needed institutional (and health sector) reforms becomes more reasoned.
(It is noted that it is much more difficult to find empirical evidence of what
tomorrow’s constraints will be. Future expected bottlenecks have to be
identified soonest though and acted upon as early as possible).</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>5. To perhaps complicate things a bit, HR activists have to adapt to
changing circumstances without losing sight of the ultimate aim which is the
removal of the most pressing HR violations. That is what makes for success
stories.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>6. This having been said, keep in mind that:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>a) When serving higher human rights designs, it is not good to make more
than the absolutely necessary concessions on the lesser evils. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>b) HR activists:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><U>-do</U> get actively involved (they bring
the HR issues to a level of what sub-comandante Marcos called ‘impertinent
consciousness’ where it bothers them not to get involved);</FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>-<U>do </U>have painful doubts when doing so (only
imbeciles have no doubts*);</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><U>-are</U> biased in their approaches [in
many countries in the world, being impartial does not mean anything more than
belonging to or sympathizing with the party in power (G. Cabrera <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Infante)]; </SPAN>and </FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><U>-do</U> take insults in their everyday
work (insults are forgotten; it is hatred that brews slowly…).</FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>7. Finally, HR activists should follow Dag Hammarskjold’s maxim that
says: To improve oneself, we need to be: simpler, quicker, warmer and
firmer.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=5> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=2>Claudio Schuftan, <?xml:namespace prefix =
st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ho Chi Minh
City</st1:place></st1:City><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><A
href="mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2>claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Mostly adapted
from </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">SCN News
(UN Standing Committee on Nutrition), No.30, mid 2005; Carlos Fuentes*, La Silla
del Aguila, Santillana Ediciones, Madrid, 2005; and F+D (IMF), Vol.43, No.1,
March, 2006.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>