Frequently Asked Questions on Human Rights-Based Approach

systems, a human rights-based approach can greatly reinforceprogress towards gender equality.Gender mainstreaming and a human rights-based approachto development have much in common. Both relyon an analytical framework that can be applied to alldevelopment activities (for the former, the different situationexperienced and roles played by men and women ina given society; and for the latter, a normative frameworkbased on entitlements and obligations). Both call attentionto the impact of activities on the welfare of specificgroups, as well as to the importance of empowerment andparticipation in decision-making. Both apply to all stagesof activity (design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation)and to all types of action (legislation, policies andprogrammes). Finally, both require the systematic adoptionof new and different approaches to existing activities,as distinct from developing new and additional activities.In most organizations, gender mainstreaming is a more familiarconcept than human rights mainstreaming. Structuresand processes set up to ensure gender mainstreaming can beemulated or adapted to facilitate the introduction of a humanrights-based approach to programming more generally. But,equally, there is a need to learn from situations where gendermainstreaming has failed. If staff perceive mainstreaminggender (or human rights) as a bureaucratic or technicalrequirement without real implications for their own work, andif internal incentive structures are weak and lines of accountabilityunclear, the approach may have no impact.19 Can a human rights-based approachhelp to resolve conflicts betweendifferent stakeholders in development?Yes. While development is not a zero-sum game, all entitlementscannot be realized for all people at once. Clashesof interest are inevitable, and development actors can profoundlyinfluence the pattern of winners and losers nationally.Conflicts swept under the carpet and grievances ignoredcan be recipes for violent confrontation. Conversely, andmore positively, non-violent conflict can help create spacefor dialogue and generate impetus for social change.Human rights: a framework to resolve conflictover competing claims for shared resourcesThe World Commission on Dams was an independent bodysponsored by the World Bank to review the performance of largedams and make recommendations for future planning of waterand energy projects. In 2000, after two years of investigation intodam development projects, it released a final report, Dams anddevelopment: A new framework for decision-making. The reportstated that, given the significance of rights-related issues aswell as the nature and magnitude of potential risks for all partiesconcerned, human rights should be the fundamental referencepoint in all initiatives concerning dams.The World Commission on Dams held that, in the future, not onlydams but the entire development debate would require a rightsbasedapproach where recognition of rights and assessment ofrisks would provide the basis for negotiated decisions on damsand their alternatives. That rights-based approach, accordingto the World Commission on Dams, should include a processto assess reparations and environmental restoration as well asdevelopment of plans for sharing the benefits.With human rights in mind, development programmes andactors can help to address and manage conflict, for instance:For further information on the World Commission on Dams,see http://www.dams.org//docs/overview/wcd_overview.pdf.By undertaking social impact assessments and riskanalysis prior to any significant development policyinitiative or programme, with provision for participatorymonitoring throughout.19