Ewing Marion, Kauffman Foundation:
If a2k partners with the human rights movement they have to deal with states as repressive or as supportive players. Objectives might diverge and therefore there is potential for both movements to be together.
Molly Beutz Land, New York Law School
Making argument to why both movements need each other and how they can capitalize on their strengths. Human rights advocates need a2k theories. They have failed to look consistently to access to information for the protection of human rights. There is a connection between human rights knowledge and human rights violations. They have not focused on access to technological infra-structure. There is a historical isolation of those two movements from each other.
A2K is also access to info about health, women’s rights, etc. Those who do not have access to technology of info that is necessary and not just that is available although this is very important. The A2K movement has more difficulty where the barriers to a2k are systemic, especially in regards to intellectual property. There are many reasons why education materials are not available to people around the world – no books, no trucks to move the books, no money to pay for them etc… But we could do more: use the legal framework that the human rights movement has developed. It requires the state to respect the rights of people in their jurisdiction and protect them as well. The state will also create conditions to fulfill that right on their behalf. HR movement recognizes States cannot do all this at once but nontheless States can take immediate steps eg. preventing discrimination etc.
The framework of State accountability is successful in the human rights movement. They were very successful in holding States accountable. We can therefore learn from each other and focusing on mutual strengths can give us new dimensions going forward.
Focus on health information requires the human rights movement to step back and look at it again in terms of access to information, mobile devices that allow doctors to send pics of x-rays etc… women’s rights also is helpful. Access to info is very important in all these cases to protect rights.
We can therefore develop approaches that help each other.