Commission on Human Rights s1

E/CN.4/2005/WG.18/TF/CRP.1

page 21

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E/CN.4/2005/WG.18/TF/CRP.1
2 November 2005
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COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Sixty-second session
Working Group on the Right

to Development

High-level task force on

implementation of the right to development

Second meeting

Geneva, 14-18 November 2005

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT AND PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, PARTICULARLY GOAL 8

Note by the Secretariat

CONTENTS

Paragraphs Page

Introduction 1-4 3

I.  THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS 5-17 4-7

PRINCIPLES; LITERATURE REVIEW AND SUMMARY OF SALIENT

CONCEPTS

II.  GENERAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE MILLENNIUM 18-26 7-10

DEVELOPMENT GOALS REPORTS

III. MILLENNIUM GOAL 8 AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT 27-36 10-12

IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: 37-66 12-21

A. Concluding remarks 67-72 21-22

B.  Summary of recommendations 22-23

1.  Explicit commitment to a rights-based approach

2.  Participation

3.  Progressive realization

4.  Non-discrimination

5.  Good governance and the rule of law

6.  Accountability

7.  IFIs and TNCs

8.  Other

Annexes

I. References 28-26

Introduction

1. This study was commissioned by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights and Development, Research and Right to Development branch, to Mr. Fateh Azzam, as a contribution to the deliberations of the High Level Task Force on the implementation of the Right to Development. The High Level Task Force had been requested by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2005/4 to “examine Development Goal 8 and suggest criteria for its periodic evaluation with the aim of improving the effectiveness of global partnerships with regard to the realization of the right to development.”

1. According to the terms of reference, the purpose of the study is to “examine national strategies for the implementation of the MDGs, particularly MDG8, with a view to assessing how these strategies could contribute to and benefit from a right-to-development framework.” The study evaluated the strategies of nine countries, assessing “their suitability and efficacy in furthering the implementation of the right to development ... [and] …how far the country level strategies for the implementation of MDGs are embedded in the notion of building and strengthening global and local partnerships as established in MDG8.” Finally, the study was expected to assess to what extent national policies and programs and international cooperation for the implementation of the MDGs comply with the criteria required by the right to development and whether there is “scope for strengthening and improving such strategies from a human rights perspective, by explicitly including the right to development.”

1. The following country reports and the strategies contained therein were reviewed for purposes of this study: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ghana, Slovakia, Tanzania, Vietnam, Denmark, The Netherlands and Norway. It should be noted at the outset that these reports were prepared very soon after the adoption of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, and consequently, most of the reports laid out strategies in the planning stages and had not yet gone far into the implementation phase. Thus, the study focuses on the approaches adopted in the plans and strategies, applying the required human rights and right to development analysis framework. An actual evaluation of the efficacy and results of such plans and strategies is beyond the scope of this paper.

1. While most of the reports followed a fairly consistent structure, they varied in length and the amount of detailed information given. This may have resulted in some unevenness in the comparative aspects of this analysis and perhaps some misguided conclusions based on insufficient information, for which the author apologizes in advance. This analysis, however, is not meant to be comprehensive or thoroughly evaluative of the plans and reports as such. Rather, it seeks to review the information and approaches adopted for reference to and reliance on human rights law and principles, in particular the Right to Development; it adheres closely to the terms of reference in investigating whether the Right to Development can effectively serve as a normative framework for the articulation and implementation of programs and policies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

I. THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLES; LITERATURE REVIEW AND SUMMARY OF SALIENT CONCEPTS

1. The theoretical framework underpinning the application of principles of human rights, in particular the Right to Development, to the tasks of achieving the Millennium Development Goals has already been articulated in a number of previous working papers, studies and analyses. The studies and analyses articulate the particularities of what a rights-based approach entails, for “development” and “poverty,” and the factors that differentiate a rights-based approach from a charitable approach and from conceptions of both macro-level or micro-level economic development designed to reduce poverty. These excellent studies, appended in the bibliography herein, under-gird the framework of assessment for this study and a summary of their most salient aspects is presented below. Given the significant overlap and restatements present throughout these valuable works, reference to and reliance on these studies should be assumed to pervade this document, necessitating fewer direct references than would otherwise have been academically necessary elsewhere.

1. The Draft Guidelines on a Human Rights Approach to Poverty Reduction defined “poverty” as the lack of capability to enjoy a life of dignity: "People have inalienable rights to certain basic freedoms because without them a dignified human existence is not possible."[1] While the existence of persistent poverty indeed erodes the possibility of enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, so does the lack of enjoyment of human rights hamper the ability of individuals and communities to extract themselves from the grasp of poverty, thus ensuring its persistence. It is a vicious cycle that needs to be approached from both its poles if long-term effective change is to be expected.

1. The minimum standards for human rights and fundamental freedoms are of course defined in the texts of international declarations, treaties and conventions. The Declaration on the Right to Development not only reaffirms and draws on these standards and norms, but brings them all together in a comprehensive understanding of the requirements of human dignity in a manner akin to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 1 of the Declaration defines the Right to Development as “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.”

1. The second paragraph of Article 1 reaffirms the right of peoples to self-determination and control of their own wealth and resources. This is generally understood to be a collective right affirmed in the post-colonial era and closely attached to the concept of sovereignty. However, the Declaration emphasizes “every human person and all peoples” in the first paragraph and that “The human person is the central subject of development” in Article 2(1) and throughout, thus demonstrating that the enjoyment of indivisible and interdependent human rights by each individual is equally important to the collective right to self-determination; the free individual is the object and subject of development who can contribute to his/her sovereign state and community.[2] This understanding of human rights, therefore, is tantamount to an individual right to self-determination without which the collective right of peoples to self-determination cannot be properly exercised, and vice versa. Thus, individual rights and those of the collective are another complementary cycle that needs attention at both its poles.

