Content Overview:
Workshop Summary
Field Experience and Success Stories
Important Documents
Archive
The CHR network confirms the usefulness of the Human Rights Based Approach as a conceptual framework for development cooperation. Participants understand the HRBA not as a technocratic instrument to be handled by law experts but rather as a guiding principle drawing from international rights and legal standards to guide the work of practitioners. It facilitates the strategic choice of actors and advocates for a more integrated and comprehensive approach to programme planning with a long term perspective.
The HRBA approach has been in the focus of the first two days of the seminar. It started with an exposé of the complementary mandates and activities of SDC and PD IV by Corinne Huser and Andrea Aeby. The pillars of the conceptual framework were recalled by Erika Schläppi. Case studies from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Sudan and Mongolia documented how the HRBA is shaped differently in different contexts – examples that created an understanding of the importance to apply HRBA with a sense for the local context. Although it has to be culturally sensitive and build on local traditions, the HRBA is universal and its applicability is not limited to countries and contexts challenged in the field of human rights.
HRBA in a nutshell:
- All programmes of development cooperation should further the realization of human rights as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights charters. The HR are universal, inalienable and indivisible.
- Human rights standards and principles guide all development cooperation and all phases of the programming process.
- Development cooperation contributes to enhance the capacities of:
◾duty-bearers to meet their obligations
◾right-holders to claim their rights
HRBA can be applied in a wide range of thematic fields. Corinne Huser illustrated how the HRBA enhances development results on community and policy level drawing from her experience with a comprehensive water and sanitation project in Bangladesh.
Participants discussed the key concepts with regard to gender mainstreaming, to opportunities and risks of HRBA in fragile situations and non-Western cultures, as well as the approaches towards governmental actors (duty bearers) and the civil society (right holders).
Main conclusion: HRBA is no blueprint for development results. It is however a useful lens, which provides a strategic look and long term perspective on programme planning and implementing from the very outset. It further helps to overcome a narrow focus on a restricted group of beneficiaries and invites to work within a larger system integrating civil society and government actors on various levels.
Find below a non-exhaustive list of points participants found a common understanding on:
- Universal character: HRBA is based on international legal frameworks ratified by Switzerland and all member states of the UN.
- Cultural sensitivity: Despite its universal character, the HRBA is not a one-size-fits all approach, but ought to be applied in a culturally sensitive manner. In non-Western contexts it is recommended under certain conditions to use HRBA without explicitly name it. The term “human rights” is sometimes perceived as a concept of Western origin, serving hidden Western interests. Best results are therefore achieved when building on humanitarian principles and bodies of law drawn from the local context and tradition. This is especially useful for conservative Islamic contexts.
- Whole of government approach: To maximize the impact of our action emphasis has to be put on an integrated Swiss approach, which benefits from the complementary expertise of different Swiss actors such as SDC, PD IV, SECO and other actors
- Focus on tangible results: The HRBA is a means, not a goal. Our first preoccupation is not methodical orthodoxy handling the tool but to achieve tangible results on the ground, for example by improving people’s access to public services or by improving legal standards.
- Take the context as a starting point: The HRBA is not a one-size-fits-all approach, which is to be adapted mandatory to any programme in any context. It requires first of all a thorough context analysis. The HRBA is a useful tool specifically in contexts with burning HR issues, that undermine the development process. It may not be applied in any given context with the same priority and in the same fashion.
- Bottom up approach: To get to sustainable results on the systemic level the HRBA starts from the bottom rather than from the top. Creating tangible results on the community level is a good starting point to focus on systemic change on regional and national level.
- The HRBA is a value added to our project work, because…
◾…it helps to sharpen our analysis in terms of rights and duties. It means to adapt a more comprehensive and integrated approach going beyond community borders, for example by including other communities and the local government, by working with different actors (political and technical) and different levels (local, regional and national governments)
◾… it demands a strategic choice of actors from the very outset of our operations
◾…it requires continuous discussions strengthening interaction between government actors and communities
◾…it means to talk with communities not only about their rights, but also about their duties and obligations
Open questions:
- How to combine the HRBA with the bilateral agenda of Switzerland?
- How to engage with other actors (international organizations, NGO’s)?
- How to ensure the sustainability of our action?
- How to measure results on the short, medium and long term?
Thomas Jenatsch
Dead Sea, June 25, 2011
Benoît Meyer-Bisch (SDC Afghanistan) on the application of the Human Rights Based Approach for projects aiming at improving the access to water situation in Afghanistan, and its complementarity with other tools:
(Video: Martina Schmidt, Sophie Delessert, Tobias Sommer)
Betty Araba (SDC Southern Sudan) on human rights issues in the conflict affected regions of Sudan and SDC’s engagement in the protection of civilians:
(Video: Tobias Sommer)
Matthias Meier (SDC Mongolia) on the recent break-through of the livelihood conditions for Mongolian mining workers:
(Video: Sophie Delessert, Martina Schmidt)
SDC HR Policy 2006 [PDF]
SDC’s Human Rights Policy: Towards a Life in Dignity – Realising rights for poor people.
Key questions HRBA 2008 [PDF]
Implementation of Governance as a Transversal Theme with a Human Rights Based Approach – Key Questions for the Project Cycle Management.
References: HR & Development [PDF]
Human rights and development / Human rights based approaches to development: Selected references.
A detailed programme of the two sessions of the workshop on HRBA can be downloaded here: HRBA: Detailed Programme
General Objectives for this block:
- To take stock: What is our understanding of and approach to hr and the hrba at heatquarters, in the field?
- To build common ground on concepts and approaches
- To identify and discuss challenges, open questions and future priorities
Thursday, June 23, morning session
HRBA concepts and SDC’s approach – Objectives for the session
- Participants are introduced to the human rights and development scene, including the roles and positions of SDC and PDIV.
- Participants get more familiar with the concept of human rights and the hrba methodology.
- Participants exchange and reflect about the potentials and challenges linked to human rights in various contexts, and list open questions.
Friday, June 24, morning session
HRBA in context and practice – Objectives for the session
- Participants know more about the HRBA in practice, particularly with regard to the right to water.
- Participants get familiar with the role and responsibilities of the main actor on Swiss human rights policy,
the Political Division IV with regard to human rights standard setting in the field of water. - Participants exchange about operational experience with integrating hr in development cooperation.
- Participants identify questions to be considered for the agenda of the network.
