OPINION (Spotlight Weekly)

Human Rights Approach to Development

By Bipin Adhikari

For far too long the world has looked at development and human rights separately. The Human Development Report 2000 published recently by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which, for the first time, considers the theme of human rights as one of its important components, focuses towards the changing model of economic development. This report demonstrates how development and human rights are two sides of the same coin.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, speaking at the European launch of the document in Paris, therefore, said that it was highly significant that the first Human Development Report of the century had focused on human rights with such an important realization. The Report establishes once and for all that human rights and economic and social progress are inextricably linked.

Where do we stand in the eyes of the Report is an issue which will make all Nepalese intellectuals curious. The Report points out that Nepal has made marginal progress on the human development ladder but remains 144th out of 174 nations. It assigns Nepal a Human Development Index value of 0.474, out of a maximum achievable 1.0. Nepal's HDI in 1999 was 0.463. Among Nepal's closest neighbors Thailand betters all ranking 76th on the HDI ladder with Sri Lanka standing 84th. The Maldives is at 86th position, China 99th, Myanmar 125th, India 128th, Pakistan 135th and Bhutan 146th. Only Bangladesh has a lower ranking (146th) than Nepal.

Nepal ranks 80 out of 85 countries (for which data are available) on the Human Poverty Index. Also the incidence of human poverty in Nepal is highest in South Asia. The poorest 20% of the population earn less than 8% of national income, while the richest 20% earn nearly 50%. Nepal is also the only country in the world where female life expectancy is lower than that of males. Nepal scores quite little in terms of a composite index comprising three variablesólife expectancy at birth, educational attainment (adult literacy and the combined gross primary, secondary and tertiary enrolment ratio) and the GDP per capita.

In the human rights front, Nepal has made some achievements in the policy level. Some civil and political rights are definitely recognized. The Constitution provides for a strong judiciary, and an additional Human Rights Commission has been created to help address human rights abuses. But the incidence of human rights abuses of different types is already increasing. The Maoist movement started since the last five years has already compelled the government to act as a crisis government, affecting many criminal justice rights of the common people. Arbitrary arrests, torture, detention, extralegal killing, illegal search and seizure, mass exoduses, etc have become commonplace incidence.

More needs to be done to eradicate poverty in the country, which has left a majority of the people in a situation of misery. The country still lacks an enabling environment for social development ; poverty eradication; full employment, promotion of social integration; equality and equity between women and men; universal and equitable access to high-quality education and health services; acceleration of development; inclusion of social development goals in structural-adjustment programs; resources for social development; and mobilization of international cooperation.

A prime obstacle to improving the lives of millions is the crippling external debt owed by the country. Besides, the state has a long way to change many culturally ingrained habits and customs that violate the dignity of the individual. They all are very challenging issues.

Mrs. Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, predicted at the European launch of the document in Paris that the Report will be a reference point for years to come, with its wealth of data, examples and background material on human rights and human development. She appreciated the conclusion of the Report that the 20th century's advances in human rights and human development were unprecedented - but there is a long unfinished agenda. Similarly, she pointed out that there should be no disagreement on the proposition that bold new approaches are needed to achieve the realisation of human rights in the 21st century, adapted to the opportunities and realities of the era of globalization, to its new global actors and to its new global rules.

Human development and human rights are close enough in motivation and concern to be compatible and congruous, and they are different enough in strategy and design to supplement each other fruitfully. The parallel movements for human rights and for human development have had distinct traditions and strategies. United in a broader alliance, the High Commissioner said, each can bring new energy and strength to the other.

According to Mrs. Robinson, this balanced report points the way forward. It shows the futility of the often politically-motivated debate which has in the past pitted countries arguing that civil and political rights are a precondition to development against those which maintained that such rights were the fruit of economic development and could not precede it.

The High Commissioner also emphasized that a human rights approach to development gives the highest priority to poverty elimination, to integration of women and vulnerable groups in the development process, to self-reliance and self-determination of peoples and governments, including the rights of indigenous peoples. The Declaration on the Right to Development sees development as "a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process, which aims at the constant improvement of 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 benefits resulting therefrom." This is an important concept.

It is the opinion of the High Commissioner that the recent news of the first mapping of the human genome underlines the enormous ethical, moral and legal challenges we face in the period ahead. It is necessary to associate fully and actively non-state actors, and first of all the business community, in the promotion, protection and realization of human rights. It is also necessary to identify the different impacts of international trade relations on the enjoyment of human rights and find ways of taking advantage of the globalization process to fulfil the human rights of the most deprived and vulnerable groups.

Devising adequate and reliable tools for measuring progress in human rights and comprehensively integrate human rights assistance in development assistance programs is also important. Last, but not the least, the world as a whole has to address and counter the negative impacts of discrimination, inequalities and racism on sustainable human development.

Human rights are not a reward of development but rather are critical to achieving it. This realization is necessary to improve the existing situation. The Human Development Report 2000 decorously proves this proposition.

[Adhikari is a lawyer]