Linking science and human rights: Facts and figures

By: S. Romi Mukherjee

S. Romi Mukherjee outlines human rights-based approaches to science, technology and

A human rights-based approach to science, technology and development seeks to place a concern
for human rights at the heart of how the international community engages with urgent global
challenges. It entered the UN's lexicon in 1997, with Kofi Annan's call for human rights to be
integrated into the UN's mandates, management, and methodologies for development and
international cooperation.

The UN Development Programme characterizes this approach as one that "leads to better and more
sustainable outcomes by analyzing and addressing the inequalities, discriminatory practices and
unjust power relations which are often at the heart of development problems. It puts the
international human rights entitlements and claims of the people (the 'right-holders') and the
corresponding obligations of the state (the 'duty-bearer') in the centre of the national development
debate, and it clarifies the purpose of capacity development". [1]

However, there is no universally accepted definition of human rights-based approaches. [2] This
does not necessarily mean the concept lacks focus or substance. On the contrary, it provides a
framework for confronting important global issues — from gender biases to food and water safety to
misuses of science and technology — grounded in a set of principles, developed through
international consensus (see box 1), that clarify the relationship between 'rights holders' and 'duty
bearers'. [3]  

Gender equality and food security are among the issues addressed by human rights principles

Flickr/USAID

Many international policy scholars argue that rights-based approaches help to re-orient NGOs and
the UN system away from professionalised philanthropy and towards capacity-building; that they
promise sustainable interventions and reduce dependency on aid; and that they help to redefine the
responsibilities of governmental authorities, local actors, NGOs, and the UN system. [4]

For science and technology, the approach requires scientists to go beyond knowing how their work
relates to human rights, and demands that they strive to secure and affirm human rights through the
knowledge they produce. For instance, a rights-based approach to virus studies — in potentially
creating an ethical framework that guides research as it evolves — would not only push the frontiers
of medicine and seek medical benefits, but actively guard against the potential to create new
biological weapons. There is a question, here, of whether this is the responsibility of virologists (e.g.
by contributing to dual-use debates) or the scientific community in general.
A human rights perspective also affirms that access to scientific information is a human right (Article
27(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, see box 1). [5] This implies that the benefits of
scientific advancement should be shared openly, free from restrictions by social groups, corporate
entities or states. Above all, a rights-based approach to science seeks to create the conditions for
equitable participation in the global science community and fair access to scientific information and
goods.

In a general sense, a human rights-based approach recognises that science is a socially organised,
human activity which is value-laden and shaped by organisational structures and procedures. It asks
how governments and other stakeholders can create and implement policies to ensure safety, health
and livelihoods; to include people's needs and priorities in development and environmental
strategies; and to ensure they participate in decision-making that affects their lives and resources.

BOX 1: Documents that include or centre around human rights-based approach to science,
development, and technology, and their key principles:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 27): affirms everyone's right to participate in and
benefit from scientific advances, and be protected from scientific misuses.

The right to the benefits of science comes under the domain of 'culture', so is usually examined from
a cultural rights perspective. However, the World Commission of the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge
and Technology (COMEST), an independent advisory body of UNESCO, is assessing the implications
of Article 27 in relationship to science and technology ethics. [5, 6]  

UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers — 1974 (article 4): affirms that

Countries are asked to show that science and technology is integrated into policies that aim to
ensure a more humane and just society. This is monitored by the member-states of UNESCO and
through UNESCO's bi-annual meeting of the Executive Board. During 2012, member-states are
currently re-assessing how article 4 is implemented, with a view to updating its scope and
monitoring. [8]  

UNESCO Declaration on the Use of Scientific Knowledge — 1999 (article 33): this states, "Today,
more than ever, science and its applications are indispensable for development. All levels of
government and the private sector should provide enhanced support for building up an adequate
and evenly distributed scientific and technological capacity through appropriate education and
research programmes as an indispensable foundation for economic, social, cultural and
environmentally sound development. This is particularly urgent for developing countries." [9]   

This Declaration encompasses issues such as pollution-free production, efficient resource use,
biodiversity protection and brain drains. Monitoring is being reconsidered within a broader re-
assessment of the 1974 Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Research. Governmental bodies
and stakeholders concerned with the monitoring and implementation of the Declaration include
COMEST, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Council
for Science (ICSU).

