Showing papers by "Sakiko Fukuda-Parr published in 2012"

Should Global Goal Setting Continue, and How, in the Post-2015 Era?

Abstract: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were introduced to monitor implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration which set out a vision for inclusive and sustainable globalization based on human rights principles. This paper critically assesses the MDG experience including their policy purpose, ethical commitments, political origins, and consequences. It proposes that post-2015 goals should be based on principles of equity, sustainability and human security and address key contemporary challenges such as climate change, unemployment, inequality and global market instability.

The Turn to Metrics

Abstract: Quantitative methods have played a limited role in human rights practice. Beyond the generation of events-based figures (e.g., numbers of persons tortured or evicted), some high profile but controversial measures such as the Freedom House index,1 or the monitoring of a few treaties containing quantitative commitments,2 the use of numerical data has been infrequent. Instead, qualitative methods have been dominant. Information is primarily sourced and reproduced from interviews with victims and alleged perpetuators, witness accounts, audio and video footage, official documents and media reports. With a focus on human rights violations affecting specific persons, places or events, these qualitative methods seem apposite in establishing the relevant facts and narratives that can be tested against human rights standards. Nonetheless, the field of human rights has not been immune from a global shift towards quantitative measurement in all fields of human activity. The community of activists, professionals, officials and scholars concerned with human rights has begun to explore ways in which different metrics can establish the denial of rights, reveal breaches of obligations and justify new laws or policies. This has been complemented by the use of quantitative methods in social science research and programme evaluation.3

The Turn to Metrics

Abstract: Until recently, qualititative methods have been dominant in human rights practice. Nonetheless, the field has not been immune from the global shift towards quantitative measurement and the community of human rights activists, professionals, officials and scholars has begun to explore ways in which different metrics can establish the denial of rights, reveal breaches of obligations and justify new laws or policies. With the advantage of communicative simplicity, quantitative approaches hold out the promise of providing more aggregative and systemic weight to evidential claims. In this introduction to a special issue on the topic, we categorise and showcase different methods, provide critical perspectives, and raise opportunities and challenges for future theory and practice.

GM Crops for Food Security in Africa - The Path Not Yet Taken

Abstract: There is little disagreement about investing in agricultural technology – and the need to reverse the decline experienced over the 1980’s and 1990s – as a priority for improving food security in Africa. Food security is not just about production or supply of food but access. In sub-Saharan Africa, increasing productivity has a particularly important role for improving food security because the majority of the hungry are in fact producers (Millennium Project 2004 p. 45-46). But there is no agreement about the role of agricultural biotechnology in the strategy for enhancing productivity. The issue is mired in controversy that has become driven by polemics, pitting multinational corporations against anti-globalization and environmental movements. Debates about agricultural biotechnology, and particularly GM crops, for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa needs to be re-centered on considering the potential of this technology in improving productivity of small scale, resource constrained farmers. But to do so cannot be based on scientific considerations alone, it must also consider the broader social, economic and political context necessary for achieving food security. While the proponents of the technology argue about the scientific merits, those who oppose its spread argue about the shift in power structures that the technology would bring about.

Should global goal setting continue, and how, in the post-2015 era?

Abstract: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were introduced to monitor implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration which set out a vision for inclusive and sustainable globalization based on human rights principles. This paper critically assesses the MDG experience including their policy purpose, ethical commitments, political origins, and consequences. It proposes that post-2015 goals should be based on principles of equity, sustainability and human security and address key contemporary challenges such as climate change, unemployment, inequality and global market instability.