The Human Rights avatar of the SDGs - the Right to Development

Yours truly is following a course on International Human Rights that has just introduced to us  the concept of the Right to Development.   The South Centre has just put out its South Bulletin No 93 of August 16,2016 devoted to the panel discussion in June this year at the Human Rights Council to celebrate 30th Anniversary of the adoption of the Right to Development by the United Nations General Assembly

Read with interest the presentation of Dr Mihir Kanade, Head of the Department of International La and Human Rights and Director of the Human Rights Centre on  Operationalising the Right to Development for Implementing the SDGs.  He describes the Right to Development as the Human Rights  avatar of the  SDGs, and makes 6 specific points on what operationalising the Right to Development would entail, summarised below using Dr Kanade's own words....

1. focusing not only on the outcomes which must result from the implementation of the 2030 agenda, but equally on the processes by which those outcomes must be achieved.
2. development, in order to be sustainable, must not be seen as a charity, privilege or generosity, but as a right of human beings everywhere

3. understanding that development is not a charity, privilege or generosity also means clearly acknowledging that all States are duty-bearers with respect to Right to Development This duty extends not only internally towards their own citizens, but also beyond the States’ borders and permeates through international decision-making at international organizations,> 

4. insisting on a comprehensive, multidimensional and holistic approach to development as a human right. On the one hand, this means that all SDGs must be achieved in a manner which is aligned with human rights and promotes their fulfillment. On the other hand, operationalizing the Rightto Development requires us to ensure that no goal is achieved at the cost of some other human right, whether substantive or procedural

5. going beyond a Human Rights based approach to Development....and making development itself a self-standing human right. States have duties to ensure development

6. ensuring that the indicators for the SDGs and the targets are compatible with the objective of making the right to development a reality for everyone

Nothing we didn't know about really, and very beautifully articulated.  I like the idea of a Human Rights avatar of the SDGs.   But  what does this mean  in reality?  WHAT is this "development" that we are saying is our right?  Is it the neo-liberal pathway to economic growth that will eventually trickle down to ordinary human  beings?  Is it a Bhutan style pathway to 'happiness'?  Where does living within our planetary limitations come in? Does the duty of States beyond their borders extend to climate change? and critically, in a world where some transnational corporations are economically and politically more powerful than some states, what does the Right to Development say about the private sector?

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