About the Book

The recognition that the persistence of poverty is closely linked to the denial of human rights has propelled rights-based approaches into the policy and practice of many development NGOs, UN bodies and aid agencies. This book presents the practical experiences of development practitioners who have tried to apply a rights-based approach in their work. Its aim is to increase understanding of the approach by drawing on bottom-up insights, and to identify what difference a rights-based approach makes in practice. What is the ‘value added‘ of a rights-based approach? What difficulties and tensions arise? The case-studies span development, humanitarian relief and conflict resolution. The book concludes that there is potential not only for human rights to reinvent development, but for development to reinvent human rights.

Commendations

"This is a timely and important contribution to the rights and development literature. The moral appeal of what have become known as ‘rights-based approaches’ is irrefutable on a superficial gloss, accompanied in recent years by a burgeoning volume of policy statements, programming guidelines and scholarly analyses. But the virtuousness of the rhetoric masks a great many hard questions as to how such putatively transformational approaches can be applied in practice, and more fundamentally still, how far these approaches must themselves be examined for consistency with the ideals they purport to embody, and how far they can go in attacking the complex and varied ‘root causes’ of poverty and injustice in any given situation. While shunning pretences at easy answers, this book frames these dilemmas coherently and articulately, based on practitioners’ own experiences, against an engaging account of the philosophical underpinnings and history of human rights and rights-based approaches. The result is a critical and nuanced analysis that will appeal to practitioners, academics and policy-makers alike." - Mac Darrow, Coordinator, Human Rights Strengthening (HURIST) programme, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva

"At last a book that digs deeply into what it means in practice for humanitarian and development agencies to adopt a political philosophy of rights as they respond to people suffering from poverty, war and disaster. The case studies are clear and revealing. The advantages and the risks of a rights-based approach are openly discussed." - Dr. Hugo Slim, Chief Scholar, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Geneva.

Contents

Introduction - Paul Gready and Jonathan Ensor
Part 1: Case studies: Africa
1. A Human Rights-Based Approach to Programming (HRBAP) - Urban Jonsson (UNICEF)
2. The Experiences of Oxfam International and its Affiliates in Rights-based Programming and Campaigning - Marjolein Brouwer, Heather Grady, Valerie Traore, and Dereje Wordofa (Oxfam)
3. The Case of CARE International in Rwanda - Andrew Jones (CARE)
4. Rights in Practice - Assessing the Impact of Rights-Based Training in Uganda - Pamela Ashanut Okille (independent consultant)
5. Using Human Rights to Address Conflict: A Valuable Synergy - Ghalib Galant and Michelle Parlevliet (Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town)
Part 2: Case studies: Latin America, Asia and Europe
6. Combating Infant Malnutrition - An Experience of Networking in the Social Struggle for the Human Rights to Food and Sustainable Nutrition - Martha Antunes and Jorge O. Romano (ActionAid)
7. Rights, Development and Democracy: A Perspective from India - Supryia Akerkar (ActionAid)
8. Children‘s Participation, Civil Rights and Power - Joachim Theis and Claire O‘Kane (Save the Children Fund)
9. Reforms That Benefit Poor People - Practical Solutions and Dilemmas of Rights-based Approaches to Legal and Justice Reform - Amparo Tomas (UNDP)
10. New Foundations? Human Rights and Peace-Building in Northern Ireland - Neil Jarman (Institute for Conflict Research, Belfast)
Part 3: Current challenges
11. Rights-Based Responses to Aid Politicization in Afghanistan - Paul O‘Brien
12. Rights as Struggle: Towards a More Just and Humane World - Harsh Mander
13. Linking Rights and Culture: Implications for Rights-Based Approaches - Jonathan Ensor
14. Conclusion - Olivia Ball
Index

About the Editors

Paul Gready is a Senior lecturer in Human Rights at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.

Jonathan Ensor now works as Research and Information Officer and the Immigration Advisory Service

Academic Adoption Information

This book is used for teaching at the following institutions:

Bradford University

Roehampton University

University College London