Why, What and How?
The purpose of this introduction to Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) is to give you, as a local government employee or elected local government politician, an understanding of why local governments should apply HRBA, what HRBA is, and how HRBA is used by local governments in everyday policy and practice.
This introduction to HRBA continues the work of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and humanitarian Law (RWI) to build user-friendly human rights knowledge and tools for cities and regions, in Sweden and abroad. It was developed as part of a collaboration between ICLD and RWI 2022-2023, involving cities in Sweden and Southern Africa. To complement this introduction, we have prepared a short film that is a brief visualisation of HRBA. If you have not watched it already, we recommend you start there!
The publication is structured around three cornerstones of HRBA: The relationship between duty bearers and rights holders, key human rights principles, and HRBA as a mindset and a local government work process. Sections 1-5 are knowledge oriented and describe the foundations of HRBA. Section 6 is action oriented and guides you to apply HRBA at the particular stage of a specific local policy, programme, project or activity you find yourself at this moment.