Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.

1. Human Rights-Based
Approach to Programming
- UNFPA -
SESSION 2:
Basics of Human Rights

2. Session Overview
• Culture, gender and human rights - an integrated
package
• What are human rights?
• Human rights as a foundation of the UN
• The nature of state obligations
• Examples of human rights
• Accountability
• Key points
Over-
arching
frame
Basics of
human
rights

3. Culture, Gender and Human Rights
• Culture, gender and human rights are
inter-linked

4. Human Rights-Based Approach (1)
• A culturally sensitive, gender-responsive, human rights-
based approach has replaced the ‘basic needs’
approach that UNFPA used to follow
• Central elements of a HRBA:
– development programmes further the realization of human rights
– programming is guided by human rights principles, such as
universality, indivisibility, interdependence, equality and non-
discrimination, participation and inclusion, and accountability
– human rights frame the relationship between rights-holders and
duty-bearers

5. Human Rights-Based Approach (2)
• HRBA aims to:
– protect and promote rights
– reduce inequality
– harness the substantive participation of those
who are most affected
• By definition, HRBA is sensitive to
issues of culture and gender

6. Culturally Sensitive Programming
• Culture:
– beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours and traditions
that are learned and shared by virtue of
membership and socialization in groups
• Culturally sensitive approach aims to:
– transform cultural traditions from within by using
societies’ own dynamics of change
– engage social leadership rather than attempt to
dispense with it completely

7. Gender
• Gender:
– social attributes and opportunities associated with
being male and female
– relationships between women and men and girls and
boys
– relations between women and between men
• UNFPA policy calls for :
– gender equality to be mainstreamed across all
UNFPA’s activities
– programme components that explicitly support
women’s empowerment

8. Gender-Responsive Programming
• Within UNFPA, application of gender-responsive
approach requires understanding of causes of
discrimination and unequal power relations between men
and women in specific contexts.
• Given that achieving gender equality and eliminating all
forms of discrimination are at the heart of a HRBA,
HRBAs and gender-responsive approaches are
inextricably related and should be integrated.

9. How are These Three Approaches
Interconnected?
Culturally-
sensitive
approach
Gender-
responsive
approach
Human
rights-
based
approach

10. Basic Concepts and
Principles of Human Rights

11. What Are Human Rights?
• Human rights are intrinsic values that give
all human beings dignity

12. Characteristics of Human Rights
• Are universal – the birthright of all human beings
• Focus on the inherent dignity and equal worth of all
human beings
• Cannot be waived or taken away
• Impose obligations upon States and State actors to
respect, protect and fulfil human rights
• Are internationally guaranteed
• Are legally protected

13. Human Rights in Your Work
Everyone
enjoys this
right
Most people
enjoy this
right
Some people
enjoy this
right
A few people
enjoy this
right
No one
enjoys this
right

14. Examples of Human Rights
• Right to life
• Right to health (including mental health, reproductive
health, sexual health, etc.)
• Right to decide the number and spacing of children
• Right to privacy
• Right to education
• What other examples can you share?
Can you give examples of UNFPA activities that promote
these rights?

15. The International Human
Rights Legal Regime

16. The International Human Rights Legal Regime (1)
• Human rights are codified in treaties
• The international human rights regime as we know it
evolved within the United Nations
– a fundamental purpose of the UN is to promote human rights
– the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the cornerstone
document of the modern human rights movement

17. The International Human Rights Legal Regime (2)
• Treaties and other legally binding documents
– The Charter of the United Nations
– Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
– International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
– International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR)
– Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
– Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
– Convention on Migrant Workers (CMW)
– Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

18. Treaty Terminology
• Ratification - what does this mean?
• Accession - how is this different from
ratification?
• Signature - what is expected of a State
Party if it has just signed, but not ratified, a
treaty?
• Reservations - what are these?

19. Progressive Realization
• Allows governments to take steps towards
the progressive achievement of the full
realization of human rights
• Governments cannot use progressive
realization as an excuse for deferring their
efforts!

20. Example of Immediate Obligations
• According to the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, the following
obligations are of immediate effect:
– obligation not to discriminate
– obligation to take steps targeted deliberately
towards the full realization of the rights in
question
– obligation to monitor progress in the
realization of human rights

21. Action 2 slide
Regional Human Rights Systems
Europe:
Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms
Americas:
American Convention on
Human Rights and Pact San
José, Costa Rica on economic,
social and cultural rights
Africa:
African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights
Arab States:
Arab Charter on Human Rights
• European Court of Human
Rights
• Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights
• Inter-American Court of
Human Rights
• African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights
• African Court on Human
and Peoples’ Rights

22. Action 2 slide
Links Between International, Regional and
National Systems
• International and regional norms require national
implementation to be effective
• National norms should be consistent with
international and regional Standards
• International and regional judicial protection when
national remedies have been exhausted
• International and regional protection are
complementary

23. Additional Protections for
Human Rights
• Declarations, recommendations, conferences and codes of
conduct generally regarded as having moral force and
providing a guiding reference to States, include:
– The ICPD Programme of Action
– The Beijing Declaration and Platform For Action
– The Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS
– The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women
• These commitments have helped to create new
approaches for considering the extent of government
accountability for health and gender issues
• ICPD is of particular relevance and significance to UNFPA

24. ICPD and Human Rights
• The fifteen principles outlined in the ICPD PoA are
based on fundamental human rights drawn from
international human rights treaties, such as:
– All human beings are born free and equal in dignity
and rights (grounded in rights to equality, non-
discrimination, liberty)
– Advancing gender equality and equity and the
empowerment of women, the elimination of
violence against women, and ensuring women’s
ability to control their own fertility (grounded in
rights to health, life, equality, freedom to decide the
timing and spacing of children, etc.)

