25th Anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development
Development is a human right
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
The United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development unequivocally establishes development as a right and puts people at the centre of the development process.
The groundbreaking document, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 1986, first proclaimed this inalienable right, declaring that everyone is ”entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized.”
It belongs to everyone
The pursuit of economic growth is not an end in itself. The Declaration clearly states that development is a comprehensive process aiming to improve “the well-being of the entire population and of all individuals on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution” of the resulting benefits. Like all human rights, the right to development belongs to all individuals and peoples, everywhere, without discrimination and with their participation. The Declaration recognizes the right to self-determination and to full sovereignty over natural wealth and resources.
This year marks the Declaration’s 25th anniversary. Yet many children, women and men – the very subjects of development – still live in dire need of the fulfillment of their entitlement to a life of dignity, freedom and equal opportunity. This directly affects the realization of a wide range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has called on governments and all concerned to seize the opportunity of this anniversary to move beyond political debate and focus on practical steps to implement the Declaration.
"I am duty-bound to raise this anniversary call. We must end discrimination in the distribution of the benefits of development. We must stop the 500,000 preventable deaths of women in childbirth every year. We must free the millions of children from hunger in a world of plenty. And we must ensure that people can benefit from their country’s natural resources and participate meaningfully in decision-making. These are the kind of issues addressed by the Declaration, which calls for equal opportunity and a just social order. … It’s not an act of nature that leaves more than one billion people around the world locked in the jaws of poverty. It’s a result of the denial of their fundamental human right to development."
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay