Contemporary Development Projects and Necessity of Right to Development

Contemporary Development Projects and Necessity of Right to Development

Trade, investment, finance, aid, debt, technology, innovation and global governance, all have consequences for the achievement of the right to development, as do the global challenges mentioned above. The right to development demands that these difficult and diverse issues be addressed comprehensively and coherently with the ultimate policy objective of securing freedom from fear and freedom from want for everyone. This ultimate objective of development is broadly reflected in diverse and evolving policy arenas.

For example, the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation states that “relations in the field of trade and economic endeavour should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, [and] ensuring full employment, while allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development”. Similarly, the General Assembly in its annual resolutions on the right to development affirms human rights and improved human wellbeing as guiding considerations for multilateral trade negotiations and calls for mainstreaming the right to development and strengthening the global partnership for development within international trade institutions among other things. The right to development provides a framework for the consideration of extraterritorial obligations and the obligations of States in their collective capacities, including as members of international Organisations like the World Trade Organisation and multilateral development banks, and as actors in global trade, investment and finance.

As trade negotiations have proliferated and the human rights impact of trade and investment agreements is better understood, it has become increasingly clear that States must step up their efforts to integrate human rights, including the right to development, in new trade and investment in order to fulfil their human rights commitments. Likewise, the obligations outlined in the Declaration require that aid or official development assistance, as well as international lending, should be adequate, effective and transparent, administered through participatory and accountable processes, and targeted towards the countries, people and groups most in need, including within those States where the ability to mobilize domestic resources is weakest.