Brief Introduction to Right to Development

The UN General Assembly proclaimed development as a human right in its 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development.  The Declaration was a culmination of drafting of over a decade that began when Keba M’ Baye took over the chairmanship of the Commission of Human Rights in its 33rd session and launched the idea of the Right to Development.

The Commission appointed an Independent Expert on Right to Development in 1998.  An open-ended Working Group on the Right to Development was also instituted.

The Right to Development is the right to a process of development where all human rights – economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights – are realized.  An improvement in realization of the Right to Development means that at least some rights should improve while no rights are violated.  Implementing the Right to Development would require implementation of a development policy for the economy as a whole.  It would harmonize policies for realizing individual rights with a programme for economic growth, respecting standards of human rights.

The Right to Development focuses on development as a process.  The right to this process belongs to individuals and states.  The process should be participatory, equitable, non-discriminatory, transparent and accountable.

The international community has an obligation to development cooperation with nation states, Such development cooperation includes cooperation in areas of financial flows, debt restructuring, technology transfer, foreign aid and transfer of resources. Development compact is a method to match the duties of nation states with those of the international community. The concept of a development compact is based on the notion of reciprocal commitments to meet the obligations of both the nation state and the international community to realize the Right to Development.