Human Rights-based Approach Research Articles

Humanizing Bureaucracy: Applying the Human Rights-Based Approach to Weber’s Bureaucracy

Abstract Weber’s bureaucracy has persisted in the public administration literature as a lens through which to analyze organizational structures. The “ideal type,” however, was never meant to be ideal; despite this, it has become a default framework for structuring and studying organizations, as if they should be structured as such. At the same time, research on bureaucracy often explores its negative impacts, such as the value of merit that has become so enmeshed in law and policies, it can neglect to account for performance and diverse abilities, and rules that have evolved into red tape and constrain bureaucratic behavior. These raise questions about the dehumanizing effects of bureaucracy, something Weber himself cautioned. Using a human rights-based approach, we seek to understand Weber’s bureaucracy through the lens of human rights, and offer suggestions for how to structure organizations that are fair, equitable, and oriented around the human condition. We argue that a human- and human rights-centered approach to bureaucracy requires rethinking the way in which we assess bureaucratic outcomes by prioritizing fundamental human rights values, such as nondiscrimination, participation, freedom, access, and inclusion over neoliberal preferences, which in turn impact employee and client well-being and the structure of the organization itself.

New global WHO postnatal guidance is welcome but misses the long-term perspective

Despite high rates of maternal mortality, widespread and persistently severe maternal morbidity, and suboptimum breastfeeding rates,1–3 postnatal care attracts little attention from policy makers. The WHO Recommendations on Maternal and Newborn Care for a Positive Postnatal Experience,4 issued on March 30, 2022, are therefore important. Recommendations intended for healthy women and newborn babies reflect a human rights-based approach to support a positive postnatal experience that accords with the WHO vision for better-quality maternity care5 and complements existing WHO pregnancy and birth guidance.

ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK? INTERPRETING ‘PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP’ IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

AbstractThe article tests the claim of feminist scholars that concerns about gender have been marginalised in refugee law, by exploring the interpretation given to the concept of a ‘Particular Social Group’ set out in the 1951 Refugee Convention. It is argued that recent practice at the supranational level in the European Union has contributed to the deterioration of refugee protection standards for women seeking asylum from gender-based violence. However, the article demonstrates that a human rights-based approach to the interpretation of ‘Particular Social Group’, which is supported by extensive examples of good practice in individual Member States, has the potential to redress this.

Girls’ Rights to Education in Chadereka Muzarabani District, Zimbabwe: A perspective on Sustainable Development Goal Number 5

Abstract The study unearthed embedded factors that hinder Muzarabani District from achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by 2030. Main research focus is how far has Zimbabwe’s rural areas such as the Chadereka community achieved gender equality and empowerment of women and girls with respect to the 2030 target. The research further explores reasons why there is a high number of girls of school-going age outside the school system. A human rights-based approach guided the study’s arguments. The research utilised a case study design while a thematic analysis was used for data analysis. A qualitative methodology was employed while key informant interviews, focus group discussions and observations were used to collect data with purposive sampling being adopted in the selection of respondents. A total of 20 participants were chosen and they included; three men (a villager, a chief and a village head); five girls; five women; two officials from the DA’s office who consisted of the DA and an official dealing with women, children and disability, and development; two officials from local NGOs, a school head and two female teachers. The study found that women in Chadereka were still in a perpetual state of domination by their male counterparts due to persistent gender stereotypes, school setting related challenges and climatic variances that impacted on the education and ultimate emancipation of the girl child.

No Remedy to Cholera in Haiti: How the UN Undermines Human Rights

Abstract UN Peacekeepers stationed on the banks of Haiti’s largest river, the Artibonite, unleashed a cholera epidemic upon the country ten years ago, but the almost one million people affected still have not seen justice. This, despite the mobilization of grassroots organizations, human rights professionals, students, journalists and independent experts in international human rights law. This article aims to articulate rights violations in the Haiti cholera case, discuss the lack of accountability, and analyse efforts by advocates to overcome obstacles to justice through a multi-faceted intervention involving the UN Special Procedures system. Human rights-based approaches to UN accountability coupled with analyses of the UN’s organizational immunity foreground the continued lack of remedy for the victims of cholera, which is a violation of their human rights attributable to the UN. In conducting public advocacy and investigating the issue of UN responsibility for cholera in Haiti, UN Special Rapporteurs like Philip Alston also relied on a human-rights based approach that built some public pressure for accountability. While advocates continue to push for accountability after a 10-year epidemic, and accountability is possible, the as-yet unsatisfactory resolution to the Haiti cholera case points to a need for UN reform to create more local, democratic structures of governance that are responsive to human rights obligations, in the face of considerable political, economic and social forces in Haiti and internationally that weigh against accountability.

