A Human Rights-Based Approach to Development

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From Poverty Reduction to Disparity Reduction or
from Basic Needs to Human Rights International
Conference on Child Policies and
Disparities Cairo, Egypt, 19-20 January
2009 Urban Jonsson
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OUTLINE

1. Basic Needs
2. Human Rights
3. A Human Rights-Based Approach to Development
4. Needs vs. Rights
5. Equality, Equity and Disparity
6. Conclusions

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Basic Needs
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BASIC NEEDS (UNRISD, 1970)

1. Nutrition
2. Shelter
3. Health
4. Education
5. Leisure
6. Security (personal and economic)
7. Environment (cultural, social and physical)

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BASIC NEEDS APPROACHES TO DEVELOPMENT

• UNRISD
• ILO
• The World Bank
• UNICEF
• Etc, etc

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Human Rights
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The Origin of Human Rights
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THE MORAL FOUNDATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Moral codes have existed and do exist in all
societies on what is right or wrong, permissible
or not permissible, legitimate or not legitimate
etc.
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THE GOLDEN RULE - BUDDHISM
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would
find hurtful
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THE GOLDEN RULE - CHRISTIANITY
Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you
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THE GOLDEN RULE - HINDUISM
Do naught to others, if done to thee, would
cause thee pain this is the sum of duty
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THE GOLDEN RULE - ISLAM
No one of you is a believer until he desires for
his brother that which he desires for himself
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THE GOLDEN RULE - JUDAISM
What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow
man. That is the entire law all the rest is
commentary
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THE CHANGING WORLD
15the and 16th Century India, China, Roman
Christendom, and the Islamic world were the great
civilizations 17th, 18th and 19th Century A
revolutionary change took place in Europe
regarding human thought towards a secular and
more egalitarian society and a universal morality
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NATURAL RIGHTS
All humans, beings created by God, possess equal
natural rights (that is, in the state of nature
they possess life, liberty, and property) that
society must recognize if it is to be
legitimate (John Locke, 1632-1704)
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The Meaning of Human Rights
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DEFINITION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Rights are claim-rights, in that they entail
correlative duties of other persons or groups to
act or to refrain from acting in ways required
for the right-holders (W.N. Hohfeld, 1919)
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THE MEANING OF HUMAN RIGHTS
CORRELATIVE DUTY
VALID CLAIM
Claim (Right) Holder Duty Bearer
(Subject) (Object)
A school-aged child has a valid claim (right) to
education others have duties (or obligations)
to ensure that the right is realized.
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Human Rights Standards
Basic needs that are recognized as universal
needs, i.e. codified in UN International
Conventions
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Human Rights Principles (OHCHR/UNDP)

• Equality and Non-Discrimination
• Participation and Inclusion
• Accountability and Rule of Law

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A Human Rights-Based Approach to Development
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OUTCOME
Good
Bad
Good
Bad
PROCESS
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HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
PRINCIPLES RE-DEFINED
Human Rights Standards the minimum acceptable
level of a desirable outcome Human Rights
Principles criteria for an acceptable process
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OUTCOME
(Human Rights Standards)

• Eradication of hunger and malnutrition
• Universal primary education
• Child protection
• MDGs
• Results

PROCESS
(Human Rights Principles)

• Equality and Non-Discrimination
• Participation and Inclusion
• Accountability and Rule of Law

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OUTCOME
Good
Bad
Good
Bad
PROCESS
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The Millennium Declaration and the MDGs
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THE MILLENNIUM DECLARATIONS GOALS (MDGs)

• There are eight (8) MDGs
• They all come from the Millennium Declaration
  (2000)
• Many people know the MDGs by heart, but very few
  people have actually read the Millennium
  Declaration

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THE MILLENNIUM DECLARATION
,respect human rights and fundamental
freedoms, respect for the equal rights of all
(paragraph 4)
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MDGs IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MILLENNIUM DECLARATION
Kofi Annan had recently chided me and others for
concentrating so much on the eight MDGs that we
forget that they are part of the Millennium
Declaration, which calls very strongly for
democracy and human rights as the route to
achieving the goals (Mark Malloch Brown, June
2004)
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OUTCOME
Good
Bad
Good
Bad
PROCESS
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Needs vs. Rights
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NEEDS VS. RIGHTS
NEEDS RIGHTS
Needs are met or satisfied Needs imply goals,
incl. partial goals Needs do not necessarily
imply duties
Rights are realized Rights imply goals, always
100 Rights always imply correlative duties