25. Obligations to Respect, Protect,
Fulfil
• What are a government’s obligations when
it comes to human rights?

26. Human Rights Obligations
Duty-bearer’s obligation to:
Respect Protect Fulfil
prevent others
from interfering
with the enjoyment
of the right
refrain from
interfering with the
enjoyment of the
right
adopt appropriate
measures towards
full realization of
the right
Action 2 slide

27. Accountability
Accountability is the process whereby governments/public
service organizations/other institutions and the individuals
within them are held responsible for their decisions and
actions, including their stewardship of public funds,
fairness, and all aspects of performance, in accordance
with agreed rules, contracts, and standards, and fair and
accurate reporting on performance results vis-à-vis
mandated roles and/or plans.
UNFPA Accountability Framework, Report of the Executive Director,
DP/FPA/2007/20.

28. Action 2 slide
The Human Rights Council
What is it?
A subsidiary body
of the General
Assembly
composed of
Member States.
It replaces the UN
Commission on
Human Rights
What does it do?
• promotes universal protection
• addresses and prevents
violations
• develops international law
• reviews compliance of Member
States
• responds to emergencies
• creates [I ADDED
CREATES/OK?] OK
international forum for dialogue

29. Action 2 Slide
International Mechanisms:
The Role of Treaty Bodies
Monitor and facilitate the implementation of the treaty
through:
• examination of State party reports and additional
sources of information
• observations and recommendations
• General Comments on HR standards contained in
the treaty
• examination of individual complaints (some of
them) DO YOU NEED SOME OF THEM HERE
AND IN NEXT ITEM? NO
• confidential enquiries (some of them)

30. Treaty Monitoring Bodies
• Examples of TMBs:
– The Human Rights Committee monitors compliance
with the ICCPR
– The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women monitors implementation of CEDAW
– The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights monitors implementation of the ICESCR

31. Action 2 slide
International Mechanisms:
Special Procedures
Countries:
– Burundi
– Cambodia
– DPRK
– Haiti
– Myanmar
– OPTs NOT SURE
WHAT COUNTRY THIS
IS It’s Palestine and the
Acronym is correct
– Somalia
– Sudan
Thematic mandates include:
– right to highest attainable standard of health
– right to education
– extreme poverty
– right to food
– freedom of opinion
– freedom of religion
– IDPs
– migrants
– indigenous people
– violence against women

32. Action 2 slides
National Human Rights
Protection Systems
• Constitutional and legislative frameworks
• Effective institutions (parliaments,
governments, judiciary, public administration,
HR institutions)
• Policies, procedures and processes
• Vibrant civil society

33. UNFPA’s Role in Promoting Accountability
• Building closer partnerships between government and
civil society
• Developing government capacity for collecting and
analysing data
• Gender-responsive budgeting
• Supporting governments in their reporting to the Treaty
Monitoring Bodies
• Mainstreaming reproductive rights, gender equality and
population and development issues into ALL UN
activities and processes

34. Different Levels of
Accountability
• Accountability of the government/State
Party
• Accountability of UNFPA (the UN in
general)
• Accountability of individuals - service
providers, teachers, religious leaders, etc.

35. Action 2 slide
International Humanitarian Law…
• Is a set of rules
that seek to limit
the effects of
armed conflict
• Protects persons
who are not or are
no longer taking
part in hostilities
• Restricts the
means and
methods of
warfare
1. on the care of the wounded
and sick members of armed
forces in the field
2. on the care of the wounded,
sick and shipwrecked
members of armed forces at
sea
3. on the treatment of prisoners of
war
4. on the protection of civilian
persons
5. in time of war

36. Exercise
1) HRBA
2) Gender-responsive
programming
3) Human rights
4) Treaties and other
legally binding
documents
5) An important
conference promoting
women’s human rights
a) Focus on the inherent dignity
and equal worth of all
b) The Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action
c) Frames relationship between
rights-holders and duty-
bearers
d) CEDAW
e) Requires understanding of
causes of discrimination and
unequal power relations
between men and women in
specific contexts

37. Conclusion
• Because a HRBA aims to promote and protect rights,
reduce inequality and harness the substantive
participation of those who are most affected, it is by
definition sensitive to issues of culture and gender
• Understanding human rights law and the UN human
rights system is essential to the implementation of a
HRBA
• HRBA is normatively based on international human
rights standards and operationally directed to promoting
and protecting human rights