An Energy Justice Approach to Resolving the Conflict between the Development of Energy Access Projects and Human Rights Risks and Violations in Africa: Can a Balance be Struck?

This article addresses the potential widespread conflict between the development of energy access projects and human rights risks and violations in Africa. While this conflict is well known in the continent of Africa due largely to the need to increase energy access, solutions to tackle it are scarce. This article proposes using the United Nations (UN) Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) strategically to create a new framework to conceptualize and solve such conflict. For this purpose, it analyses the effectiveness of the HRBA framework, whilst highlighting some of the challenges facing its implementation in African countries. The article concludes that until human rights risks and violations – considered to be ‘energy injustice’ concerns – are mainstreamed through the HRBA framework and its principles into the plan and development of energy access projects, the conflict will continue to rise and may become another dilemma similar to the environmental protection and energy development discourse in Africa.

Nutrition care as a health policy in the 21st century: A phenomenological study.

Addressing the high prevalence of disease-related malnutrition (DRM) requires political will. The aim of this study is to define DRM as a health public policy issue from the point of view of the stakeholders. We conducted a qualitative phenomenological study consisting of grey data search and individual semi-structured in-depth interviews with stakeholders (policy-makers, academics, and civil society organization representatives) from 17 Latin American countries. The analyzed themes reflected ideas repeatedly found across the interviews. 26 respondents were interviewed (5 policy-makers, 18 academics, 3 civil society organizations representatives). The grey data research and interviews showed that Brazil and Costa Rica were the only countries in the Region that had developed a specific public health policy addressing DRM and nutrition care issues. The rest of the Latin American countries had a nutrition policy which neither addressed DRM specifically nor included nutrition care, with important heterogeneity existing in terms of national regulation of selected nutritional care categories. Stakeholder opinions allowed to identify heterogeneity in the understanding of the nature and causes of DRM, confusing DRM with malnutrition caused by food insecurity and lack of food availability. Policy in the field of clinical nutrition can be addresses from two approaches: interdisciplinarity and a human rights-based approach. DRM is an unaddressed problem by health policy. Due to internal and external factor related to the health systems DRM has not been able to become a public policy issue. The study highlights the need for the development of public policy in clinical nutrition aimed at improving access to nutrition care.

Should a Human Rights-Based Approach to the Homeless be used in the Neoliberal City? Case Study in Bogotá, Colombia

This article reflects on why cities’ beautification frameworks often replace a human rights-based understanding of homeless people. Using Bogotá as a case study, this paper shows that the local government uses a neoliberal discourse regarding the citizens’ perception of safety. This discourse emphasizes the importance of having clean, orderly, and beautiful public spaces in the city to give a perception of safety. Furthermore, this discourse, based on the perception of safety, justifies the implementation of urban renewal projects in the city centre, aimed at beautifying deteriorated buildings and neighbourhoods for attracting capital and tourism to boost the city’s economy. These factors overshadow the human rights-based national laws for the homeless as well as the decisions of Colombia’s Constitutional Court.

Learning in nature: an amplified human rights-based framework

Human beings are spending less time in nature than previous generations. Without opportunities to interact with nature, we are unable to forge deeper connections with the natural world, leading to indifference and unwillingness to protect it. At the same time, climate change has led to biodiversity loss and new threats such as pandemics, making the issue of the disconnection between humans and nature even more pertinent. This article proposes a modified human rights-based framework to education that incorporates nature as an integral part. I draw on UNESCO’s framework for the human rights-based approach to education which entails three distinct dimensions: access to education, educational quality, and educational environment. I argue that introducing nature as a crucial part of the educational environment can contribute to upholding both human rights and the fundamental rights of nature. By drawing on ecopedagogy and Indigenous beliefs underlining a harmonious relationship with nature, we can move away from the current anthropocentric approach and address the environmental crisis in a meaningful way.

Políticas públicas orientadas a la prevención y protección de la primera infancia en el Perú

The implementation of public policies for risk prevention and protection of early childhood continues to be a major challenge for Latin American countries. Although there are international and national regulatory frameworks, policies require articulated multisectoral management with a holistic approach, focusing on developing competencies in those involved in child development: family, school, and community. This process also involves a paradigm shift, banishing the needs-based approach and assuming the human rights-based approach from the perspective of diverse childhoods. The existing regulatory frameworks are still discursive, not operational enough, and disjointed at the different levels of government. This research analyzes the international and national efforts that allowed public policy implementation and reveals how much is being done and how little progress is being made to achieve short and medium-term results that will benefit early childhood.

A Women's Rights-Based Approach to Reducing Child Mortality: Data from 193 Countries Show that Gender Equality does Affect Under-five Child Mortality.

