Human Rights in Development: Claims and Controversies

Despite recent efforts to integrate the human rights perspective into development thinking, many still view the language of rights as irrelevant, and possibly even inimical, to the cause of development. The plausible reasons for this skepticism and the possible modes of overcoming it constitute the principal theme of this paper. The paper argues that, the claims and counterclaims notwithstanding, a careful scrutiny of the actual behaviour of the principal actors in the global political economy supports the proposition that the process of development requires serious attention to realising human rights. The argument focuses on the policy implications of two claims regarding the introduction of development issues into the human rights agenda and four claims regarding the introduction of human rights into the development agenda. Building on these claims, the paper argues that, in the ultimate analysis, human rights and development share a common finality and a concern with the potential of empowerment, suggesting a more hopeful role for human rights in development, as a vehicle for empowerment and social transformation in which human rights are development objectives