1. Human Rights Based Approach
Introduction

2. Goals and Contents of the Presentation
To understand what are human rights
To understand what does HRBA mean
To understand the key elements of the HRBA
To know what are the human rights principles
To learn what are the benefits of using HRBA
To gain awareness of the HRBA steps of analysis

3. How do you define and understand human rights?
Question 1
How do you define and understand human rights?
Answer in the next slide

4. Human Rights
A simple definition: Human rights are those things that ought to be done to everybody and those things that ought not to be done to anybody
Fundamental rights to which everyone is entitled simply because s/he is a human being
Based on universal moral and legal background
Applicable everywhere, anytime and equally for everyone

5. What is HRBA?
Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) is an approach for better programming in development co-operation
Conceptual approach to promote human rights through program work systematically
A tool for empowerment: one that acknowledges that the situation of people cannot change for the better without people’s ownership
Based on moral and legal background of universally recognized Human Rights
This is a nutshell answer to the question of what is HRBA and why do we use it.
Even though HRBA is mainly seen as a ”morally right” way to do development programming the most important aspect is that it is actually seen as the most effective way to approach development because of the focus on the sustainability of the results.

6. Legal and Moral background
Human Rights are based on international human rights law that was universally accepted and strengthened through United Nations.
United Nations Charter
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CEDAW, CAT, CRC, etc…
Regional human rights agreements
Morally based on ”humanitarian instinct”, universalistic views on common good that are shared in example by the golden rules of all major religions
All main charters:
INTERNATIONAL CONVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (ICCPR), INTERNATIONAL CONVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (ICESCR), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Human Rights have been articulated to their current model in Western world, but they can be argued to be based on universalistic ”humanistic insticts” that are shared by all major religions and world views. All religions share the same kind of ”golden rule” of do no harm to others and all urge protection of people who are poor, disabled, sick or powerless.
Human rights are western?
Legalistic position: All have signed/agreed. Empiricist: All religions etc. Share the same views. So what that they are western? Amartya Sen: ”If we found out there are no human rights; then it is high time that we invent them”

7. Pattern of rights-holders and duty-bearers
All individual human beings are rights-holders of those rights codified in UN International Covenants and Conventions
All rights have corresponding duty-bearers, who are responsible in fulfilling the corresponding rights in given context
The reasons rights-holders can’t claim their rights and duty-bearers can’t fulfill their duties are called capacity gaps
This is the most important dynamic of the approach.
All the work done in HRBA revolves around the relationship between the holder of the legitimate claim to a right and the duty-bearers who are responsible to provide the possibility to fulfil the enjoyment of that particular right.
It is imporant note that most of the time when duty-bearers are not fulfilling their responsibilities, it is not because they are ”bad people”, but because the different gapacity gaps make it impossible for them to respect their duties.

8. Levels of Accountability
All duty-bearers are also rights-holders and sometimes the capacity gaps are due to their rights being denied in upper levels in chain of accountability.
Example: Teachers are not respecting their duties to give proper primary education to children, but this can be party explained by the districts failure to allocate neccessary funds to buy teaching materials, books or to pay teachers salary.

9. Why participation should be focused heavily in HRBA guided projects?
Question 2
Why participation should be focused heavily in HRBA guided projects?
Answer provided in the next slide.

10. Focus on Participation
Participation is key in HRBA because:
It provides valuable information and solutions
Empowers people to perceive the problems in the community and to claim their rights
Ensures sustainability through ownership creation
Meaningful participation is a Human Right
Important in every step of the project planning
The means to ensure participation are very context depentant. In an effort to get everyone to participate you need wide mixture of techiniques like group discussions, interviews, drawing, playing.
One of the most imporant aspect is to create situations where people feel safe to express their views: Gender or age groups as prime examples.

11. Human Rights: All the Main Principles
Content oriented:
Process oriented:
Universality and inalienability
Equality and non-discrimination
Indivisibility
Participation and inclusion
Interdependence and interrelatedness
Accountability and the rule of law
These are the main principles of the Human Rights, which should guide all our activities
Content oriented principles relate to the design of the Human Rights, they are key attributes of Human Rights as a whole.
Process oriented principles tell us what kind of principles we need to follow when we work towards realisation of human rights in any circumstances.
Universality and inalienability
Human rights are universal and inalienable. All people everywhere in the world are entitled to them.
Human rights cannot be taken or given away.
Indivisibility
all human rights have equal status, and cannot be positioned in a hierarchical order.
Interdependence and interrelatedness
The realization of one right often depends upon the realization of others.
In example right to health might depend on the realisation of right to education, water, sanitation etc.
Equality and non-discrimination
All individuals are equal as human beings and by virtue of the inherent dignity of each human person.
All human beings are entitled to their human rights without discrimination of any kind.
(such as, color, sex, age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, disability, property, birth or other status.)
Participation and inclusion
Every person and all peoples are entitled to active, free and meaningful participation.
Empowers people to perceive the problems in the community and to claim their rights
Accountability and the rule of law
States and other duty-bearers are answerable for the observance of human rights.
They have to comply with the legal norms and standards enshrined in human rights instruments.

12. The Goal and the Process
Goals of programming following HRBA are set by the different Human Rights charters and treaties and guided by the content principles.
Process in the HBRA is required to follow the main Human Rights principles.
Both are equally important

13. Practical steps of HRBA 1-7
Situation analysis
Comprehensive background analysis examining the exact problem situation where the project tries to make an impact
Causality analysis
Used to investigate and specify the major consequences of the problem and identify the key immediate, underlying and structural causes
Role pattern analysis
Identification of all the relevant rights-holders and corresponding duty-bearers to form the ”map” of relevant claim-duty relationships
These are the practical steps that we should use to guide us through succesfull HRBA project plannig. At here we won’t go details but give quick climbses of each the phases.
1. Situation analysis ensures that the project is suitable for it’s surroundings and approriate in it’s scope getting clear picture of the situation where the problem is identified.
2. Causality analysis should work it’s way from the clear manifestations all the way to the root causes explaining the situation
3. Mapping the relevant rights-holders and duty-bearers gives us strong understanding of the key relationships and gapacity gaps at the center of the problem

14. Practical steps 1-7 Capacity gaps analysis
Capacity gap analysis provides the explanations why particular right has not been realized. It analysis what are gaps preventing rights-holders from claiming their rights and duty-bearers from respecting their obligations.
Identification of candidate actions and strategies
After the evidence is collected during steps 1-4, the next step is to choose strategies that are most effective in closing the most crucial capacity gaps identified
Partnership analysis
Identification of the key actors working on the same problems to avoid overlapping and to discover synergies
Project design
The chosen priority actions are defined as a clear project objective for the project
4. After understanding the pattern of rights-holders and duty-bearers we need to be able recognize the capacity gaps that are preventing the rights-holder from claiming his rights and duty-bearers from respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights in question
5. When choosing the performed actions it is also imporant to focus on what are your organizations comparative advantaged and what can be achieved with the resources you have
6. Often multiple different actors work on the same problem and sometimes even on same area. This can lead to confusion in the community and local government
7. Going rigorously through these steps respecting the human rights principles given earlier should lead to succesful project desing

15. Key Differences between HRBA & Non-HRBA projects
Sometimes the easiest way to understand some key characteristic of HRBA is to look how it is different from the traditional “needs”-based approach.
One other key difference is that human rights based approach is not about charity. There is nothing wrong with charity, but in human rights perspective programs are not giving people something ”just out of benevolence”, but are supporting them in claiming their rights that legally should already be theirs.

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10/2015
Photo credit: © UNICEF/NYHQ /Bannon (Boy running on water)