Development and Human Rights: The Necessary, but Partial Integration of Human Rights and Development

Human rights & development are so intertwined that if they could truly be brought together they would each benefit from the other. Two trends of the 1990s have worked in support of this mutually beneficial relationship. (1) Developing countries have increasingly won support for social provision requests. (2) Increased emphasis has been placed on development's improved governance & democratization in the wake of the Cold War. However, trends of the past continue to divide human rights & development. For example, the two areas are supported by differing criteria & professional ethics; completely different frameworks exist for the implementation of human rights & development activities; & the institutions that formulate policies for human rights differ from those that create development policies. The Danish group, Danida, has emphasized that political & civil rights should prerequisite for economic & social development; however, the group has failed to envision economic, social, & cultural rights. Until the authorities controlling resource allocation are converted to the idea that human rights & development should be combined, it is doubtful that the two activities will ever be effectively linked together. 57 References. K. A. Larsen