Strategies of a Human Rights Approach
HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY 1: ­
Address the root causes of the problem:
Uncover the political, legal, social, economic, and cultural conditions that
perpetuate human rights violations and create long-term goals that work toward the
realization of human rights.
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Identify the human rights violation. Frame the problem as a human rights issue by linking it to specific articles or
standards in international treaties, declarations, and other documents.
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Identify structural barriers to fulfillment of the human right. Examine structural causes, e.g. laws, policies, practices,
social or cultural norms, that are barriers to the fulfillment of human rights. You can do this using legal analysis,
monitoring of government implementation and public opinion surveys.
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Identify the other human rights that are affected by the root cause. Human rights are interconnected. The causes of
one human rights violation are linked to other human rights violations. Looking at closely related human rights violations
stemming from the same causes can help advocates expand their field of action to new areas or find potential allies.
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Establish long-term human rights goals that directly address root causes. Design goals to address the structural
barriers to achieving the identified human right. Structural change takes a long time to achieve, and this can require
organizations to shift to more long-term goals.
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Address immediate needs as rights to be claimed. Meet the current, basic needs of rights-holders, like housing, food,
health care, or emergency assistance. This short-term enabling strategy will free people to demand and secure their rights
over the long-term. It is also an entry point to introduce rights holders to the notion that their basic needs that are not being
met are human rights violations.
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Collaborate with organizations in other sectors to combat shared human rights problems. The same root causes
often lead to many different violations, so you can increase their power through collaborations as well as reach broader
target populations.
HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY 2: ­
Protect marginalized groups:
Focus on those at risk of human rights violations due to discrimination,
marginalization, and injustice.
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Gather data on the target population to identify groups that have worse outcomes than average. This data will reveal
those groups that are most affected by the human rights violation and suggest potential risk factors in the community.
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Gather information on the causes of their exclusion. Often these are systemic or structural factors like laws or cultural
norms. To the extent possible, consult with marginalized groups to understand their experiences of discrimination and
opinions of the causes.
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Choose objectives that reflect the needs of marginalized groups. Marginalized groups themselves know their needs
and priorities, and consultation with them can be essential in setting realistic and meaningful goals. Because discrimination
is a deep-seated phenomenon, combating it often requires both long-term legal and social changes.
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Make sure programs do no harm and do not recreate social and cultural discrimination or stigmatization.
Organizations should be aware of and ensure they do not inadvertently recreate marginalization for other groups or have
any other unintended consequences.
© 2013 The Advocates for Human Rights. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction for educational use permitted. www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org
Strategies of a Human Rights Approach
HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY 3:
Work with responsible authorities:
Support and encourage the government and other responsible parties to fulfill their
obligations.
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Identify who has the responsibility and the power to fulfill the human right. The local, state and federal government often have the
primary responsibility but other actors may also have certain obligations, like corporations, schools, non-profits, financial institutions and
individuals. If you can identify which responsible authorities have the power to improve a human rights situation, it can help you direct
your efforts to the most effective target.
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Evaluate the capacity of responsible authorities to fulfill their human rights obligations. Advocates should understand why
responsible authorities are not fulfilling their human rights obligations to help them overcome the barriers they face. Maybe it’s political
will or a lack of awareness or skills. Whatever it is, you may need to use lobbying, education, training, or another method to increase the
capacity of authorities to act.
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Analyze the existing accountability mechanisms. The first step is for advocates to understand whether the target human right is
recognized in law and policy. If so, are there ways for people to seek a remedy when that right is violated? Is that way accessible, fair
and effective?
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Build capacity: When responsible authorities can’t meet their human rights obligations because they lack the knowledge, skill or
resources, advocates can help fill that gap through education, training, and collaborations.
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Use existing mechanisms: There may already be an accountability mechanism to hold authorities responsible for violations. By using
these mechanisms, advocates can also assess if that is indeed an effective remedy.
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Advocate for laws: Where there is no law protecting that right, advocates can push for the adoption of legal protections through
lobbying, expert testimony, and drafting laws, as well as changing public attitudes to support that right.
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Monitor: Advocates can monitor how well the human rights are being protected under the current system and use this info to advocate
for better laws and policies.
HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY 4:
Empower rights-holders:
Increase the capacity of individuals to demand their rights and effectively
participate in government and civic life.
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Aanalyze the participation of marginalized groups. By examining who is participating and how effective or meaningful that participation
is, advocates can decide which rights-holders to target for assistance.
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Evaluate the effectiveness of existing participation mechanisms. This could include a lack of outreach and awareness among
rights-holders about the existence of the mechanism or it could include the government’s failure to give real authority to rights-holders
in the process.
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Recognize barriers to participation Even if there are mechanisms for participation, there may be barriers that hinder rights holders
from using them. Maybe it’s a lack of knowledge about how to use them, maybe it’s work schedules, language differences, or a lack of
trust in the process. So you need to be aware of these kinds of barriers.
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Educate people about their rights and increase their capacity to demand change. Rights holders may be unaware that authorities
have a responsibility to remedy their human rights violations or they may lack the capacity to advocate for these changes. You can help
by providing education and training.
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Eliminate barriers to participation in existing mechanisms and build new ones. Once you’ve identified the barriers, advocates can
work to adapt the participation mechanism, provide help to increase participation capacity, or even create a new mechanism to bring
together rights holders and responsible authorities.
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Mobilize rights-holders and build coalitions to advocate for human rights. Advocates can play an important coordinating role in
bringing together rights holders and advocates in coalition on a common human rights goal. Rights holders may feel that they’re not
influential as individuals, but by uniting together on a common cause, they have increased their power to demand change.
© 2013 The Advocates for Human Rights. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction for educational use permitted. www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org