Empowerment Through Four H’s - Human Needs, Human Rights, Harm Prevention and Healing

In the classic bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, leadership expert, Stephen R. Covey (1932 - 2012) writes about being “principle centered.”

“The ideal, of course, is to create one clear center from which you consistently derive a high degree of security, guidance, wisdom, and power, empowering your proactivity and giving congruency and harmony to every part of your life.” “Principles do not change. We can depend on them. Principles don’t react to anything…Principles are deep, fundamental truths, classic truths, generic common denominators. They are tightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency, beauty and strength through the fabric of life.”

Covey challenged me to ask myself: ‘What are my principles? What are the fundamental truths I live by?’

I realised through years of studying developmental psychology, that human needs are at the very core of understanding human nature.

As I matured, my thinking evolved to believe in the human rights of everyone to have their human needs met.

I believe in doing no harm – a principle that runs through all religions and philosophies as the basis of ethics.

And I believe in healing (where harm has occurred) and the art of problem-solving, decision-making and conflict-resolution to fulfil human needs, achieve human rights and prevent harm.

With these principles as the foundation I have embraced a model that can be taught in group workshops. It goes like this:

Exploring Human Needs

American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) gave us his famous

Hierarchy of Needs, with five tiers. At the base of the pyramid are survival (physiological) needs. Then we need safety & security, love & belonging, esteem  & respect for self and others and at the top of the pyramid, humans aspire to self-actualisation, which includes morality and creativity.

  

American psychiatrist, William Glasser, (1925 – 2013) put his own spin on human needs, dividing them into five categories: Survival, Love & Belonging, Power, Fun and Freedom.

Glasser’s Survival needs encompass the physiological needs, as well as safety and security and health.  

Love & Belonging encompasses the needs for a range of relationships including a life partner; family relationships between parents, children, siblings; friendships and belonging to community. I believe we can also include the need for relationships with God, nature and animals.

Relationships meet emotional needs such as the need for intimacy, affection, attention, acceptance, recognition, respect, validation, trust, encouragement and support, nurturing and protection. We are social beings like all mammals and need connection and interaction with others throughout life.

Glasser’s concept of Power includes the human need to work and achieve results, to gain mastery of knowledge and skills and impact the world; to be competent and capable of learning (rather than helpless and dependent.) 

Glasser’s word Fun might seem like a flippant human need. However Fun encompasses all forms of creativity and cultural activities. And this need runs deep from childhood, with the desire to play, draw, build, sing and tell stories, through our adult lives pursuing inventive endeavours.  

Glasser includes Freedom as a fundamental need, claiming that without freedom we cannot pursue our other needs. We need the freedom to think, feel and make our own decisions and act for ourselves. We need freedom of movement and freedom of expression. This is why imprisonment damages the human soul.   

Protecting Human Rights

If human needs are so fundamental to survival and wellbeing, then we all have a birthright to meet these needs at every stage of life.

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations launched the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN has created artwork to explain the rights in simple language.

The historic document, created after the devastation of World War 2, contains 30 articles, starting with Article One: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

The declaration is the foundation of international human rights law and has inspired more than 80 international human rights treaties and declarations.

 It is the most translated document in the world with over 500 translations in different languages.

Eleanor Roosevelt was chair of the declaration’s drafting committee, which included members from around the world.

On Human Rights Day in 2017, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said: 

“While human rights abuses did not end when the Universal Declaration was adopted, the Declaration has helped countless people to gain greater freedom and security. It has helped to prevent violations, obtain justice for wrongs, and strengthen national and international human rights laws and safeguards.”

The UN Human Rights Office, noting current threats to human rights around the world, is calling on every person to be a human rights champion. 

In claiming our own human rights, we also have responsibilities to protect and ensure the rights of others. We cannot claim our rights at the expense of others.

It’s important to add that rights must also be extended to all animals and living creatures and our precious environment. All of us sharing Planet Earth has a right to live without harm and suffering.

Obstacles to Human Needs – Human Rights Abuses

As we go through life, other people or circumstances will obstruct the meeting of our needs. Others can cause harm and violate our need to safety and security, survival and health.

Poverty obstructs millions of people from having their basic survival needs met and being subjected to malnutrition and preventable diseases, deprivation and daily suffering. 

Poverty is caused through the social injustice of the inequality of wealth distribution. A Guardian report claims that 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population.

The violence and destruction of war is a human rights violation on a mass scale.

The crime of assault or theft is a human rights violation against the individual.

Child abuse has four categories: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect (a failure of parents or caregivers to meet a child’s needs).

Abuse, crime and human rights violations, in a multitude of forms, cause harm to humans, animals and the environment. These acts must be prevented. It’s our job as caring, responsible people to protect others from harm.

As individuals, in all our relationships with family and friends and community we must respect and protect the rights of others.

As members of society, we must identify and not ignore human rights violations and champion human rights for all. Human rights must be the principle we operate from, regardless of political differences. 

Healing from Harm

When people have suffered harm through abuse and trauma, or grief and loss, they need healing through therapy, care and support. Just as perpetrators of abuse also need healing. (Often those who were abused in childhood, grow up to become abusers.)

Human beings are resilient and can recover and grow and thrive with understanding, empathy, kindness, compassion, forgiveness and grace.

It is our human responsibly and duty of care to provide healing for those who have suffered physical and/or psychological abuse.

I have a preference to work for prevention of harm and stopping harmful practices before they happen. However victims must be helped through the process of recovery by the beautiful carers in our world as we campaign together to eradicate all forms of abuse and human rights violations.

Together we can create a better, kinder world.