MARGINALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT THE ROLE OF HUMAN RIGHT

BY OKEKE CHIZOBA GIDEON

Marginalization • Process through which individuals or groups are

peripheralized on the basis of their identities, associations, sexuality, orientation, experiences, and environments.• Refers to the norms and processes that prevent certain

groups from equal and effective participation in the social, economic, cultural, and political life of societies.

MARGINALIZED POPULATIONSGroup of people who are socially excluded and experience inequalities in the distribution of resources and power.Examples • sex• LGBT• Caste• Religion• Race• Differently abled• Occupation

REASONS FOR MARGINALIZATION

• Lack of understanding these group• Lack of acceptance • Intolerance• Stigmatization• prejudice

THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT 1986

• The Declaration on the Right to Development was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly under resolution 41/128 in 1986

• Everyone is “entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized,”

• Development is a right that belongs to everyone.

THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT 1986

• 1) People-centred development, identifying “the human person” as the central subject, participant and beneficiary of development.

• 2) A human right-based approach specifically requiring that development is to be carried out in a manner “in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized”.

• 3) Participation, calling for the “active, free and meaningful participation” of people in development.

• 4) Equity, underlining the need for “the fair distribution of the benefits” of development.

• 5) Non-discrimination, permitting “no distinction as to race, sex, language or religion”

• 6) Self-determination, the declaration integrates self-determination, including full sovereignty over natural resources, as a constituent element of the right to development.

CONSEQUENCES OF MARGINALIZATION• Skill loss• Loss of bargaining power• Loss of self-esteem, self-confidence• Psychological harm and misery• Ill-health and mortality• Disruption of human relations• Discouragement• Breeds cynicism• Poverty• Xenophobic attack• Genocide and ethnic cleansing

HOW TO SOLVE MARGINALIZATION• Awareness and sensitivity• Recognition and celebration of differences• Creating spaces for inclusion• Structural adjustments• Improving communications and access to information• Creating spaces for political participation• Creating shared cognitive spaces• Empowerment of excluded groups• Democratizing benefits• Legislation• Seeking redress where there is violation.

WHERE DOES HUMAN RIGHT COME IN?• (a) Human rights contribute to empowerment and social protection of

marginalized groups through social mobilization and mechanisms of strengthening accountability.

• (b) Human rights reinforce the work on equity and equality by emphasizing non-discrimination, raising a demand for disaggregate approaches and for documentation of how groups are involved and how they participate.

• (c) Human rights bring added attention to legal approaches, a feature that local actors, including state authorities themselves, are employing in social mobilization strategies.