HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH IN THE PROGRAMMING PROCESS

Introductory session for members of the PHE-EC,Nov 2020

SESSION OBJECTIVES

1. Understand what a human rights-based approach (HRBA) to programming is

2. Understand the importance and added value of HRBA to development programming

3. Understand the main implications of applying a human rights-based approach to development programming

HRBA is NOT …

Rhetorical repackaging

Human rights activities

Political conditionality

What is a human rights-based approach?

A conceptual framework for the process of development:

– normatively based on international HR standards and principles

– operational directed to promoting and protecting HR

Recognizes human beings as rights-holders and establishes obligations for duty-bearers.

Focus on discriminated and marginalized groups

Aims for the progressive achievement of all human rights

Gives equal importance to the outcome and process of development

What is a HRBA?

1. All programmes of development co-operation, policies and technical

assistance should further the realization of human rights as

laid down in the UDHR and other international human rights

instruments

1. Human rights standards and principles guide all development

cooperation and programming in all sectors and in all phases of the

programming process

2. Development cooperation contributes to the development of the

capacities of ‘duty-bearers’ to meet their obligations and/or of

‘rights-holders’ to claim their rights

GOAL

PROCESS

OUTCOME

UN COMMON UNDERSTANDING ON HRBA

Value of international human rights standards and mechanisms in development work

HR norms and standards, and Treaty body, UPR and Special Procedures conclusions and recommendations serve as:

Analytical tool: Help to frame development challenges as HR issues, understand immediate, underlying and root causes; and identify roles, capacity gaps and responsibilities of duty bearers and rights holders

Advocacy and Dialogue tool: Provide opportunities for dialogue around policies, legislation, programmes

Accountability tool: Provide transparent mechanisms to monitor government efforts

Programming tool: Help to identify priorities and benchmarks, guide the process (e.g. ‘minimum core standards’, HR principles)

Some UPR recommendations for Ethiopia(3rd

cycle,2019)

• 163.139 Continue advancing in the implementation of the national strategy on countering the effects of climate change, including adaptation and mitigation, as well as in the integration of disaster risk reduction (Cuba);

• 163.141 Strengthen its national disaster preparedness plans to ensure that appropriate national and local measures are in place to adapt to changing climatic conditions and to reduce the risk of future disasters (Fiji);

• 163.142 Continue to build institutional capacity, data and knowledge to integrate environmental and climatic considerations more fully into the national regulatory framework (Fiji);

• 163.113 Develop a national action plan for the implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Norway);…

Some Recommendation from the CEDAW,2019

• (a) Ensure that the proposed revision of the law on land ownership addresses discrimination against women, including rural women, in conformity with the Convention; (b) Intensify efforts to ensure that rural women effectively have access to health care, education, employment, housing, safe water, adequate sanitation and family planning services, especially in pastoralist areas; (c) Continue to strengthen and ensure the effective implementation of existing policies and programmes for the economic empowerment of rural women, including by further promoting their ownership of land and enhancing the security of their land tenure, and ensure that rural women are involved in the development and implementation of agricultural policies, including with regard to decisions on land use; d) Expand the access of rural women to microfinance and microcredit at low interest rates to enable them to engage in income-generating activities and start their own businesses, with a view to combating poverty among rural women and promoting their advancement.

Tool #3: Universal Human Rights Index

TOOL

Duty-bearers

Respect Protect Fulfill

Human rights obligations

Right to water

Do not cut off water supply arbitrarily

Ensure pro-poor water supply if privatized

Ensure everyone is connected to a water distribution system

Refrain from

interfering with the

enjoyment of rights

Prevent others from

interfering with the

enjoyment of rights

Adopt right

measures for full

realization of right

over time

Elements of human rights

What needs to be realized?(from CESCR General Comments)

•Availability

•Accessibility – Physical accessibility– Economic accessibility (affordability)– Information

•Acceptability

•Quality

e.g. Transport, Roads, Ramps

e.g. Hospitals, Staff, Medicines

e.g. Culturally appropriate, clear information, language,

confidentiality

Right to Health, including sexual and reproductive health

e.g. Service fees, cost of medicines

Minimum core obligations

Access to employment

Access to the minimum essential food

Access to basic shelter, housing & sanitation

Safe drinking water

Essential drugs (as defined by WHO)

Free and compulsory education to all

Access to social security

Ensure these rights

Eg of Human Rights Standard

▪ ICESCR General Comment 14 − minimum

core obligations of the right to health:

▪ ensuring that health facilities, goods, and

services are available, accessible, acceptable

and of high quality

▪ ensuring reproductive, maternal (pre-natal as

well as post-natal) and child health care

▪ providing education and information on health

problems and the methods of prevention and

control

▪ ensuring the ‘underlying determinants of health’

are met, e.g., access to clean water, food and

shelter

Eg.of application of the 3Q in Public health

▪ Under the right to health, international human

rights standards indicate that States are obliged

to ensure that public health services, as well as

medicines and health care staff:

▪ are made available to all

▪ are acceptable to all

▪ are accessible to all

▪ are high quality, where the skills of the health

personnel, the medicines available and the

equipment used should be of a consistent

standard for all

Major human rights principles

•Universality and Inalienability•Indivisibility: civil, cultural, economic,political, social•Inter-dependence and Inter-relatedness•Equality and Non-discrimination•Participation and Inclusion•Accountability and Rule of Law

Human rights principles (spot the principle!)

