*** Efforts to narrow the gaps both in action and in understanding between human rights organisations and development agencies are also noted. One significant expression of this is the work of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its annual Human Development Report. Moreover, in 1998, UNDP also announces its policy document 'Integrating human rights with sustainable human development', which is viewed as a major shift in its approach towards development. ***

"Poverty eradication without empowerment is unsustainable. Social integration without minority rights is unimaginable. Gender equality without women's rights is illusory. Full employment without workers' rights may be no more than a promise of sweatshops, exploitation and slavery. The logic of human rights in development is inescapable." - Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

DEFINING development in terms of growth in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) or equating development solely with economic growth or economic development was a common phenomenon existed with domination in the last century. Most of the development projects were designed to achieve objectives whose success was measured primarily in economic terms. Traditional analyses primarily looked at economic indicators, the state of infrastructure, agricultural output, demographic data and so on. The term 'right to development' has been too long a prisoner to political controversy.

Linking human rights with development

The links between human rights and development are illustrated by the normative and operational guidance that human rights instruments, and the mechanisms established by the United Nations to monitor their implementation, provide on the right to development, rights-based approaches to development, poverty eradication, human rights mainstreaming, good governance and globalization. International cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is one of the purposes of the United Nations set out in Article 1 of the UN Charter.

The Declaration on the Right to Development (DRD) 1986 is one of many declarations and international instruments that stress the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights. By placing the individual at the centre of development activities and proclaiming an integrated vision of human rights, the Declaration becomes a vehicle for the indivisibility and complementarity of different categories of human rights and for recognising the promotion and protection of all human rights as the basis and measure of sustainable development. Article 1 of the Declaration on the Right to Development states that "the right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized." The right includes:

full sovereignty over natural resources self-determination

popular participation in development equality of opportunity

the creation of favourable conditions for the enjoyment of other civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights

The human person is identified as the beneficiary of the right to development, as of all human rights. The right to development can be invoked both by individuals and by peoples. It imposes obligations both on individual States to ensure equal and adequate access to essential resources and on the international community to promote fair development policies and effective international cooperation.

The DRD regards human rights as both a condition and objective of

development; its aim was to respond concerns regarding 'the existence of serious obstacles to development, as well as to the complete fulfilment of human beings and of peoples, constituted, inter alia, by the denial of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights'.

Narrowing down the gap

From the last few decades of the 20th century there has been a number of initial efforts underway seeking to explore the human face of development. One major mainstream response to concerns over blocked or distorted development has been to emphasise sustainable growth. More radical alternatives to growth-based concept of development have emphasised equity or social justice. A growing process of convergence in the theory and practice of human rights and development particularly as they relate to the lives of people living in poverty and social isolation has been reflected in the series of recent UN Conferences. The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights acknowledged, "Democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing." Heads of State and Government at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development pledged themselves "to a vision for social development" based on, among other things, "human dignity, human rights and equality".

The 1995 World Summit for Social Development and the Copenhagen Declaration it adopted established a new consensus on placing people at the centre of sustainable development, eradicating poverty, promoting full and productive employment, and fostering social integration in order to achieve stable, safe and just societies for all. The collective message of all the UN summits and conferences of the 1990s may be summed up as a call for greater recognition of human rights in development.

Efforts to narrow the gaps both in action and in understanding between human rights organisations and development agencies are also noted. One significant expression of this is the work of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its annual Human Development Report. Moreover, in 1998, UNDP also announces its policy document 'Integrating human rights with sustainable human development', which is viewed as a major shift in its approach towards development. In the words of James Gustav Speth, former Administrator, UNDP:

"UNDP advocates the realisation of human rights as part of sustainable human development, an approach that places people at the centre of all development activities. The central purpose is to create an enabling environment in which all human beings lead secure and creative lives. Sustainable human development is directed towards the promotion of human dignity-and the realisation of all human rights, economic, social, cultural, civil and political."

The World Bank Group lately recognised that it had an express role to play in the promotion and protection of human rights. In its recent publication 'Development and Human Rights: The Role of the World Bank', the Bank asserts: "The world now accepts that sustainable development is impossible without human rights. What has been missing is the recognition that the advancement of an interconnected set of human rights is impossible without development."

Major international donor agencies now refocus their international development efforts to reduce poverty. They now support policies, which create sustainable livelihoods for poor people, foster human development, promote human rights and conserve the environment (e.g., Eliminating World Poverty: A Challenge for the 21st Century - A DFID White Paper).

Making the right to development meaningful

Pursuant to resolution 1998/72, the Chairperson of the Commission appointed Dr. Arjun Sengupta as Idependent Expert on Right to Development. He has submitted three reports to the Open-ended Working Group on Right to Development, another concrete initiative of UN Commission on Human Rights. He considers the right to development as a right to a particular development process, which enables all fundamental freedom and rights to be realized, and expands the basic capacities and abilities of individuals to enjoy their rights. The overriding theme of his reports is equity and justice, which he recognizes as being at the heart of all human rights. In terms of a tangible programme for the realization of the right to development, the independent expert suggests a step-by-step approach aimed at achieving three basic rights:

the right to food

the right to primary education the right to health

This approach should form part of a development plan in which no human rights are violated but at least some come closer to realization. According to the independent expert, the right to development should be realized through a programme of coordinated action. His proposed development compacts provide a good context and opportunity to develop thinking on many of these issues. The Independent Expert has proposed a method for implementing the right to development immediately based on national development programming using a participatory model and international cooperation through development assistance. This model will elevate to the multilateral level what is already happening at the bilateral level.

Part of this continuing research on' human rights and development' was presented in the Asia Pacific Forum Regional Workshop on the 'Role of Human Rights Institutions and Other Mechanisms in Promoting and Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights'. Source of Information: Law Watch, A Center for Studies on Human Rights Law; UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Human Rights Center at the University of Essex, UK.