Right To Development

Aashish Mishra

Development is often considered a luxury, something countries and communities get through hard work and sound policies. Development, physical, economic, social or human, is not viewed as something people are entitled to. Instead, it is something that has to be earned. 

However, this thought process goes against the international norm of the right to development. Recognised in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1986 and reaffirmed by instruments like the 1992 Rio Declaration, 1993 Vienna Declaration, 2002 Monterrey Consensus, 2005 World Summit Outcome Document and the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 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 realised.” 

In simple words, advancement is a right every person in every country is entitled to and to achieve it, they must have the freedom to choose their representatives, negotiate internationally and exercise full sovereignty over their natural and non-natural resources.

This right provides a comprehensive framework to all relevant actors to draft and enact local, national, regional and global policies relating to the integration of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and other rights and development theory, fostering free and meaningful public participation, implementation of a state’s national and international obligations to create conducive conditions for human-centred development that focuses on social justice and poverty alleviation and embodies the principles of equity, non-discrimination, transparency, accountability, self-determination and sovereignty over natural wealth.

To operationalise these principles practically, the UN and the various other declarations and conventions relating to the right to development propose the design of operational tools that “assess the extent to which states are individually and collectively capable of taking steps to establish, promote and sustain national and international arrangements that create an enabling environment for the realisation of the right to development.” They also call for stakeholders to analyse the current state of the right in their jurisdictions and if satisfactory, share best practices with others and if unsatisfactory, employ national and international means to better the situation. 

As elucidated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on its website, the primary responsibility for guaranteeing the right to development falls on the state. 

States must act collectively through partnerships and individually through national policies and mechanisms to “create national and international conditions favourable to the realisation of the right to development,” it states.

As the global body monitoring and regulating the activities of state and non-state actors, the United Nations also has an intergovernmental working group to monitor and review the implementation of the right to development and forward necessary recommendations that it established in 1998. 

Through this working group, the United Nations puts the same value and emphasis on the right to development that it does on other human rights like life and liberty. 

The understanding is that having people’s needs fulfilled (through development) builds a favourable environment for other fundamental rights.

The right to development recognises that development is a complex, dynamic and comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process and aims to improve the well-being of all individuals on the basis of active, free and meaningful participation and fair distribution of opportunities and benefits. 

It also concerns itself with the factors that hinder development such as the denial of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and stands firm in its belief that these rights must be ensured to deliver holistic and proportional development to everyone within and outside a nation’s territory. 

Similarly, it also cautions against using development as an excuse to curtail other rights as “the promotion of, respect for and enjoyment of certain rights and freedoms cannot justify the denial of other rights and freedoms.”