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Youth workers participating in a new YMCA course at George Williams College in London consider the relevance of human rights for youth work. WORLDbytes reporter Saleha Ali suggests the whole ‘human rights ethos’ is contemptuous of people and our capacity to change our lives for the better. WORLDbytes volunteer Hamsa Galoa says its all “behaviour modification and no cash” and one youth worker questions the role youth workers are expected to play in assisting the policing of young people’s lives.
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ready2do
8 months ago 0 + -Many young people are the victims of laws which target a small minority of trouble makers. One major concern is whether youth work helps to overcome these laws or whether it facilitates their implementation. For instance the law undermines the rights of assembly of young people through Anti-Social Behaviour Orders. Anyway, approaching things from a human rights perspective is fundamentally flawed. Rights-based development does not give people what they really need such as jobs and infrastructure. Interesting takes on controversial issues which really put human rights in the frame.
mmchung
2 months ago 0 + -Just in relation to your comment on RBAs as incapable of providing people with jobs, housing etc., you must remember that ESCR (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) and CPR (Civil and Political Rights) are interdependent. Thus our access to jobs, the right to housing, right to education and many more ESCR depends on whether or not we have CPR, namely the right to choice, right to freedom, right to equality and so on. Similarly, these CPR depend on ESCR for their implementation :)
Otherwise, I must acknowledge that there was an excellent point made about our general dependence on the 'experts', courts and authorities to structure the human rights discourse. These participants only reflect a minority of the community, and rather, we should be in search of "local knowledge" that gives each individual a voice.
andrewma...
8 months ago 0 + -I would add: do those laws in turn have any real use? Again taking the issue of ASBO's, there is evidence that they have been turned into a badge of pride for that small group of troublemakers. Food for thought.