“Human rights are an invention from the West: our values are different”

“This criminal gave up his rights when he decided to

introduce drugs in our country”

“Why should poor women farmers form a union? The

right to food is more important than freedom of

expression: first eat and then give opinions”

“The right to education is not related to the right to

vote , or to the right to food”

“Men deserve a better education as they contribute

more than women to the development of our society”

“What can I do if that teacher raped this girl. We don’t have enough good teachers like him”

Staff, Ministry of Education

1 2 3

4 5 6

Human Rights PrinciplesApplication in Programming

Content

• Universality and inalienability

• Indivisibility

• Interdependence and Inter-relatedness

Process

• Participation and inclusion

• Accountability and rule of law

Equality & Non-Discrimination

A Transformative Call for Action to Change Our World

A Human Rights-Based Agenda

✓People-centred

✓Universal: applicable to all countries and all peoples.

✓Indivisible: civil-political & socio-economic

✓Equality and Non-Discrimination:

«leaving no one behind», inequalities, data disaggregation

✓Participatory: potential to open civic space

✓Accountability of States to their people

Linkages between SDGs and Human Rights

• The 2030 Agenda is grounded in human rights standards

• The 17 SDGs and many of their 169 targets and 241 indicators are closely linked to specific human rights

• Economic, social and cultural rights – many goals

• Civil and political rights – mostly goal 16

• Equality and non-discrimination – Goals 5, 10, 16

• Right to Development - Goals 17, 13See OHCHR table on interlinkages

Alignment of international standards-at the level of recommendations

Claimsrightfrom

Fulfilsresponsibility

towards

Rights holders

Duty bearersEnabled to respect,

protect and fulfill rightsParticipation

Accountability Enabled to hold duty bearer to

account

Further the realization of Human Rights for all

(equality and non-discrimination)

Right-holders:

6,652,595,567 persons

▪ Every individual, either a man woman or child, of any race, ethnic group or social condition

▪ To some extent groups

(environment as an emerging collective right of both current and future generations)

Duty-bearers:

Fewer…

▪ Primarily States

▪ In some cases individuals have specific obligations

▪ Individuals and private entities have generic responsibilities towards the community to respect the rights of others

(Duty bearers have a two-fold obligation to relevant HR standards as well as other relevant ones)

Rights-holders & Duty-bearers

HRBA VALUE-ADD

HRBA does not replace but adds value to other development approaches

Normative/intrinsic valueUniversal legal standards for a life with dignity

Instrumental valueContributes to more sustainable development outcomes Ensures a higher quality of the processClarifies the purpose of capacity development

Institutional reasons Impartiality to deal with sensitive issuesHolistic analysis and integral responses to problemsLifts sectoral blinkers

Country Analysis

GATHERING INFORMATIONAbout development problems from existing sources,

esp. national treaty reports and observations and

recommendations from treaty bodies

ANALYSISOf root causes &

their linkages

ASSESSMENTShortlist major development problems

for deeper analysis

1. CAUSAL ANALYSISGetting to root causes

Legal, Institutional, and policy frameworks

2. ROLE/PATTERN

ANALYSIS

3. CAPACITY GAP

ANALYSIS

Analysis in 3 steps

WHAT IS IT?

•The essential first step for HRBA and RBM.

•A technique for identifying causes of a problemwhich can then be used to formulate appropriateresponses.

•We can map the problem and its causes in theform of a problem tree.

CAUSALITY ANALYSIS

STEP 1

Causes of a problem

Manifestation

Immediate causes

Underlying causes

Root causes

Causality analysis

Development challenge

Manifestation

Root causes

Society, patterns of discrimination n, exclusion and powerlessness

Underlying causes

Services, Access, Policies, Practices

Immediate causes

Status

Step 1: Causal analysis | “Why?”

Problem TreeHigh incidence

of maternal mortality

among rural women from

southern districts

Early pregnancies

Inadequate obstetric

care services at the

community level

Contraceptive methods

seen as promoting

Women infidelity

Little awareness of

sexual and reproductive

rights

Insufficient public service

accountability and private sector

regulation

Gender discrimination

Poor planning and implementation capacity

and little priority to maternal health

In the national budgetRoot

causes

Underlying

causes

Immediate

causes

Manifestations

Lack of sensibility and a civil

service culture

RIGHT (article 7 CEDAW, SDG ind.5.5.1.b)

IMMEDIATE CAUSES

UNDERLYING CAUSES

ROOT CAUSES

Disproportionately low number of

women in decision-making bodies

No quotas, no law on gender equality

Women are reluctant to participate

Double burden (work & family)

Prevalence of males at decision-

making level

Non-compliance with international

and national commitments on gender equality

Lack of participatory approach; non-

influential female NGOs and CSOs

Low wages

No systems supporting

women engaging in politics

Prevailing stereotypes in

traditional social roles

Discrimination

Few political parties in support of gender equality

No recognition of gender problems

by decision makers

Lack of human rights awareness and

gender culture & education

Immediate Causes

Underlying Causes

Root Causes

Problem 1: HIV/AIDS Problem 2: Girl’s Education

Core Problem Area

Gender Discrimination

GROUP WORK: CAUSALITY ANALYSIS/PROBLEM TREE

Deriving info from relevant sources…

•Formulate the problem in terms of what is happening, to whom and where – write it on a card.