4 / 11
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NEEDS VS. RIGHTS
NEEDS RIGHTS
Human rights can be realized only by attention
to both outcome and process Rights are always
universal Rights can only be met by duty-bearers
meeting their obligations
Needs can be met by goal or outcome
strategies Needs are not necessarily
universal Needs can be met by charity and
benevolence
4 / 11
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NEEDS VS. RIGHTS
NEEDS RIGHTS
Needs can be ranked a priori in a hierarchy Needs
are often associated with promises Child as an
object To Have
Rights cannot be ranked a priori in a
hierarchy Rights are always associated with
obligations Child as a subject To Be
4 / 11
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Equality
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Christianity and people who are poor
It is easier for a camel to pass the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God (Mark 10.25) Naked follow Naked Christ
(Thomas Aquinas)
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Islam and people who are poor

• Emphasizes basic economic and social rights
• Religion must be accompanied by active services
  to people who are poor
• Accumulating wealth without recognizing the
  rights of people who are poor should be punished
  in the hardest way

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EQUALITY AS A HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLE
All persons within a society have a right to
enjoy equal access to the available goods and
services that are necessary to fulfill basic
human needs (UDHR)
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EQUITY
A situation in which everyone is treated
fairly (not necessarily the same) (distributive
justice)
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EQUALITY vs. EQUITY
EQUALITY A process of dignity and
non-discrimination (A human rights
principle) EQUITY A process of fairness and
justice (A concept of justice)
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DIFFERENT EQUALITIES

• There is an important difference between
  equality of opportunity and equality of
  result

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EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND EQUAL RESULTS
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Everybody has the same
chance EQUAL RESULTS Everybody achieves the
same level
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The right to equal opportunities vs. the right to
equal results

• The right to equal access to health services vs.
  the right to be healthy
• The right to equal access to education vs. the
  right to be equally educated (learning
  achievement)

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Disparity
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DISPARTY

• Disparity means In-Equality among
• income groups
• social classes
• male and female (gender)
• residence (urban/rural, countries, regions,
  communities etc)
• racial and ethnic groups

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POVERTY REDUCTION VS. DISPARITY REDUCTION
Poverty Reduction Reduction of the number or
percentage of people who are poor TARGET People
who are poor Disparity Reduction Reduction in
disparities between people who are poor and
people who are rich TARGET People who are poor
and people who are rich
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HUMAN RIGHTS IN LIBERALISM AND IN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
LIBERALISM SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
In addition to equal opportunities, emphasizes
equal results Equal priority on CPR and
economic, social and cultural rights
Emphasizes equality of opportunities Priority
on civil and political rights
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HUMAN RIGHTS IN LIBERALISM AND IN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
LIBERALISM SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
The right to health means the right to be
healthy Emphasizes Disparity Reduction
The right to health means the right to health
services Emphasizes Poverty Reduction
4 / 11
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Value Added by HRBA to Development
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VALUE ADDED BY HRBA TO DEVELOPMENT

1. In a HRBA to Development, the individual is the
   subject of rights and has valid claims on others,
   who have correlative duties and obligations.
   This is different from entitlement and basic
   needs approaches where there is no duty-bearer.

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VALUE ADDED BY HRBA TO DEVELOPMENT

• 2. A HRBA to Development requires attention to
  both outcome and process.
• A HRBA gives more attention to exclusion,
  disparities and injustice and can be used to
  challenge power
• 4. A HRBA to Development promotes the rule of
  law (reduces impunity and corruption, and
  increases social access to justice)

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VALUE ADDED BY HRBA TO DEVELOPMENT

• 5. Gives more attention to legal and
  institutional reforms and national policy review
• 6. Development assistance no longer means
  charity, but is an obligation of the
  international community

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Conclusions
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CONCLUSIONS

• All UN support must be human rights based and
  contribute to the realization of human rights
• 2. In a HRBA the process is as important as the
  outcome. The blind focus on the MDGs should be
  avoided

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CONCLUSIONS
2. The choice of equality of results or
equality of opportunities is a political
choice 3. A HRBA emphasizes disparity reduction
rather than poverty reduction
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Thank You!