Human rights

Rights and education, justice, social protection and the environment

This section provides a selection of resources that explore the links between human rights, right-based approaches and a selection of sectors and themes. They include donor guidance and policy statements, academic research, and advocacy papers. Many of these documents aim to show how a rights-based approach helps to enhance existing sectoral work. The indivisibility or interdependence of rights also demonstrates that cross-sectoral working is essential for realising rights.

Rights help to move beyond predominantly technical approaches, to recognise the need to address the wider political and social environment within which programmes occur. Rights often necessitate the use of new language or ways of thinking about how to make decisions and prioritise, with implications for policy formation.

Page contents

Education
Justice
Social protection
Environment

Education

This manual provides a guide to the relevant treaties, summarises the progress of various national strategies, and outlines how and why to link strategies to the legal framework.

Tomasevski, K., 2004, 'Manual on Rights-based Education: Global Human Rights Requirements Made Simple', UNESCO, Bangkok
How can rights-based strategies be used for furthering the goal of Education for All (EFA) by 2015? This manual by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) strives to mainstream human rights in education in order to contribute both to EFA and to the fulfilment of the right to education. It highlights the relevant human rights standards and how they could best be translated into education practice at the micro level. It also points to the key human rights questions that ought to be addressed at the macro level.
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This paper reviews economic and rights-based approaches to health and education provision, weighing up each perspective and arguing that there are potential synergies between the two.

Gauri, V., 2003, 'Social Rights and Economics: Claims to Health Care and Education in Developing Countries', Policy Research Working Paper 3006, World Bank, Washington
What are the foundations and uses of social rights in development? What are the differences and similarities between the rights approach to health care and education, and the economic approach? This article published in World Development analyses both approaches and their policy consequences, and looks at the questions economics poses for rights approaches. It argues that there is considerable overlap between the two and that the differences are not irreconcilable.
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The Right to Education project conducts research and provides access to information and resources on education rights, legal accountability, and social mobilisation.

Justice

The following paper explores the extent to which economic and social rights are protected through law, in an overview of the diverse experiences around the world.

Tomasevski, K., 2005, 'Strengthening Pro-poor Law: Legal Enforcement of Economic and Social Rights', Human Rights and Poverty Reduction Background Paper, ODI, London
How can human rights legislation expose and oppose violations of economic and social rights? This paper from the Overseas Development Institute looks at the key lessons that can be learnt from the relatively recent processes of human rights litigation worldwide. Importantly, the legal enforcement of human rights can support anti-poverty policies, since the poor are more victimised by violations of rights than the rich.
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Piron, L-H., 2005, 'Donor Assistance to Justice Sector Reform in Africa: Living Up to the New Agenda?' Justice Initiative, Open Society
Is donor assistance to promote justice sector reform grounded in an adequate and appropriate understanding of African realities? Does it complement or conflict with the new poverty reduction agenda? This paper from the Overseas Development Institute outlines the history and current status of justice sector aid in sub-Saharan Africa. Justice sector aid could be a pro-poor, long term, developmental endeavour that contributes to the realisation of human rights, but only if key changes take place.
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The GSDRC's topic guide on justice contains information related to human rights, particularly on its access to justice and transitional justice pages.

Social protection

This paper outlines how social protection relates to a broad range of human rights, and how rights-based approaches can contribute to social protection interventions.

Piron, L-H., 2004, 'Rights-Based Approaches to Social Protection', Overseas Development Institute, London.
What can rights based approaches (RBAs) offer to social protection agendas? This paper from the Overseas Development Institute is part of a project commissioned by DFID to assist the development of an institutional policy and approach to social protection programming. It explores the relationship between human rights standards, principles and programming and policies and interventions for social protection in countries worldwide. RBAs offer normative standards and principles, analytical tools and operational guidance and there is a strong congruence between RBAs and social protection.
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Environment

Climate change is threatening the realisation of internationally protected human rights, including the right to life and security; the right to food; the right to subsistence; and the right to health. Moreover, those most affected by climate change are individuals and groups whose rights protections are already precarious. As such, there is increasing attention to human rights discourse and rights-based approaches in the context of climate change.

The following two documents detail how climate change undermines human rights. They also specify how the adoption of human rights principles impact policy-making and create state responsibilities in the areas of climate change mitigation and adaption, as well as private sector obligations.

Raworth, K., 2008, ‘Climate Wrongs and Human Rights: Putting People at the Heart of Climate-Change Policy’, Oxfam Briefing Paper 117, Oxfam International, Oxford
What do human rights principles imply for states’ responsibilities in tackling climate change? What rights-based policy approaches and actions are needed? This paper from Oxfam argues that rich countries are violating the human rights of millions of the world’s poorest people by failing to tackle climate change. Excessive greenhouse-gas emissions cause climatic events which are set to undermine people’s rights to life, security, food, water, health, shelter, and culture on a massive scale. Human rights principles must be put at the heart of climate change policy-making and international legal mechanisms must adapt to global interconnectness in order to stop irreversible damage to humanity’s future.
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International Council on Human Rights Policy, 2008, ‘Climate Change and Human Rights: A Rough Guide’, Versoix, Geneva
How can human rights principles help to focus climate change policymaking? This report from the International Council on Human Rights Policy discusses the human rights impacts of climate change and maps research agendas. Climate change responses can be made more effective if policymakers include human rights thresholds (minimum acceptable levels of protection) when assessing future impacts of climate change and of adaptation and mitigation strategies.
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