All human beings are born free and equal... Everyone has the right to education... Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression... All people are equal before the law... Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status...
Why do we recall the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which this year on 10 December will "celebrate" its 63rd anniversary? What do human rights have in common with development and development aid?
For example, the right to education and the right to freedom of thought and information are also prerequisites for development. And equality (not only) before the law — regardless of whether you are a woman or a man, a member of a national or ethnic minority, unemployed or the president of a state or a business — is a prerequisite for creating opportunities for a dignified life for all segments of the population, but also for preventing corruption and clientelism that hinder development, or for preventing tensions and open conflicts in society or between countries.
This is also why, for example, the unequal status of women, child labour, or discrimination based on ethnic origin and the neglect of problems faced by disadvantaged groups also contribute to the inability of poor countries to progress. And this despite the fact that development aid has been provided for several decades.
The situation in many developing countries is stagnating or improving very slowly. This is also why, in recent years, several donors — especially Scandinavian countries and smaller donors — have begun to adopt a new approach in development aid — the human rights-based approach to development. This means that international standards in the field of human rights are included in development and development aid planning, and the causes hindering development are analysed. This approach focuses on excluded and disadvantaged groups of people, analysis of the root causes of poverty, the use of discriminatory practices and human rights violations, and also on the relationship between those who are rights holders and those who are responsible for implementing them.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, development aid, like respect for human rights, promotes well-being and freedom based on dignity and equality among people. Poverty is the result of disadvantage and exclusion. Poverty means not only a lack of material goods and opportunities such as employment, ownership of means of production and capital, but also a lack of social goods such as health, access to education, personal safety, cultural identity, and the exercise of civil rights.
Human rights violations are both a cause and a consequence of poverty. Their enforcement, demanding their implementation, is on the other hand a means of achieving development.
MVRO Platform
Human Rights Important from a Development Perspective
Development in a country will not be secured until the following rights are guaranteed for all its inhabitants:
- The right to nutrition, health, and housing
- The right to education
- The right to work
- The right to participation (freedom of expression and the right to information, the right to assemble and freely associate)
- The right to land ownership
- Children's rights (the right to life and protection from violence and abuse, rights to health, education, rest, and leisure)
- Workers' rights (the right to just and satisfactory working conditions, the right to form trade unions)
- Minority rights (the preservation of language and cultural identity)
- The right to equal treatment — non-discrimination of women and marginalised groups
- The right to environmental protection
- The right to the rule of law and due process (the right of access to information and to public offices)
(Source: UNDP)___________
This article was published in the bulletin Development Aid — Autumn 2011. It is published by Platforma mimovladnych rozvojovych organizacii (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities — an umbrella organisation of 31 (23 full members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organisations that focus primarily on international development and humanitarian aid.