Submitted by crinadmin on
Human rights have become a key focus of law and development, yet they
remain conspicuously absent from the regulatory and policy regimes for the
use and development of modern agricultural biotechnology. In contrast to
rights approaches biotechnology law and policy is concerned with individual
property rights and global trade. In this context the only “acceptable”
restriction on biotechnology development is safety and thus regulation has
focussed almost exclusively on risk assessment. Drawing on the
experience of Zimbabwe and other countries in southern Africa, this paper
argues that a risk-based approach, creates an artificial divide between civil
and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, desegregates
society into a conglomerate of individual rights holders, effectively dis-
empowers citizens and fails to create a viable and supportive legal
framework for consensual agricultural biotechnology development that is
responsive to local needs and perceptions about rights.
The paper begins by examining the legal underpinnings of a risk-based
approach and asks why it has come to prominence. It contrasts this with a
rights approach and looks specifically at how rights framing and claiming
has evolved since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. Against this
background it examines demands for rights to participation, livelihood
choice, farmer and community property and information and how these are
manifested as challenges to the established regulatory regime. In
particular it looks at issues of problem framing, knowledge, culture, values,
information and responsibility. In conclusion the paper suggests that
human rights law is a useful tool in creating more socially responsive law.
This is so because it seeks to redress inequalities by establishing legal
standards that allow for the restoration of human dignity by putting people
back in control of their lives and limiting abuse and so creating substantial
equality between people.
See also ID21 Insights:
href='http://www.id21.org/insights/insights52/insights-iss52-
art02.html'>From risks to rights in southern AfricaOwner: Jennifer Clare Mohamed-Katererepdf: www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop/wp/wp204.pdf