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The purpose of this paper is to engender new thinking regarding the intersection between universal human rights and development, and associated programmes. This leads to three subsidiary objectives: demonstrating the mutually reinforcing relationship between human rights and development; considering the practical divide between having and exercising a right; understanding the impact of non-state actors; and emphasising the ways in which state capacity and social capabilities need to be enhanced to both transform the consideration of human rights into a meaningful development catalyst and treat development as a significant contributor to human rights endeavours.

The paper begins by exploring the historical and contemporary understanding of the relationship between development and human rights – arguing for the increasing recognition of their mutually reinforcing relationship. The second section analyses the controversy regarding the existence of genuine “universal” human rights; followed by considering whether human rights are mere aspirations or genuine rights – exposing the difficulty of monitoring, evaluating, and enforcing adherence to human rights mandates, particularly given the growth of non-state actors, such as multinational corporations (MNCs)/transnational corporations (TNCs). The paper closes with a call to strengthen social capabilities and state capacities to consolidate the union between development and human rights.

Credence is broadly given to the moral argument for including human rights within a development framework. However, the economic argument remains largely neglected and certainly under-emphasized. Human rights and development should not be viewed or pursued as separate ends in themselves – competing objectives for separate organisations or programmes – but as mutually reinforcing. Both drive the same goal: the inclusive, equitable and qualitative development of human well-being. Further, to transform human rights into meaningful development catalysts one needs to be able to “exercise” the given rights – which in turn calls for strengthening social capabilities and state capacities.

Unlike some previous works, this paper does not prescribe a particular remedy. Rather, accepting the intangibility of human rights and the associated large degree of subjectivity, it provokes the reader to move beyond the strictures of conventional theories and frameworks. For example, the difference between “having” and “exercising” a right – a stark feature of actual practice has frequently been omitted from theoretical discussion. Likewise, the role of non-state actors, such as MNCs and TNCs, and the way in which their power can impede or support development goals and human rights is a relatively new point of discussion demanding further exploration.

The global Clinical Legal Education (CLE) movement transcends borders as law teachers worldwide try to inculcate law students and future legal practitioners with social justice values. One method of achieving this is through developing reflective practitioners. Kolb, finding common ground in the work of Lewin, Dewey, and Piaget, formulated the four stages in the experiential development of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experiment. Although Kolb’s model is used in legal education literature, students may not be provided with the relevant conceptual tools required to engage in reflective practice. This often results in students providing subjective analysis of their work, which fails to fully contribute to their educational experience. One of the reasons for omitting analytical tools is that reflective practice suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity. According to Kinsella, the “concept remains elusive, is open to multiple interpretations, and is applied in a myriad of ways in educational and practice environments”. A further issue hindering reflective practice relates to Donald Schön’s critique of the positivist approach adopted by law schools.

This chapter will apply a human rights framework to CLE to develop reflective practitioners. The two main reasons for this are, first, human rights as formulated by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights are universal, interrelated, and indivisible and, second, reflection based on these universal human rights values will benefit cross-jurisdictional societies in assisting vulnerable clients affected by emerging implied and direct human rights challenges.

To discuss the problem of cultural imperialism as it relates to human rights and to provide a framework for applying human rights to Library and Information Services (LIS) so as to respect diverse worldviews.

The chapter is theoretical in nature but also draws out important practical implications. The problem is described and addressed using the approach of philosophical ethics emphasizing moral pluralism. Political and moral theories are compared and lessons drawn from them for LIS practice.

Drawing on the work of philosopher Jacques Maritain (1949) as well as contemporary human rights theory, an understanding of human rights as pluralistic and evolving practical principles is developed. Using Maritain’s conception of human rights as a set of common principles of action, guidelines for applying human rights in ways that avoid cultural imperialism are provided.

The findings of this chapter should assist LIS professionals in understanding the relationship between human rights and cultural diversity. In addition, it gives professionals a framework for understanding and applying human rights in a ways that respects cultural diversity.

This chapter develops an original approach to applying human rights in a way that respects cultural diversity.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the legal framework and challenges to economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights of women.

This paper focuses on ESC rights of women. ESC rights are recognized under primary instrument International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which is adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1966. States have obligations to respect, protect and fulfil ESC rights. This paper aims to address ESC rights of women in particular. It analyzes the international legal framework including provisions of UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and ICESCR and its optional protocol. It also analyzes provisions of Women’s Convention and identifies its linkage to ICESCR.

ESC rights are not justiciable and growing debate over justiciability is important for consideration. Also, there exist certain challenges for the progressive realization of ESC rights which need to be addressed by analyzing provisions of the existing legal framework and Maastricht Guidelines. The argument developed throughout the paper is that women’s ESC rights may be protected at all levels by the progressive realization of these rights. The issue of justiciability may also be resolved to protect the basic needs and interests of women that leads to their empowerment.

