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22 March 2002



STATEMENT BY
PROFESSOR ARJUN SENGUPTA,
INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
AT THE 58TH COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS



I thank the Chairperson of the Commission for giving me this opportunity to explain the work that I am undertaking in relation to the mandate on the right to development. I was appointed in November 1998 as Independent Expert on the Right to Development to report on the progress in the implemntation of the right to development as a basis for further discussion and, as it was clearly stated in the discussions of the working group sessions, to suggest concrete methods of implenting the right. Indeed, in my presentations before the working group and before you here in the Commission as well as before the Third Committee, I have repeatedly stated that the « simple objective that guides my work is to consider the right to development in a manner that is realization and able to be implemented immediately ».

It is with that understanding and in light of the resolution of the Commission (2001/9) that I presented my fourth report to the working group last month. The Commission resolution commented on a number of aspects of my work. In particular, it noted that « the independent expert’s concept of « development comact » intends to give expression to some basic tenets of the interdependence of all human rights and national ownership of development strategies and development programmes, as well as the importance of international cooperation ». After expressing appreciation of that work and recognizing the voluntary and case by case nature of such development compacts, the resolution requested me to clarify further the proposed development compacts in consultation with concerned organizations and keeping in mind the ongoing cooperation programmes, to formulate an operational model for the development compact and to ensure that the development compacts would add value to existing mechanisms.

My fourth report concentrates entirely on the method of implementing the right to development, spelling out the essential features of the right in a way that helps its implementation, discusses the nature of national actions that is required and the mechanisms that are necessary to carry out those actions. The report also examines international cooperation and proposes an effective international mechanism to implement the right to development on the basis of mutual obligations between national and international authorities. The report builds on my previous reports, incorporating the discussions that we had at the previous working group sessions and at different international meetings. In particular, it presents an operational model of a development compact, building it up step by step and pointing out how the national and international actions can be co-ordinated. To my mind, my fourth report responds adequately to the request made to me by the Commission last year.

The Commission resolution also mentioned the need to consider and evaluate the impact of international economic and financial issues on the enjoyment of human rights, such as international trade issues, access to technology, good governance and equity at the international level as well as debt burden. It then requested me to prepare in consultation with other relevant agencies, studies of the impacts of such international issues, « for consideration by the working group … and its future sessions ». Since my mandate was also extended by three years at the same time and the scope of the study that I was expected to conduct was very large, I took this request as to imply that I should present the study in a step by step manner over the entire period remaining of my mandate. Furthermore as I believe that the working group was not interested in just engaging in an academic and discursive study and discussion on the impacts of these international issues in general but would like to deliberate on how to implement the right to development in an environment created by such international developments, I thought I should first present a report that would help the working group to make some concrete recommendations about :

(a) How to examine these international issues within the framework of Declaration on the Right to Development ;

(b) What national mechanisms states need to respond to the challenges posed by these international issues using a right to development appraoch;

(c) How to formulate concrete measures of international action through which States can operationalize the international dimensions of the right to development.

It might have been possible for me, in addition to presenting my fourth report, to present this extensive study on the impact of these international issues on the enjoyment of the right to development. However, a study of this sort takes time, and for its impact to be positive, requires deliberation and consulation. Indeed, I have written several papers recently on the issue of globalization and I believe there are certain issues relevant to globalization and the right to development that are worth developing. First, I would like to demonstrate how globalization has tremendous potential for expanding the welfare and development of all developing countries, but that this potential has not been realized mainly due to the fact that the obligations attached to the right to development have not been met. I would further like to demonstrate that globalization and its impact on international development could be made highly beneficial for improving the well-being of people in developing countries, so long as the right kind of national and international polices are formulated – and by this I mean policies that are consistent with the framework established in the Declaration on the Right to Development.

Chairperson,

Allow me to add a few words on the recent third session of the working group on the right to development. States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations took time to reflect upon my fourth report and I am pleased to say that we had a constructive and very helpful discussion. I would like to highlight some of the issues discussed there. First, I have noted in my reports my view that the right to development is also a right to a particular process of development that realizes all the human rights and fundamental freedoms. Both the process and the outcomes of the process are human rights. This conceptualization of the right to development has not always been fully understood, and some participants at the working group did asked me to clarify it further. Development has been defined both in the literature and the Preambles of human rights instruments as a process, and not a finite event, through which the well-being of all people are raised. There are many different ways and processes of development. Right to development is the right to a particular process of development which realizes and enables the realization of all human rights together and, in addition – and this is fundamental – is carried out consistent with human rights standards. Trying to realize all the rights together, taking into account their interdependence, calls for a development process and the designing of a development process, that builds on the traditional process of expansion of wealth and resources of GDP, incorporating concerns of equity and justice and human rights standards. It means adopting a new paradigm of development

I would like to stress that part of the added-value of the right to development stems from the fact that the right to development promotes a particular methodology of development. That methodology emphasizes human rights standards, equity and justice, participation of the beneficiaries in development programming and implementation, as well as transparency and accountability that ensures that this participation has real and verifiable impacts on development. But, and I wish to be very clear about this, this does not deny the fact that the right to development also is a right to various outcomes – access to food, access to health, a free and independent media, reliable judicial processes and so on. The right to a process of development and the right to outcomes of development are not mutually exclusive – far from it. It is the symbiotic relation between process and outcomes that forms the real added value to be gained from viewing development as a human right.

Second, and in many ways linked to my first point, I stressed during the working group the importance of human rights approaches to development as a means of operationalizing the right to development – by this, I mean development that builds on the resources and technical implications of the interdependence between the right that incorporates policy concerns of macro and micro-economic efficiency and sustainable growth. It also respects the principles and goals of equity, non-discrimination, participation, accountability, and democracy in its fullest meaning of empowerment and respect for human rights standards. Not only are these principles and goals relevant to national development programming and implementation, they should also be the cornerstone of international co-operation for development.

Third, this leads me to the issue of obligations – a point of some controversy. All rights involve obligations. The nation states are primarily responsible for implementing the right to development but the international community has also the responsibility to enable the states to be able to do so. This is why, from the very beginning, international cooperation has been recognized as an obligations of the international community. In the case of right to development, the obligation is of paramount importance, because in an increasingly globalized world, no state can formulate a proper development policy for right to development without such cooperation. However, as I have said repeatedly, the obligation is to international cooperation and not to any particular form of cooperation. That needs to be developed through discussions and deliberations, always remembering that obligaions means making « maximum effots » or « best endeavours » to effective enforcement.

Fourth, in my discussions with various international organizations, a view was expressed that some organizations are not bound by the norms and standards of human rights including the right to development. As I said during the working group, the central importance of human rights to international law means that human rights « trump » policies that might be in conflict with human rights standards. This is only in line with the fact that the Member States of these organizations are themselves bound by international human rights law. It will be important for the Commission, in your resolution from this session on the right to development, to emphasize the binding nature of human rights law on the policies and actions of these organizations through primarily their Members.

Finally, I wish to encourage the Commission in your debate on the right to development to consider my proposal on development compacts as a possible operational model for the right to development. I have proposed one model – it is not the only one – but I believe that it is worth developing and testing as a means of ensuring that the right to development becomes a vital and effective framework for human development. While other development methodologies exist at the international level, bear in mind that they do not make the link to human rights. It is this crucial link to human rights that brings accountability and a legal framework to development. I encourage you to consider the development compacts within this light.

Now is the moment to take human rights commitments to the implementation stage. Take this
opportunity to ensure the inter-dependence needed to create fertile ground for accelerating
national and global welfare.


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