Sifting through Politics in Human Rights – Women’s Rights

MARIA H. LEWYTZKYJ - WNN Features

Early 1900s image of Chilean Mapuche mother and child

In part two of a ground breaking interview, Monterey Institute of International Studies MA graduate, U.S. born Ukrainian, Maria Lewytzkyj, talks with U.S. foreign policy expert, Jan Knippers Black about her latest book, “The Politics of Human Rights Protection – Moving Intervention Upstream with Impact Assessment.” In this interview, Knippers Black offers real advice to global women’s rights / human rights defenders and advocates on key issues covering how to navigate through regional and multi-national ‘politics.’ She offers global advocates knowledge in how to use ‘informed activism’ to help prevent ‘disaster’ on the ground for those who are in crisis need of aid and support. Too often, those who need aid the most are often the same ones who suffer the most from less than optimum government, private and NGO sponsored aid programs.

This is the second part of a three part series which will be highlighted on WNN in the coming days. To see part one of this series on Women News Network – WNN, “The Politics of Protection – Moving Human Rights Protection Upstream,” link HERE

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Maria Lewytzkyi (ML): How do you suggest that the root causes of human rights violations be explored more in the public’s eye? For example, when you see a show or read an article or a study that talks about refugees in Sudan, or pirates in Somalia or other injustices in the news, what do you think that the media is doing wrong in telling the story?

Jan Knippers Black (JKB): One understands the nature of the news business and some of it is hard to get around. It’s hard to get people (in the media) to give a back-story and to give it in a way that makes what is happening now comprehensible. But they should try.

I think there is a tendency to focus primarily on the victims, without asking how did this happen and why did it happen, and without looking in the first place to the perpetrators and not only to the immediate abusers, but to the ones who enabled and promoted that abuse, and the system that promotes it.

For example, sex-trafficking is such a big issue now. Of course, it’s horrifying. So the immediate attention goes to the particular people who we identify as being trafficked along with the immediate traffickers.

But (in getting a story together) there are all kinds of systemic things that make trafficking more likely to happen.

Look at the kind of economic collapse that means public jobs will be lost. Most of those jobs, the ones that are lost every time there is that kind of meltdown that destroys the public sector, are women’s jobs. Women are left desperate. They have to be reaching for whatever looks like an opportunity for them. No wonder they are easily fooled into being trafficked.

You find more trafficking where there are swarms of immigrant workers, so we should make it less necessary for people to travel so far to do their work. That’s a systemic problem. That so much of the work force is on the move now.

Also, the war zones — that’s another part of the demand side of the human-trafficking business. Where you have a lot of troops gathered, there will, of course, be demand for sex services, so you will have people trafficked to meet that demand.

There are systemic features on the supply side and the demand side that we never seem to look at or try to do anything about. That would be true with almost any kind of (rights) issue that you look at. And when you get right down to the bottom of it, rights abuse is always about inequality, because the bullies don’t go after people who are just as big as they are — the ones who can fight back.

Where you have vulnerability on the one hand and impunity on the other, of course you’re going to have rights violations.

ML: What are your thoughts on Lubna Hussein, the Sudanese woman who wore trousers in public and therefore was convicted of indecency under Islamic law, and the trousers trial in terms of addressing human rights and Islamic law? She had a huge number of supporters.

JKB: There was an awful lot of support.

I think the trick is if you can genuinely educate people, if you can get them to understand — to allow themselves to understand what is going on – then, they really will support human rights. Most people believe that they support human rights, even if they don’t know anything about the particulars. But then, they don’t want to know more about it because it’s painful to know; because it puts an obligation on you to do something about it; to think about it.

Our problem is not that most people don’t care. They do care in principle, but we have to get them to care enough to say something; to stand up.

There was a poll, I think it was earlier this year or late last year, of 16 countries representing two thirds of the world population that said that they thought women should have equal rights and that governments and international organizations should contribute to protecting those rights.

So, it’s not that public opinion runs the other way. It’s that public opinion does not lead people to take stands that are strong enough or open enough to override the power of those who have too much to lose by acknowledging equal rights.Individual (acts of) heroism like Lubna exercised really does make a difference. It doesn’t always, but it does sometimes make a huge difference.

ML: How do those who feel vulnerable, powerless and recognize that injustice happens get their impact assessment reports read by the proper decision makers who are going to make responsible policies?

JKB: Sometimes, it happens because those who feel vulnerable are determined to organize broadly enough to bring demands into the streets, but it’s a really, really an uphill game. Any vulnerable group has to gain allies who are not as vulnerable and build layers of coalitions around them. A group also needs to organize anybody they see as being in the same category of vulnerability.For example, indigenous people need to pull together across all the lines they can.

Amazingly enough, a lot of that is happening! There are international organizations of indigenous peoples. There has been a lot of help from lots of international organizations and non-governmental organizations and it does make a difference. If the problem being addressed is one within a particular state, then a group needs alliances and coalitions within that state too.

It’s really a major undertaking, because governments are accessible (usually only) to the powerful, to big business, to people with money to protect and offer campaign contributions. It’s very hard for other kinds of people to get access.