Oestreich, Joel E. Power and Principle: Human Rights Programming in International Organizations.

AuthorRiguera, Florencio R.
PositionBook review

Oestreich, Joel E. Power and Principle: Human Rights Programming in International Organizations. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2007. ix + 243 pages. Cloth, $59.95; paper, $29.95.

Power and Principle describes how three UN-related intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) interpreted and integrated human rights as a principle into their programs. The author compares the efforts of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO), which operate in an environment in which human rights have gained currency as a principle. Some staffers of the IGOs subscribe to human rights, and they persuade higher management to integrate the principle into their programs. On the favorable side is the germaneness of human rights to the IGOs' goals. Humanitarian in orientation, these goals should have a moral basis; "forum organizations" can deliberate on principles. On the other side is the resistance of those staffers who want to avoid addressing potentially contentious moral questions and, instead, to concentrate on the scientific dimension of their work. There has also been concern about how member states would view human rights. The staffers have framed human rights as contributory to the achievement of their organization's goals--the main argument of effectiveness. At this point, it has become a matter of leadership decision.

The insertion of human rights into these IGO programs shows that a moral principle had to be assessed on its utilitarian value: Applications of the principle had to be shown as instrumental to the interests of the IGOs (e.g., greater relevance and influence) so that they would be adopted as a programming guide a "symbiosis" (or, a momentary inversion?) of goal and function. The three IGOs studied here are exemplars. The author correctly holds that IGOs cannot avoid making "moral judgments" (p. 197) in setting goals and designing programs. They must adopt moral standards. But "rights-based" programs "ought to be limited to areas where such programming helps the IGOs with their core mission and helps frame answers to problems with normative content" (p. 193). This limitation derives from the goals mandated to the IGOs.

Oestreich emphasizes the need for a consensus on human rights to firm up. He supports the integration of "stakeholder ideas into a strategic framework" (p. 204). This is because "all those affected [by the IGOs] have a legitimate claim to have their...

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