Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Rights-based Approaches to Development
Throughout the chapters in Section 4, the growing prominence of
human rights discourses in relation to the development agenda was
noted. Indeed, some argue that since the late 1990s, the rights dis-
course has become the new orthodoxy in development policies and pro-
grammes. Rights-based approaches to development have their legal
basis in international and regional human rights instruments. Key
United Nations milestones in the shift towards rights-based develop-
ment are shown in Figure 5.1.1.
The UN Declaration on the Right to Development (UNDRD) describes
the right to development as 'an inalienable human right' and affirms
the importance of people to development. Article 2 of the UNDRD, for
example, declares that the 'human person' (rather than the nation
state) 'is the central subject of the development process'. Tsikata (2007)
suggests that rights-based approaches to development are based on a
consensus around several basic elements: the link between develop-
ment and human rights; greater accountability of states and interna-
tional actors; an emphasis on empowerment, participation and
non-discrimination; and attention to vulnerable groups.
A number of advantages of rights-based approaches to development
(RBD) have been identified. These include the fact that there is an
emphasis on economic, social and cultural rights as well as political and
civil rights, and that the fulfilment of these rights implies a claim on
national and international resources (Tsikata, 2007). RBD can be seen as
enhancing accountability and legitimacy, since human rights instru-
ments are signed by governments who have duties to respect, protect and
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Declaration on Human Rights (1948)
•
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
•
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)
•
Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1979)
•
Declaration on the Right to Development (1986)
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Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
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Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (2006)
•
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007)
Figure 5.1.1
Key United Nations milestones in the development of the
international human rights legal framework (Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, 2012)