Other Instruments important for human rights-based approaches to science, technology, and
development:
  International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) [10]

 Declaration on Social Progress and Development (1969) [11]

 Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the Interests of Peace and
for the Benefit of Mankind (1975) [12]

 Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005) [13]

 The Declaration of Dakar (2007) [14]

 The Cairo Declaration (2006) [15]

Culture clashes

The human rights-based approach is not without its critics. Indeed, a powerful critique comes from
development theorists and policymakers in the global South, who emphasize the Eurocentric and
Western origins of human rights and how they clash radically with non-European religious and social
world views. Alternate thought systems, which often favour holism and community over 'self', call
the approach into question, often viewing demands to recognise human rights as yet another
strategy for subjugating citizens in the global South by imposing the 'human' and individual 'rights'
onto cultures that struggle to recognise these notions.

Should we, therefore, endorse an approach that is called into question by some of the very
communities it is intended to benefit? While it undoubtedly comes from highly specific social and
political contexts in 18th century Europe, it should not be lightly dismissed. It would be a mistake to
assert, for example, that human rights campaigns have done little good in conflict zones, or to argue
that Eurocentric roots cancel out their capacity for positive social change.

Rather, the challenge is to explore how the human rights approach can help promote indigenous and
local knowledge; how it can enable dialogue between competing beliefs where each claims to be
universal; and how it can establish bridges between traditional and innovative forms of science and
technology.

It is hoped that human rights approaches can link scientific innovation and indigenous knowledge

Flickr/DFID – UK Department for International Development

Two-way street

Good science, and a respect for human rights, rely heavily on each other. For example,scientists
depend on human rights to protect their own scientific freedom — which in turn lets them promote
well-being and human rights through their work. [16]

In addition, science and technology can cause serious harm to the social and ecological systems on
which life depends. Military technologies, for example, can be used to undermine liberty and justice;
and new technologies, such as nanotechnology or geoengineering, may even call into question what
it means to be human. Human rights approaches can shed light on the ethical implications of new
technologies and examine how policy can keep up with rapidly developing science.

On the other hand, science and technology also bolster development and even the fulfilment of
human rights (box 2). This extends to information and communication technologies (ICTs) as tools
that potentially facilitate access to scientific knowledge. ICTs are rapidly influencing democratic
practice through e-government and social networks, for example. [17] But the use of ICT tools can
also be suppressed through censorship or under-development — leading to digital divides that bring
new forms of exclusion. This illustrates how human rights approaches can support demands for fair
and effective use of technologies such as ICTs.

BOX 2: Emerging issues: Geospatial technologies

Another way in which science and technology intersect with human rights issues is the use of
technologies such as geo-spatial, satellite imagery, and geographic positioning systems to identify
and track human-rights violations. They offer access to remote parts of the world, providing both
new information and a powerful way of communicating it for advocacy, policy debates or litigation.

Amnesty International, for example, has created the Science for Human Rights Project where geo-
spatial technologies are actively used to access conflict zones and gather visual evidence in novel
ways. [18] Amnesty's recent work in Syria, "Eyes on Syria" [19] illustrates the breadth of these
technologies which can, with great precision, track unlawful executions, cases of torture and
property destruction.

This approach could have enormous impact on the legal treatment of human rights violations and
international law. But the status of geospatial data in national and international human rights
tribunals, and questions around who gathers it, who reads it, and to what end, remain to be
examined. According to project leaders at the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS), which has also emphasized the importance of geospatial technologies, scholars,
organisations and advocates need to come together with the technology community to discuss the
implications and identify where geospatial tools might be needed. [20]

Relationship to ethics

The right to science and its benefits are not yet central to the ethics of development (a discipline
that engages with human and social implications of development). This is partly because
development ethicists prefer a language of principles, considered appropriate for capacity building,
over a language of rights, founded in legal concerns. [21]

But the bigger issue is whether, and how, a human rights-based approach should inform
development ethics. Whose rights does the term refer to? Can the focus on individuals be adapted
to the realities of development work at the community level?

The same questions apply to the ethics of science and technology, for which a standardised human
rights approach has yet to be formulated. However, the UNESCO declaration on Bioethics and
Human Rights is an important landmark in bringing human rights based approaches to bear on
the ethical implications of rapid technological transformation. It explicitly calls on the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which recognises that ethical issues should be examined from a rights
perspective, while noting "that health [in the broad sense of well-being and fulfilment of needs]
does not depend solely on scientific and technological research developments but also on
psychosocial and cultural factors". [14]
Policy principles

Human rights approaches to policy can have an impact on many areas of science, technology and
development, including climate change, housing, energy production, deforestation, access to fresh
water, biological warfare, surveillance, public health, and gender issues. They are also at the heart of
debates about developing a 'green' global economy [box 3].

