Implications of RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH on Development and Advocacy Work

While RBA may be growing in popularity, it has already received criticism on how applicable it is to real-life development problems. Nevertheless, RBA has already left a big impact on the field of development and advocacy, including the following:

  • The needs-based approach would drive us to deal with specific communities or groups of people. Hence, it pushes us to think about isolated cases and groups. The rights-based approach, on the contrary, starts with the universally accepted human rights and drives down to the communities who do not enjoy these rights.

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is protecting a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. Nelson Mandela, in a 2005 speech in London at the G7 Finance Ministers meeting.   http://www.developments.org.uk/articles/mandela-launches-anti-poverty-campaign/

Poverty and Development in a Rights-Based Approach [1]Ljungman, Cecilia M., COWI. Applying a Rights-Based Approach to Development: Concepts and Principles, Conference Paper: The Winners and Losers from Rights-Based Approaches to Development. P. 8. … Continue reading

A rights-based approach holds that a person for whom several human rights remain unfulfilled – such as the right to food, health, education, information, participation, etc. – is a poor person. Poverty is thus more than lack of resources – it is the manifestation of exclusion and powerlessness. In this context, the realisation of human rights and the process of development are not distinct. On the contrary, development becomes a sub-set of the process of fulfilling human rights. In fact, development itself is recognised as a human right. [2]The World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993, reaffirmed by consensus the right to development as a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of fundamental human rights.

  • An increasing number of communities and development groups started to link what they need to achieve in their development programs and what takes place in the political arena. The taboo of “we have nothing to do with politics” has already been broken.
  • Disadvantaged and marginalized communities started to look at their problems as unfulfilled rights! The language of “needs” has changed to “rights.”
3rd Chapter Index

References

References
↑1 Ljungman, Cecilia M., COWI. Applying a Rights-Based Approach to Development: Concepts and Principles, Conference Paper: The Winners and Losers from Rights-Based Approaches to Development. P. 8. November 2004
↑2 The World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993, reaffirmed by consensus the right to development as a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of fundamental human rights.