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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Human Rights Reader 180</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">SOCIAL PROGRESS HAS ALWAYS DEPENDED ON PUBLIC PRESSURE.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 2.5in"><font face="Times New Roman">Since there needs to be a push for an international paradigm shift among top decision-makers/duty-bearers, do we really have a choice <u>
not</u> to take political sides?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">1. Democracy and the respect for human rights are not simply about elections at sub-national and national level, but also about democracy at the global level. Democracy and human rights (HR) are interdependent. Both ultimately depend on individuals and institutions (the press included) that keep national governments and their elected officials, as well as global governance officers (elected or not) in check.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">2. Our present age is characterized by massive national and global institutional failure --mainly in the social and economic areas-- as well as by utter insensitivity to HR violations.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">3. For a moment, let's shine the spotlight just on:</font></span></p>
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore">·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Health systems: they are not only overburdened and underfunded, but one-sidedly geared towards the treatment of illnesses instead of their prevention and promotion;
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore">·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Educational systems: they are literally breaking down, are also underfunded and/or are imparting outdated knowledge through rigid curricula.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">4. We just have to come-up with, and forcefully-demand, <u>new</u> solutions!</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">5. Today, decision-makers in high positions feel overwhelmed in the face of such huge challenges. But the HR perspective of these problems is unfortunately not perceived by them --not even by far.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">6. This Reader contends that justice will not be done to the complexity of the matters at hand unless leaders with innovative, HR-based approaches, genuinely partner with civil society (
<u>and</u> directly with those whose dignity is being denied) to address these matters frontally and collectively. This is where we have to apply a good part of our public pressure.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">7. For this to happen, nothing less than a global paradigm shift will do, one that has the HR-perception-thought-and-action adopted by the existing local, national and global leadership (…or by a new leadership if so needed for this to happen). The crucial bottom-line need is to change their perspective to one rooted in the HR-based framework.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">8. Testing and implementing new measures in the HR realm more quickly is thus badly needed --and is now the main thrust of several UN agencies. Among other, this requires leaders:
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore">·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">to meet face to face with marginalized people, i.e., making sure a first-hand contact actually happens with the people whose rights are being violated;
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore">·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">to more intuitively and boldly identify new perspectives and solutions, not only using statistical information, but rather inner reflection (…and study of the HR-based framework!);
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore">·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">to open these new avenues they come-up-with and to launch the
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>corresponding new measures (even if they may seem radical at first). </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">9. Here, we remain adamant: we will achieve the desired HR goals faster, the earlier we learn from successes (primarily), from failures and from mistakes, when --together with the affected population-- we pursue sincere and transparent new avenues within the HR framework.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Here is a call to get started, to try out new options, to gain first-hand practical experience, to test, to reject, to modify…
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span lang="IT" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: IT"><font face="Times New Roman">Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City</font></span></p>
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<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><a href="mailto:cschuftan@phmovement.org"><font face="Times New Roman">cschuftan@phmovement.org</font></a><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></span></p>
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<span style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt"><font face="Times New Roman">[All Readers can be found in </font><a href="http://www.humaninfo.org/aviva%20%20under%20No.69"><font face="Times New Roman">www.humaninfo.org/aviva<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none">under No.69</span></font></a><font face="Times New Roman">] </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Mostly adapted from D+C, 34:4, April, 2007, and D+C, Vol.34, Nos.7+8, July/Aug 2007.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Note</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
:</span></b></font></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: 10pt">I repeat a footnote from many Readers ago:</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">
Are these Readers sometimes repetitive?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Yes and No. </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">No, in the sense that they look at the many aspects of HR work, some new, some old, but the latter always from different perspectives and angles.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Yes, in the sense that they always reinforce key concepts of the HR framework. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">This deliberate duality is considered indispensable for the readers to progressively internalize the concepts in such a way that they can then comfortably use them in debates and in teaching HR.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">In that sense, this is no apology. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><font face="Times New Roman">[Moreover, all the good and wise in these Readers has come from others; that of lesser importance has been mine].
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