•Discuss and identify the immediate, underlying and root causes.

•Build a problem tree.

•Use the problem tree to identify the rights standards and principles that are not being fulfilled.

ASSESSMENT: WHO HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND?

• Why?

• Which rights are stake?

Causality Analysis

• Who has to do something about it?

• What area their obligations (duty bearers) and entitlements (rights holders)?

Role and obligations

analysis

• What do they need to take action?

Capacity gaps

analysis

Analysis in three

steps

STEP 2

Rights holders

Who are they?

What are their claims?

Check what the human right standards say about their

claims and duties.

Duty bearers

Who are they?

What are their duties?

Check also what role is expected from rights-holders

& duty bearers in national laws, procedures and policies

• ROLE• OBLIGATIONS

ANALYSIS

STEP 2

EXAMPLE: RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Rights Holder Claim: ensure access to quality primary and secondary education without discrimination.

Capacity gaps:

Duty-bearer (1):

School Administration

Obligations: improve physical accessibility to classroom and toilets, ensure teachers attendance.

Capacity gaps:

Duty-bearer (2):

Provincial Direction of

Education

OBs.: carry out regular inspections in public and private schools and address individual complaints.

Capacity gaps:

Duty Bearer (3):

Ministry of Education

OBs.: promote inclusive education policies, train teachers, adapt textbooks

Capacity gaps:

GROUP WORK: ROLE ANALYSIS

1. From your causal analysis, select one of thecauses in which you want to focus on andhighlight why you chose it.

2. Identify a main right-holder and a critical claim.

3. Identify the max. 3 duty-bearers who shoulddo something about that claim and their mostcritical obligations.

Rights Holder: Claim: Capacity gaps:

Duty-bearer (1): Obligations: Capacity gaps:

Duty-bearer (2): OBs.: Capacity gaps:

Duty Bearer (3): OBs.: Capacity gaps:

EXAMPLE: RIGHT TO EDUCATION

ASSESSMENT: WHO HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND?

• Why?

• Which rights are stake?

Causality Analysis

• Who has to do something about it?

• What area their obligations (duty bearers) and entitlements (rights holders)?

Role and obligations

analysis

• What do they need to take action?

Capacity gap

analysis

Analysis in three

steps

STEP 3

Can?

- Knowledge

- Resources (human, technical and financial)

Organizational abilities

Want?

- Responsibility/ motivation / Leadership

Should?

- Authority

Duty bearers’ capacity

elements:

Can?

- Knowledge

- resources

Individual abilities

Want?

- Security

- Motivation

Enabling environment

- Right to participate

- Information

- Freedom of association and expression

Rights-holders’ capacity

elements:

Capacity Gap

Analysis

Step 3

GROUP WORK: CAPACITY GAP ANALYSIS

Based on the role analysis:

1. Go back to the right-holders claim and selectthe 2 to 3 most critical correspondingduty-bearers obligations.

2. For each RH and DB, identify their keycapacity gaps.

→The things that prevent duty bearers fromperforming their roles and rights-holdersfrom claiming their rights.

3. List the key capacity gaps identified.

Rights Holder: Claim: Capacity gaps:

Duty-bearer (1): Obligations: Capacity gaps:

Duty-bearer (2): OBs.: Capacity gaps:

Duty Bearer (3): OBs.: Capacity gaps:

EXAMPLE: RIGHT TO EDUCATION

GALLERY

Your opportunity to “visit” other groups and give feedback

Organise your 3 steps on the wall

Choose one person to stay with your analysis to answer questions

Causality Analysis: Is there a logical flow in the causality analysis and clarity ofproblems, particularly at lower level of framework?

Role Analysis: Are the claims and obligations intuitive and presented in plainlanguage – when you read an obligation can you imagine a corresponding action?

Capacity Gaps: Is there sufficient attention to capacity gaps that address the lowerlevels of the framework – related to critical gaps in legal, institutional and policy andbudgetary frameworks?

Gender Dimension: How well does the analysis reflect the different ways that womenand men experience the development challenge? Will the capacities address the rootcauses of gender inequality?

!! Remember to leave comments on post-it notes!!

What can OHCHR offer? Tools to build capacities on thematic human

rights issues to realize SDGs

Manual and Trainers Guide on the

CRPD (available)

Trainers Guide: on National

Preventive Mechanisms against

Torture (NPMs) (about to be

finalized)

More human rights treaty specific Trainers

Guides, e.g.

on the International Covenants on Civil and

Political and Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights (under development)

Fact Sheets: on certain

rights, e.g. right to

health, right to

adequate food, right

to water, forced

evictions, right to

development

(available)