1. The Declaration, like human rights law generally and the U.N. Charter, is underpinned by the overriding principle of equality and non-discrimination. This necessitates that ongoing efforts to ensure equality and implement programs in a non-discriminatory way be high on the agenda of development plans, including poverty reduction strategies. Plans need to ensure equal access to resources and give rise to programs that not only ensure equality but include definitive and serious efforts to end discriminatory practices whether found in law, implementation procedures at all levels, or in social and cultural practices.

1. As Article 1 of the Declaration asserts, the Right to Development embodies an entitlement to participate in and contribute to as well as to enjoy development. This necessitates the participation of the beneficiaries of development in the articulation of policies and in the implementation of development plans, thus empowering these beneficiaries at all levels. The participation of all sectors strengthens the political legitimacy of plans as well as the scope and effectiveness of implementation mechanisms. The entitlements of rights-bearers require a corresponding duty to respect, protect and fulfill, which in turns brings the requirement of accountability of those involved in and responsible for these mechanisms.

1. Such accountability generally includes public and informational accountability, and implies the need for specific national and international mechanisms to ensure it at all levels. Accountability would seem to be a multi-directional process: accountability to sources of support and funding that include reports on funds expenditure and progress towards achieving stated goals, accountability to all who participated in the plans and programs in both government and civil society, and accountability to the beneficiaries themselves, or the right-bearers. Consequently, participation in identifying mechanisms of accountability is also important in ensuring such accountability. National participation is one level of it, international participation is another.

1. The Declaration on the Right to Development also highlights the importance of international cooperation and global partnership in the realization of the right to development.[3] This is of course consistent with the Millennium Development Declaration and Goals, particularly Goal 8, and highlighted in some detail in experts’ reports and studies. The application of human rights principles and those of the right to development to such partnerships, however, may be difficult, given the “inherent asymmetrical power relations and divergent priorities, in particular between ‘donors’ … and aid-dependent or middle-income ‘recipient’ countries.”[4]

1. Previous studies on the question of development partnership have highlighted some constituent elements necessary to ensure effectiveness of such partnerships in achieving the desired development goals. The need is for a holistic approach that combines:
2. A common set of objectives and shared values – thus the question of effective participation at all levels of planning and agreement within countries and between donor and recipient countries;
3. Clearly differentiated and reciprocal responsibilities, necessitating in turn the presence of institutionalized mechanisms or frameworks for mutual accountability and review
4. Targeted and effective aid that goes where it is needed and is effectively utilized, presumably made more possible by effective participation;
5. Good governance and the Rule of Law, without which national and international strategies cannot survive, thus confirming the indivisibility of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as well as the interdependence of development, human rights and democratic governance;
6. Reliance on UN principles, with human rights as a basis for development plans and partnerships.[5]

1. As the above summary demonstrates, the human rights framework, subsumed within the Right to Development, theoretically should permeate both the national MDG reports of developing countries who are recipients of international aid, and donor countries’ reports as well. Significant progress has already been made in articulating the constituent elements of the right to development and the interconnected nature of respect for human rights and the right to development so there is no need to elaborate further. What is needed is to approach the Millennium Development Goals from a Right to Development perspective and to identify the operational aspects; especially the implementation mechanisms to be designed for a rights framework to enhance efforts at making these goals and targets a reality. Finally, to put together systematic and methodological means by which one can assess and evaluate the programs for implementation of these goals.

1. It is important to note that the human rights approach to development is consistent with states’ legal obligation under human rights law both in terms of human rights treaties that they have signed and ratified and in terms of the Right to Development and commitments under the U.N. Charter relevant to international cooperation. Reaffirming these obligations strengthens commitment and improves the chances of success in achieving the MDGs and development more broadly. The Declaration on the Right to Development, while clarifying in Article 2(2) that everyone has responsibility for development, the primary responsibility falls on states to create “national and international conditions favorable to the realization of the right to development” (article 3(1)). This means that the state, while relying on stakeholders and beneficiaries of development nationally and on other states in the context of international cooperation, have the primary responsibility to facilitate the process.

1. A fundamental aspect of a rights-based approach is the capacity of rights-bearers to claim those rights as entitlements, which in turn implies responsibility and a duty on the part of states to guarantee or ensure the enjoyment thereof. From the perspective of the Right to Development, poverty reduction and the broader development requisite should be a legal obligation drawn from commitment to international law and not a luxury or a magnanimous act of government. In working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals’ benchmarks and specific targets, a rights-based approach requires that states guarantee in law and in practice the protection of all human rights, ensure equality and non-discrimination, participation, accountability mechanisms, assurance of good governance and effective rule of law at all levels. These are the necessary elements of states’ compliance with the Declaration on the Right to Development’s requirement to ‘ensure conditions favorable to the realization of the right to development.’

1. International cooperation is required, not only in the context of MDG 8 but as a matter of holistic and comprehensive approaches defined by the Declaration on the Right to Development. A rights-based approach that considers all of the constitutive elements above would help to plan better, target development aid where individual communities and countries need it most, review more effectively and hold all parties to the development process accountable.

II. GENERAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS RESPORTS

1. National country reports for implementation of the Millennium Development Goals were reviewed with the above elements and questions in mind.