Mother's health and wellbeing significantly affects child health. Women's autonomy can improve healthcare-seeking behaviour, utilisation of healthcare services, and planned pregnancy, thereby improving child health. The global under-five mortality rate (U5MR) has seen the fastest decline in the past two decades, but the influence of gender equality on child mortality remains unaddressed. A strategic approach addressing gender equality is needed to reduce the U5MR further. The study aimed to identify andinvestigate the association between indicators of gender equality and U5MR using a human rights-based approach. We analysed open-source secondary data from international agencies comprising 521 gender-sensitive variables for 193 countries. Nine variables were included for the final Structural Equation Model based on the theoretical model. Model 1 consisted of 193 countries, and Model 2 comprised a subgroup analysis of 11 variables for 158 countries. Gender equality was a latent variable, and the U5MR was the outcome variable. Gender equality was significantly associated with U5MR (Z = -7.47, 95% CI = -754.67 to -440.98, p < 0‧001, n = 193 for Model 1, and Z = -7.71, 95% CI = -808.26 to -480.72, p < 0‧001, n = 158 for Model 2). Female education, women's waged and salaried employment, women as employers, and women's representation in leadership and parliament enhanced gender equality, whereas the prevalence of child marriage and intimate partner violence (IPV) negatively affected gender equality. Improvement in gender equality significantly reduced U5MR. CONCLUSIONSFOR PRACTICE: Improving women's economic, educational, and social position and increasing female representation in higher leadership and policymaking positions is the key to reducing child mortality. Notably, eliminating child marriage and IPV is the key to achieving gender equality and is needed at the forefront of national policies. Gender equality can significantly improve women's reproductive autonomy, a critical factor in improving healthcare utilisation for women and their children.

Reconsidering corruption as a violation of the rights to equality and non-discrimination based on poverty in South Africa

Many international organisations and national institutions such as, for example, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, Transparency International, and the Constitutional Court of South Africa have agreed that corruption has a negative impact on the realisation and enjoyment of human rights. Vulnerable and marginalised groups are disproportionally impacted when it comes to the realisation of their socio-economic rights. This is especially the case where corruption limits access to quality and affordable social services essential for the realisation of rights such as the rights to adequate housing, sanitation, education, and healthcare. This article argues that the criminal law approach, traditionally employed to fight corruption, is not sufficient to address the social harm caused by corrupt acts and omissions. It is argued that a human rights-based approach, grounded in the principles of accountability, empowerment, participation, and non-discrimination, must be employed to provide adequate remedies to the victims of corruption. This article specifically explores the possible violation of the rights to equality and non-discrimination, where corrupt acts or omissions result in limited access to social services for one of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society, the poor. This argument is based on the recent judgment by the Equality Court in Social Justice Coalition v Minister of Police 2019 (4) SA 82 (WCC), where the Court found that poverty constitutes an unspecified ground for discrimination, as envisioned by the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000. It is found that the state’s failure to adequately prevent corruption, particularly where corruption results in the limitation of access to quality and affordable social services such as education, housing, and healthcare, that are essential for the realisation of rights, impairs the fundamental human dignity of those living in poverty and adversely affects the realisation of their rights in a comparably serious manner. Thus, under a human rights-based approach, rights holders can hold the state accountable for violating duties, to which they are legally obliged under the human rights framework due to corrupt acts and omissions.

Legal empowerment of the poor (LEP) in fragile and conflict affected areas (FCAS)

The United Nations Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor estimated i in 2008 that there were 4 billion people who lived outside the protection of the law. More recently, in 2019 it was estimated that 4.5 billion people are excluded from ii opportunities that the law provides . By 2030, 85% of those remaining in extreme poverty – some 342 million people – will be in Fragile and Conflict Affected Areas (FCAS), situations in which the rule of law is almost non-existent. For many of the excluded, the law is an abstraction or a form of punitive threat, not something that they can use to exercise their basic rights. The idea behind the inclusion of access to justice under Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) on peace justice and strong institutions, was in part for legal empowerment of the poor (LEP), in conflict and post-conflict zones. The legal empowerment of the poor is rooted in a human rights-based approach in which markets and human rights interact. The four pillars of LEP are access to justice and the rule of law, and property, labour and business rights. It also admits the fact that every individual should have access to justice, which includes a due process of law and remedies to eradicate discrimination. This paper considers the special requirements for pursuing LEP in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (FCAS) such as legitimate politics, security, and rebuilding social and economic foundations.