The work is original and not published by any other journal so far.

Two paradoxes constitute the discourse of human rights. One concerns the relationship between “the human” and “the political”; the other invokes the opposition between the universalist moral character of human rights and the practical, particular context in which they become manifest. This chapter argues how and why these paradoxes will not go away – a good thing, too – over and against classical and contemporary writers who have argued for the priority of one or the other. After elucidating the powerful and enduring character of these paradoxes in history and political theory, I argue that human rights discourse only makes sense in terms of the arguably more primary discourses of democracy, political virtue, and justice if it is to avoid being a deceptive, rhetorical cover for dubious political practices.

This chapter highlights how effective school and public libraries not only provide resources and information about human rights but also actually ensure people’s human rights are being met through their resources and programming.

In this chapter, both human rights documents and library policies are studied to see how effective libraries help children and adults reach their full potential as human beings. Findings by other researchers in this area are also discussed. Concrete examples of human rights projects through school and public libraries in Winnipeg, Canada are identified. The benefits of collaboration are also explored.

Knowledgeable and passionate librarians in schools and public libraries are essential in providing quality education and information rights to children and adults. Through effective collaboration with teachers, other libraries and relevant organizations, children and adults have more opportunities to reach their full potential. Canada’s newest school library document called Leading Learning is explored.

This chapter provides a current snapshot of how school and public libraries are collaborating together and with various organizations in Winnipeg, Canada, to promote and ensure human rights for children and adults. Libraries are consciously blending the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the Conventions on the Rights of the Child along with national and international library policy documents to ensure effective access to quality education and information rights for everyone. Dynamic and evolving libraries are also supporting human rights by incorporating innovative concepts, programs and resources such as Universal Design for Learning, Learning Commons, Makerspaces and prison libraries.

This practitioner article uses human rights education (HRE) to frame issues of social justice, particularly anti-Black racism, depicted in the film Till. Teachers cognizant of the need to address racism in American history often struggle to find resources that are accessible and meaningful for their students (Howard and Navarro, 2017; Vickery and Rodriguez, 2022). Furthermore, the use of film in social studies instruction can be an engaging way for students to develop conceptual knowledge and grapple with sensitive issues in history education (Stoddard, 2012).

Till (2022) is a powerful film that teachers can use to pursue anti-racist goals in their classrooms, and HRE provides an approach to analyze a horrible manifestation of racism in American history as well as frame larger systems of injustice. By using widely accepted standards of human dignity, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, teachers can address dimensions of oppression and inequality with a more “neutral” or objective approach.

Given the current political climate that instills fear in educators who teach about racism, HRE can empower social studies teachers to engage students in analysis of a dominant force in American life.

The lesson plan offered in this article includes a film viewing guide, enrichment opportunities and an activity that connects themes in Till and the Civil Rights Movement to human rights concepts.

New technologies have made the increased globalization of information resources and services possible. In this situation, it is ethically and intellectually beneficial to protect cultural and information diversity. This paper analyzes the problems of creating ethically based globally accessible and culturally acceptable knowledge representation and organization systems, and foundation principles for the ethical treatment of different cultures are established on the basis of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The concept of “cultural hospitality”, which can act as a theoretical framework for the ethical warrant of knowledge representation and organization systems, is described. This broad discussion is grounded with an extended example of one cultural universal, the concept of time and its expression in calendars. Methods of achieving cultural and user hospitality in information systems are discussed for their potential for creating ethically based systems. It is concluded that cultural hospitality is a promising concept for assessing the ethical foundations of new knowledge representation and organization systems and for planning revisions to existing systems.

The purpose of this chapter is to explain the concept of right to participation from the viewpoint of development and tries to establish nexus between participation and right to development in context of human rights-based approach and try to establish the co-existence between the two terminologies. The term participation is closely associated with the traditional democratic system; under this system people are entitled to participate in governance system directly or indirectly, which can be dated back from the ancient Greek civilization (Faruque, 2002a). In a democratic system, participation is people central and can be treated as “an valuable module of any system that considers itself a democracy” (Kweit & Kweit, 1981) “corner stone of democracy” (Sherry, 1969) or “instrument of legitimacy of government” (Falk & Strauss, 2000). Participation means a right by which one can exercise his/her function in the society and express his/her view or behavior toward the political system and governance. So the notion of participation is “effective in mobilizing and natural resources and combating inequalities, discrimination, poverty and exclusion” (UN.DOC, E/CN.4/1990/9/Rev. 1, 1990, Ch. 7). However, the concept of participation “should be viewed both as a means to an end and as an end itself” (UN.DOC, E/CN.4/1990/9/Rev. 1, 1990, Ch. 7, para 150). In environmental level, public participation has played a vital role in decision-making for measuring the protection of environment. Public participation in decision-making that affects the environment is recognized in the Aarhus Convention (Convention on Access to Information, 2001).