Frequently Asked Questions on Human Rights-Based Approach

IIHUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT8 What is the relationship betweenhuman rights and humandevelopment?“Human development and human rights are close enoughin motivation and concern to be compatible and congruous,and they are different enough in strategy and designto supplement each other fruitfully,” according to the HumanDevelopment Report 2000. 7 Human rights and developmentboth aim to promote well-being and freedom, based on theinherent dignity and equality of all people. The concern of humandevelopment is the realization by all of basic freedoms,such as having the choice to meet bodily requirements or toescape preventable disease. It also includes enabling opportunities,such as those given by schooling, equality guaranteesand a functioning justice system. The human rightsframework shares these concerns (see chap. I above).Human rights and human development share a preoccupationwith necessary outcomes for improving people’s lives,but also with better processes. Being people-centred, theyrefl ect a fundamental concern with institutions, policiesand processes as participatory and comprehensive in coverageas possible, respecting the agency of all individuals.For instance, in the human rights and human developmentframeworks, the development of new technologiesfor effective malaria prevention is a legitimate and evendesirable outcome. But in rolling out these technologiesdevelopment actors should clearly assess and explain thepossible negative effects of the testing, as well as ensurethat the technologies are accessible and affordable andthat vulnerable groups are not excluded.Human rights contribute to human development by guaranteeinga protected space where the elite cannot monopolizedevelopment processes, policies and programmes.The human rights framework also introduces the importantidea that certain actors have duties to facilitate and fosterdevelopment. For people to be enabled to assert a legallybinding claim that specifi c duty-bearers provide free andcompulsory primary education (International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 13) is more empoweringthan it is to rely on “needs” alone or to observethe high economic returns on investments in education, forexample.When human rights go unfulfi lled, the responsibilities ofdifferent actors must be analysed. This focus on locatingaccountability for failures within a social system significantly broadens the scope of claims usually associatedwith human development analysis. In the other direction,human development analysis helps to inform the policychoices necessary for the realization of human rights inparticular situations.7United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human DevelopmentReport 2000: Human rights and human development (New York, 2000), p. 19,available at http://hdr.undp.org/reports/view_reports.cfm?year=2000&country=0&region=0&type=0&theme=0.7