An evaluation of the practicability of the right to development

Abstract

Human rights broadly speaking refer to norms, and codes that seek to protect humans from political, legal, and social abuses (Stanford, 2003). In more recent times, concerns for issues involving global and social justice in the discourse of rights ultimately transpired into a formulation of what we now know as the right to development. Consequently, the motive behind the right to development was to harmonize human rights and core economic development concerns. The right to development can be seen from two perspectives; as it pertains to a citizen’s right to enjoy social and economic benefits where a government is burdened with the responsibility of protecting that right, and collectively as a group or society’s right to development in relation to other societies. This article attempts to address the critics of the right to development, and its achievability. Our analysis highlights the need to create a nexus between rights and development as well as measures through which the contentious issues in relation to the right to development can be addressed.