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Structural Causes Of Violence: An Analysis Through The Human Rights Perspective

Annual Call for Projects 2002

Summary

Within the international human rights framework, the fight against torture, summary executions, forced disappearances and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment has essentially developed through the denunciation of cases, the establishment of a normative system, as well as through the search for mechanisms - legal or other - that enable adequate protection and reparation of victims to be guaranteed.

These efforts have been met with significant improvements and today, for instance, torture is defined and prohibited by international instruments with a universal scope, as well as specifically in a number of countries, while national, regional and international institutions endeavour to prevent and punish it, as well as to compensate the victims.

Nevertheless, an important number of individuals are still becoming victims of torture, ill-treatment, forced disappearances and summary executions. Furthermore, the cases that are being reported and documented are no longer so much the result of imposed ideologies, but rather, increasingly come as the consequence of growing social tensions, which often lead to violent clashes. Deep socio-economic imbalances, poverty and the growing number of excluded who see their absolute and relative income diminishing, preventing them from fulfilling their basic needs, cause frustration and produce such tensions. These, in turn, are often met with severe repression, as they endanger a system based on such privileges, whose beneficiaries do not want to abandon their positions therein. As a result, the overwhelming majority of those who are being subjected to torture and ill-treatment are, today, persons that come from the poorest strata of society. In this regard, the violence perpetrated against women and children does not so much occur as part of political repression, but rather as a consequence of their socio-economic marginalisation within certain societies. Indeed, violence against children mostly affects socially and economically marginalised minors (often street children or working children). Similarly, violence affecting women is often related to their socio-economic role in societies where they are often considered as second-class individuals. This violence is often not recognised by States as being part of their responsibility.

While the impact of socio-economic factors on the emergence of violence has already been the subject of widespread research, the question has not been approached from a human rights perspective. In other words, the relationship between the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and violations of civic and political rights -- such as the right to life and the protection against torture -- still needs to be examined.

Within the GIAN framework and with its support, five institutions and three experts from the UN Commission on Human Rights are cooperating in order to analyse the impact that the lack of enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights can have on the occurrence of torture, ill-treatment, forced disappearances, summary executions and other violations of physical and psychological integrity.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the International Labour Office (ILO), the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), the universities of Geneva (Unige), Lausanne and Paris XII and the UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, on the human rights of indigenous people and on the right to adequate housing, contribute to this project, which will benefit from the participation of the OMCT network, which includes 261 human rights organisations located in 90 different countries. Besides providing direct access to information from the field, this network will allow the widespread dissemination of results and conclusions of the project, and their follow-up at the national level.

The project comprises a general analysis, along with an analysis of national situations. It aims to establish synergies between the project's partners that are useful for future research, as well as to reduce the vulnerability of certain groups facing torture, ill-treatment, forced disappearances, summary executions, poverty and marginalisation.

In the general analysis, the researchers will examine the way in which the relationship between the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and violations of civil and political rights is being handled and addressed in existing literature, as well as by international human rights mechanisms working on issues related to torture, ill-treatment, forced disappearances, summary executions and other violations to physical and psychological integrity. Given that today, any research related to economic, social and cultural rights cannot be dissociated from a reflection on globalisation, the researchers will also look at the positions and policies of global actors, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation, that are related to the theme of the research project.

Analysis of national situations in Argentina, South Africa, Egypt, Uzbekistan and Cambodia, conducted in cooperation with local researchers and local human rights organisations, will complement the general analysis. In this section, the researchers will examine the impact, for each selected country, of a lack of enjoyment of one or several economic, social and cultural rights on the occurrence of torture, ill-treatment, forced disappearances, summary executions and other violations of physical and psychological integrity. This review of five national situations will allow for the validation of the hypothesis formulated in the general analysis. In this respect, the analysis will make use of three different research tools for each selected country: an empirical case study; the review of answers given to two distinct questionnaires addressed respectively to the authorities and to civil society organisations; and finally an examination of correlations between the evolution of cases transmitted to international human rights mechanisms and the evolution of socio-economic indicators, such as those developed by the ILO in Focus Programme on Socio-Economic Security.

The study and its conclusions will be disseminated in a printed version and on the Internet and will constitute the basis for an international conference. The participation of persons from the field, along with experts, academics, international organisations and civil society organisations will enable the discussion and examination of the results and conclusions reached by the research, as well as a number of concrete strategies and policies. The outcome of the conference will be compiled and published in a booklet and on the Internet.

The grant provided by the GIAN for this project totals SFr 325,000

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Project Team

Mr Eric Sottas , Coordinator, World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) .

Mr Yves Berthelot , Principal Member, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) .

Mr José B. De Figueiredo , Principal Member, International Labour Organisation (ILO) .

Mr Thomas McCarthy , Principal Member, World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) .

Mr Jean-Claude Javillier , Former Member, International Labour Organisation (ILO) .

Ms Nathalie Mivelaz , Former Member, World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) .

Related Links

> Poverty, Inequality and Violence: Is there a Human Rights Respo

Related Conferences

OMCT Conference: How Can We Act Against the Economic, Social and Cultural Root Causes of Torture – 7 December 2006, 1:00 pm, Palais des Nations
In a Human Rights Council side event, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) will present its GIAN-supported...
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Research Output

Attacking the Root Causes of Torture: Poverty, Inequality and Violence
(available in English only)
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