From Digital Authoritarianism to Platforms’ Leviathan Power: Freedom of expression in the digital age under siege in Africa

The right to freedom of expression on the internet is under constant siege in Africa due to the actions of States and social media platforms. Many African States have been implementing various authoritarian techniques to trammel freedom of expression in the digital age, including internet shutdowns, repressive national security laws, internet censorship and digital surveillance. Social media companies, on the other hand, exert unbridled power over user-generated contents on their platforms. Their discretionary power to moderate content continues to threaten the right to freedom of expression in Africa. For example, the tug of war between the Nigerian government and Twitter following Twitter’s removal of President Buhari’s speech epitomises how social media platforms are policing free speech in Africa. I argue that African States must end the practice of digital authoritarianism and robustly respect and protect freedom of expression on the internet based on a human rights-based approach in limiting speech. Beyond superficial human rights vocabulary, platforms must also take human rights seriously and ensure that content moderation practices are guided by human rights-based approach.

The Obligations of Prevention, Protection and Assistance to Victims of Trafficking

Abstract The emphasis on the prevention of the crime and the protection and assistance to victims of crime in international and European anti-trafficking instruments is a prominent example of the human rights-based approach to human trafficking. However, there is room for further improvement. This article reflects on the needs of trafficking victims in light of theoretical and practical implications of relevant international and European instruments with the aim of defining future action.

The Human Rights-Based Approach to Carbon Finance by Damilola S. Olawuyi

The Human Rights-Based Approach to Carbon Finance by Damilola S. Olawuyi

Re-thinking Human Rights-Based Approach in the Context of Refugee Education

The study aims to critically explore whether the characteristics of the Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) are embedded in day-to-day practices and perspectives of stakeholders in the context of refugee education. While scholarly work on refugee education has focused on the refugee population resettled in industrialized countries, the study explores how, and to what extent, the HRBA to education goals set out by the UN are being implemented in the so-called global South contexts where the majority of refugees are currently located. Drawing from a compelling case study of the Mae La refugee camp located on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, this study adopts an ethnographically informed qualitative method to describe and analyze the service delivery and stakeholders perspectives in the education provision of non-state actors. It highlights the current lack of concurrence between the approaches of the moral duty-bearers and suggests that education should be provided based on human rights, rather than merely needs or charity in the conflict-affected context.

Regulating Artificial Intelligence through a Human Rights-Based Approach in Africa

Abstract While the dawn of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions have aided in solving some of societal challenges, globalization and technological innovation potentially have the capability to disrupt, suspend, or change existing legal order, preventing the realization of business and human rights principles. For example, with AI-enabled systems, Africans can now access better healthcare, education, health, and transportation. However, AI has the potential to undermine human rights concerns. This article contextualizes the usage of AI systems and its implications for human rights violations. With particular reference to Africa, it gives an overarching context capable of constructing legal reactions to corporate related human rights violations. Some of the questions posed are: What are the ways human rights can be protected from exploitative tendencies of AI companies? How can African states, and businesses respond to regulatory challenges triggered by loss of work due to automation? What innovations and new methodologies are to be designed to engage with a sustainable and automated future? Finally, we propose reforms for corporate entities developing and deploying AI to respect human rights.

A human rights-based approach to improve access to insulin and other aspects of diabetes care

Many nations struggle to provide adequate diabetes care. Legal as well as moral obligations may facilitate access. International human rights law places obligations on governments to ensure the accessibility and affordability of insulin (a World Health Organization essential medicine), and other components of diabetes care. Despite this obligation, the global reality is that access remains deficient. A human rights approach facilitating the improvement of diabetes services and equitable access to insulin provides a strong framework, theoretically and practically, for advocacy and policymaking changes. This approach links governments to their international obligations, fosters the ideal of, and adherence to, national essential medicine lists, complements the pursuit of international goals in non-communicable diseases, and should influence the actions of pharmaceutical and device companies. This approach empowers patients, families, and communities living with diabetes, and grounds actions by governments, clinicians, and non-government organisations in the principles of dignity, non-discrimination, and equity of access.

Socio-Economic Characterisation of Resettled Smallholder Farmers in Rural Zimbabwe

The socio-economic characterisation of resettled small-holder farmers under the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in Zimbabwe has blind spots in relation to the emergent transformative social policy features such as ‘social cohesion’, ‘cooperation’, ‘protection’ and ‘accumulation’ which are equally important among land beneficiaries. Using the Sangwe farm, this article departs from the conventional use of the political economy, sustainable livelihoods, human rights-based and neo-patrimonial approaches to experiment with the transformative social policy approach. Using both quantitative and qualitative data in an exploratory research design, the article shows that viewed from the transformative social policy approach, the FTLRP was neither a resounding success nor a complete disaster. The programme actually produced mixed results. The article thus, recommends the use of in-depth, ideologically free and neutral approaches in its analysis so as to reveal its detailed outcomes. Additional studies in which existing land reform policies can be considered in the collective efforts of improving the transformative agenda of the FTLRP across the country are needed.