Chapter 1 Relationship between the Human Right to Development and Core Elements of the Sustainable Development Goals
In: The Right to DevelopmentSearch for other papers by Zamir Akram in
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Abstract
Since human rights cannot be fully realized without addressing human needs, there is a symbiotic relationship between human rights and human development. This fact is recognized by all the major international instruments, agreements and resolutions of the UN in particular the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Conventions on civil and political and economic, social and cultural rights. These instruments became the basis of the Declaration on the Right to Development adopted in 1986 which establishes the right to development as a human right, equal and indivisible from all other human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, despite a lapse of 30 years, the right to development has not been implemented due to differences between the developed and developing states, which exist due to international systematic issues as well as ideological divergence. These differences have undermined efforts by the international community, despite the use of various mechanisms led by the UN Secretary General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as the Working Group on the Right to Development, to implement the Declaration on the Right to Development. The consensus adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals contained in the 2030 Agenda in 2015 has raised hopes that it would now be possible to realize the right to development. Since the 2030 Agenda is grounded in human rights instruments including the right to development and seeks to pursue the same development goals as these instruments, it provides a road map for implementing the right to development, hence the close relationship between the right to development and the Sustainable Development Goals.