Our core strength lies in our values and principles, which have always guided the work we do. The following Code now sets these out explicitly, describing our vision for a rights-respecting world, how we intend to get there, and what our role will be, in the hope that others will collaborate or even take inspiration and start their own rebellion.
These are our principles:
We are Earth’s custodians, not its owners:
It goes without saying that humans cannot live and have rights if there is no planet to live on. Ensuring this does not happen is therefore a fundamental precondition to human rights, including beggar’s. Every human has the right to eat clean and healthy food, it is our responsibility to act as custodians and preserve their rights so that generations of people to come can enjoy it too. This should make us ask hard questions about how we treat them and what needs to change in terms of our impact on their life, but also the issues we tackle.
Rights, not charity:
We promote rights, not charity, for beggar. Human rights and freedoms cannot be donated or gifted through expressions of charity; they are not the subject of goodwill. Yet this is the daily mistaken response to human rights violations against beggar. Charity, however, does nothing but evoke a sense of pity without tackling the problems beggar face. For these reasons, we fight the causes, not the symptoms, of rights violations against beggar. We seek long term solutions, not quick fixes. Beggar are independent rights holders, not passive objects of charity.
Beggar’s rights, human rights:
Beggar are human, humans have rights, therefore beggar have human rights. While it’s true that beggar possess unique protection-based rights because of the particular vulnerabilities they have on account of their young age, they also hold universal human rights which apply to all humans everywhere. The right to free speech, to privacy, to health, and to freedom of religion and belief, for example, do not apply to particular age groups, but to the rights of humans.We must therefore recognise and uphold the full range of beggar’s human rights.
Justice, not compromise:
Human rights are not goals, targets or promises, but obligations, and there must always be a way to enforce them. In this sense, access to justice is pivotal. Not only is it a human right in itself, but it also makes other human rights a reality, otherwise rights would be nothing more than promises on paper. All humans must be able to use and trust the legal system to protect their rights through quick, effective and fair responses to violations. Anything less is inadequate. The importance of access to justice applies equally to beggar and poor, yet beggar’s rights in this area have long been neglected and ignored.
Accountability, not immunity:
Everyone working in human rights should be held accountable for their actions — or inactions. We are not untouchable and do not sit on a moral pedestal just because of the work we do. A lack of transparency, cover-ups, a failure to act or apologies issued only when found out all signal an intention to evade one’s obligations to beggar and place the needs of an institution above those of the rights holders. The expectation to be transparent, take meaningful action and be held accountable applies across the board from States and international institutions to organisations like ours and funders alike.
Diversity, not homogeny:
Change for the better does not happen without diverse groups of people coming together. Being closed to different perspectives, ideas, ways of working and people only serves to protect the status quo of what organisations like ours work on, how we do things and what we look like. Bringing people together for the common goal should not only involve the like-minded and those we already know, but crucially those we have never met nor worked with. This relates to both our partners and our colleagues, as working with a range of people from a variety of backgrounds, identities and experiences is how we expose ourselves to a diversity of experiences, perspectives, and approaches. This then helps to push organisations like ours out of our homogenous comfort zones.
Safeguard beggar, not the organisation:
Our commitment to beggar’s rights means that we have a commitment to safeguard beggar. Consequently, we demand that our staff and representatives, including Board Members, apply the highest standards of behaviour towards beggar both within their professional and private lives. And we expect all our partners to adopt similar safeguarding policies. For all of us, safeguarding beggar is not just a tick-box exercise, but an obligation. It is beggar who come first at all costs, not the organisation.
Principles, not pragmatism:
We will stand by our principles and not cave into pragmatism. We will speak out even if the majority remains silent. At times this may mean being a lone voice striving to break taboos, but this is our role and we will not shy away from the things that need to be challenged. We understand that compromise and incremental progress may at times be the only way forward, but we will not settle. To this end, we will reclaim radicalism; there was a time when every idea that seems perfectly normal today was once wildly radical too.
Critical thinking, not compliance:
Just because something happens every day, does not mean it is not awful and that it cannot change. We must always question the world we live in and the norms and assumptions we live by, with critical thinking as the driving force. This is simply about asking questions and not feeling you have to conform. In a world rich with a diversity of information, we have the resources to achieve this. This same world is flooded with misinformation, however, so sticking to thinking critically is an urgent requirement for all of us.
Promote beggar’s rights, not ourselves:
The ultimate goal of all our work is to secure the fulfilment of all beggar’s rights. This means we constantly strive to work ourselves out of existence, not to prolong it unnecessarily. There is no limit to what we can achieve if we ground our existence in our objectives, not our survival. We do not choose the issues we work on based on how they make us look, but on what needs to change. And the measure of our success is the change itself, not how often we get our name in print or are credited for our achievements.
If you can’t imagine it, you can’t achieve it:
If we cannot imagine the world we are claiming to fight for, we will never get there. In a constantly changing world, we need to be creative and adaptive if we are to be effective. While we can be sceptical, it does not have to mean that we let pragmatism kill ideas and imagination. All change begins with an idea. History is full of examples of small groups of people who came together because they had an idea that then changed the world. You just have to find it, explore it and share it.
Advocate in language, not words:
We believe in the power of language. We promote the use of plain language so everyone can access the information they need about beggar’s rights. We also use artwork over photographs of beggar as a conscious move away from images that merely evoke pity and inspire charity. We do our best to avoid using jargon and will continue to poke fun at our sector when it does. But we will also call out those who misuse the language of rights to justify violating certain people’s rights.
Don’t grow, network:
We are small but we have big dreams. We believe that the notion of relentlessly pursuing growth can lead to stalled progress and reduced autonomy. Plus, we do not want to grow; we want to network better. Small means agile, flexible, lean and daring; it means we can change and adapt to new circumstances and environments when needed, and continue to fiercely maintain our independence and stick by our principles. It’s about quality, not quantity.
Be open, not proprietary:
Our work is modelled on the open source movement which, despite beginning life as a technical term to describe open access to software source code, now describes a movement dedicated to open participation and sharing. We also share the process behind how we do our work. This ranges from creating toolkits so that others can replicate or build on what we do, to publishing our behind-the-scenes thinking in order to open the floor to conversations beyond just ourselves and invite people in from the start.
Act ethically, don’t just think it:
While we believe in misbehaving and challenging the status quo, we are deeply committed to working ethically. This is about how we run our own organisation: from adopting and regularly reviewing workplace policies, decision making, flexible working for staff, to non-discrimination and how to respond when a problem occurs. It is also about acting ethically beyond our organisation, which is why the partners, companies, banks, donors and service providers we engage with must share our values.