A Rights-Based Approach to Emergencies: Rights-based analysis in practice

The human rights discourse has consolidated its position as the
prevailing moral and social language of this so-called ‘global’
era. Today increasingly more people couch their demands in
‘rights’ terms: politicians and diplomats, academics and
journalists, minorities and majorities, ‘humanitarians’ and
‘developmentalists’. Yet the constant stream of reported human
rights abuses from around the world does not recede.
Thus, as we strive to reach a better understanding of the nature
and practical implications of the rights-based approach, we also
become more aware of the risk of falling into utopian
discourses, lacking in coherence and realism.
This paper addresses the difficult balance between theory and
practice concerning the rights-based approach in the context of
emergency work.