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<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Human Rights Reader
146<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
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<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>GROUP RIGHTS AND COLLECTIVE RIGHTS ARE NOT THE SUM OF INDIVIDUAL
RIGHTS.<o:p></o:p></STRONG></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><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"><FONT size=3>1. We do not
need to define 'group rights' and 'collective rights'. They are already well
defined. The Right-to-Development is the best known group right; it sees
people-who-are-poor as a group (or as a class some would say?). The debate on
whether 'poverty per-se is or is not a violation of human rights' reflects the
ideological position colleagues with opposing views take towards
people-who-are-poor considering them either as a set-of-individuals or as a
group. <BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>2. A 'group
right' means that individuals have a right as a result of belonging to a group.
Ethnic minorities and indigenous people are the most common examples. Collective
rights are rights that are exercised by individuals collectively. Examples
include struggles for cultural and religious rights, or for the use of minority
languages. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>3. It is here
contended that this should be extended to the eradication of poverty. The big
difference here is that in the latter case one is dealing with
majorities.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>4. What I
see is needed is an international codification that will sanction the right to
'collectively denounce' (or to 'collectively-claim') in the case of violations
of the rights of poor people --or of women or of children-- taken as a group
(like in USA ‘class-action suits’).<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>5. This
would legitimize the right of third parties to 'claim-in-the-name-of’ groups of
claim-holders who suffer from human rights (HR) violations. It would
legitimize (legalize?) the right of, for instance, NGOs, UN agencies and others
(as opposed to the actual individuals whose rights are being violated) to claim
on behalf of poor people as a group. These organizations would then be
recognized by international law as legitimate when representing those
claim-holders who are powerless and
voiceless.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>6.
In other words, NGOs and UN agencies would receive recognition when they, on
their own initiative, respond to violations of the right to food or to health,
i.e., when they act and claim on behalf of the alleged victims. Because of their
widespread presence, NGOs should be empowered to file such complaints --lest
serious violations remain un-rebuked. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt">7.
[It goes without saying that the victims of violations of the rights to food and
health are usually from the most vulnerable social strata; people who have no
access to information, nor the means required to bring their cases before
international legal bodies. They are the victims of 50+ years of p</SPAN>riority
concern having been given to neglected diseases rather to neglected people! They
are not the forgotten…they are those we have allowed to be forgotten.
(<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:City><st1:place>Milan</st1:place></st1:City> Kundera)<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt">].<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt">8.
It is here where NGOs or other civil society organizations (CSOs) have a key
contribution to make in forcefully lobbying for such an international
codification. For this, they need to more systematically document and denounce
the HR violations they encounter. Their monitoring of the application of HR
standards in foreign aid in poor countries is crucial for this lobbying.
Eventually, this gives HR-activist-NGOs a tactical and strategic advantage in
their lobbying, i.e., a powerful bargaining argument --on top of being the
ultimate proof of their </SPAN>pro-people political commitment. (D.
Banerji)</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>9. [Instilling a sense of urgency into the HR work of NGOs and CSOs, a
prominent HR activist has said: “It is high time that we all agree that people
who live in dire poverty are political prisoners, and children who are hungry
are on death row”. (Shula Koenig)].</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"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Claudio
Schuftan, </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Ho Chi Minh
City</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><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>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=2>_________<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P><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"><FONT
size=2>Adapted from a personal communication from Urban Jonsson and from D+C
Vol.33, No.7, July 2006.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>