In this context, one fundamental principle of policymaking should be a focus on securing human
rights, and clarification of the actions required of both rights-holders and duty-bearers to do so. In
concrete terms, this requires both policy-makers and stakeholders to remain vigilant as to how the
policy they construct redresses human vulnerability and inequality, while actively establishing
mechanisms that thwart human rights abuse. At the national and geo-political level, a human rights-
based approach might allow vulnerable groups greater authority in conversations over global policy;
and it would impel policymakers to tackle those aspects of global economic and political power that
create the conditions for human rights violations.

BOX 3: Green societies or green economies

Rights-based approaches to science, technology, and development are closely bound to the ongoing
quest for greater global sustainability. UNESCO's message to Rio+20, "From Green Economies to
Green Societies" sought to re-orient conventional wisdom on the future of sustainability by arguing
that because economies are embedded within  society, achieving sustainable development requires
more than low-carbon technologies and green investments. It calls for human rights-based policies
that take into account not only economic but also scientific, social and educational considerations.
[22]

Good practice

To make policy and knowledge work, good practices are needed, and these must be assessed for
their impact on, and implications for, policy objectives. The key here is to translate, mobilize, and
evaluate the contribution of human rights-based approaches.

The UN's human rights-based approach to programmes of development cooperation, policy and
technical assistance uses a three-tiered approach that focuses on goals (realising rights), processes
(standards and principles), and outcomes (increased capacity to meet obligations and claim rights).
[23]

A Human Rights-Based Approach Development Planning Toolkit, developed with the support of
various UN agencies, offers a reference for development planning — outlining the priorities to keep
in mind in development work within the larger architecture of development projects. And it helps
analyse progress in implementing human rights approaches. One of the tools offered is a table for
detailing how people and groups may be affected or overlooked by a development project (figure 1).

Figure 1. Actor analysis — a decision making tool for a human rights-based approach to development
planning. [24] (click for full image)
The toolkit attempts to firmly move the human rights-based approach away from abstract rulings
and towards an analytic frame that can measure success. It is part of an approach to development
planning (figure 2) that offers a series of principle-based guidelines that readily lend themselves to
development projects, from inception to completion, while clearly illustrating how the international
instruments discussed above (in Box 1) can be used to implement the human rights-based approach.

Figure 2. A human rights-based approach to development planning. [25] (click for full image)
An example of how this might work in practice is a study of advancing the right to water, sanitation,
water infrastructure and water use, led by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Lao PDR in collaboration
with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the development charity Oxfam,
and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). [26] Researchers used a range of
techniques, to examine the politics of water distribution and use in Laos, that fall under the rubric of
human rights-based approaches, including: participatory monitoring and evaluation, community
dialogues between provincial and district officials and villages, transparent bidding processes for
water supply, and community user groups (which build village consensus on contribution rates,
maintenance of water systems).

Researchers used human rights-based techniques to study water use in Laos

Flickr/E>mar

However, these techniques are not exclusively human rights-based. Indeed, one of the great
obstacles to developing good human rights-based practice is that the approach can encompass
everything, thus risking being nothing at all. Also, consultation and dialogue do not necessarily
guarantee consensus, let alone firm implementation.
Human rights-based futures

Certainly, science, technology, and development are central to the industrial and post-industrial
revolution of the 21st century. And, even with their limitations, human rights are central to
discussions on how science, technology, and development can promote human well-being. Human
rights are also rights to sustainability, serving to protect the poor and vulnerable from the excesses
of market-driven science and technology. Without a human rights approach to science, technology,
and development, the uneven distribution of goods — from services and natural resources to
intangible resources such as human dignity and autonomy — would only grow exacerbated,
resulting in further environmental degradation and, above all, heightened vulnerability.

In other words, human rights-based approaches should not be treated as merely decorative moral
dimensions to policy or scientific and technological innovation. They can form the very heart of
sustainable futures.

S. Romi Mukherjee is senior  lecturer  in Political Theory and the History of Religions at the Paris
Institute of Political Studies and visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago-Center in Paris, France.

This article is part of a  Spotlight  on  Linking human rights, science and development.