During my travel I CHOSE to read the book by Irene Khan : The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Right. I could not sleep over a week while reading this book. I made some notes out of this reading and thought of sharing with my readers.
She has used World Bank statistics in her book but she is vocal on the issue of human rights violations by the development discourse of the World Bank. Her message to the readers and follower alike is : DEMAND DIGNITY. There has been many tools and institutions to work on the supply of justice but the poorest of the poor do not have access to that. The keyword is ACCESS. Irene cites her own case of having access to education vs his own childhood friend without the access to education.
Based on the data of a billion people living on the slums she exposed the mockery of the development discourse of the 21st century. In order to solve this challene she suggests that the housing policies need to be built by listening to the target groups.
Though she believes on the Market Mechanism but she has a view that Government must ensure equal access for the population these basic rights: health, education and security. The far cry of the data on maternity and assoicated mortality in the range of half a million– she demands Right to safe motherhood. And the tool is to have access to health. According to her maternity is not an illness but still we have not been able to solve this crisis.
She quotes President Roosevelt in saying ‘Freedom from want not only from fear’. Freedom from want and freedom from fear go side by side. She believes in empowerment rather than enrichment of the people. I think she has turned the coin towards poverty where Human Right was an isolated notion in the past. According to her they are the two sides of the same coin…
