Human Rights in DevelopmentProfessor Todd Landman

Director

Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution

University of Essex

Wivenhoe Park

Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ

United Kingdom

www.idcr.org.uk

Modules

• Development and human rights: concepts and relationships– Lecture and discussion– Working groups

• Assessing impact and the value of human rights-based approaches to development

Development and Human Rights

• Background and introduction• Definitions and dimensions• Attributes and measures• Methods and relationships• Problems and limitations• Summary and implications

Background and Introduction• Development and human rights are at the heart of the UN • Bretton Woods institutions (IMF and IBRD) largely in ‘charge’ of

development– Emphasis on growth– Fiscal and monetary policy– Rise and fall of the ‘Washington Consensus’

• UN and regional systems for the promotion and protection of human rights– Standards and instruments– Treaty bodies and institutions– General comments and concluding observations– Categories, dimensions, and principles of human rights

Background and introduction• Mainstreaming human rights

– UNDP– Vienna Declaration and Programme for Action– MDGs and human rights

• Post Cold War– Increase in the number of states– Increased ratification

• War on Terror

Definitions and dimensions

• Development• Human Rights

Development• Traditional views

– GNP/GDP– Income growth

• Beyond GDP growth– Poverty and poverty reduction (alleviation)– Income distribution– Inequality

• Values– Sustenance– Self esteem– Freedom from servitude

Development as Freedom(Amartya Sen)

Greatest area of linkage to human rights conceptually

Human Rights• Categories

– Civil and political – Economic, social, and

cultural– Solidarity

• Dimensions– Respect– Protect– Fulfil

• Principles– Universality & Inalienability– Indivisibility– Interdependence & inter-

relatedness– Equality & non-

discrimination– Participation & inclusion– Accountability & rule of law

RespectNo interference in the exercise of the right

ProtectPrevent violations from

third parties

FulfilProvision of resources and the outcomes of

policies

Civil and

political

1Torture, extra-judicial

killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, unfair

trials, electoral intimidation,

disenfranchisement

2Measure to prevent non-

state actors from committing violations, such

as militias, uncivil movements, or private

sector firms and organisations.

3Investment in judiciaries,

prisons, police forces, electoral authorities, and resource allocations to

ability.

Economic,social and

Cultural

4Ethnic, racial, gender, or

linguistic discrimination in health, education, and welfare, and resource

allocations below ability.

5Measures to prevent non-state actors from engaging

in discriminatory behaviour that limits access to

services and conditions.

6Progressive realisation Investment in health,

education and welfare, and resource allocations

to ability.

RespectNo interference in the exercise of the right

ProtectPrevent violations from

third parties

FulfilProvision of resources and the outcomes of

policies

Civil and

political

1Torture, extra-judicial

killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, unfair

trials, electoral intimidation,

disenfranchisement

2Measure to prevent non-

state actors from committing violations, such

as militias, uncivil movements, or private

sector firms and organisations.

3Investment in judiciaries,

prisons, police forces, electoral authorities, and resource allocations to

ability.

Economic,social and

Cultural

4Ethnic, racial, gender, or

linguistic discrimination in health, education, and welfare, and resource

allocations below ability.

5Measures to prevent non-state actors from engaging

in discriminatory behaviour that limits access to

services and conditions.

6Progressive realisation Investment in health,

education and welfare, and resource allocations

to ability.

Dimensions of human rightsC

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Attributes and measures

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T h e sc o re s fo r u nits of o bse rva tion ( e .g . in d ivid u als , co u ntr ie s, r e gio n s) g en e ra te d b y a p a rtic ula r ind ica to r.Q u a n tita tiv e a n d q u a lita tiv e d a ta .

L e v e l 3In d ica to rs

A lso r e fe r re d to a s 'm ea sure s ', 'o pe ra tio na lisa tion s ', a n d c las s ific a tio nsE v e n ts -b a se d, s ta n d a rd s-b a se d (o rd ina l, in te rv a l, no m in a l) , su rv e y - b a se d (ord in a l, in te rv a l, n o m in a l)

L e v e l 2S y stem a tiz e d C o nc e pt

A sp ec if ic f o rm u la tion o f a c o nc e p t u se d b y sch o la r, IG O , N G OD im e n sio n s an d c o m p o n e nts o f c o n c e pt

L e v e l 1B a c kg ro u nd C on c e pt

T h e br o a d c o n ste lla tio n of m ea n ing s a nd u n de r s tan d ing s a sso c iate d w ith a g iv en c on c e ptN o rm a tiv e a n d e m p iric a l th e o ry

Measuring human rights• Events-based measures

– Who did what to whom– Counting units

• Standards-based measures– Levels of protection– Scaling countries

• Survey-based measures– Perceptions and experiences– Individual responses

• Socio-economic and administrative statistics– Government statistics– Mixed units

Methods and relationships• Empirical relationships

– Comparative and statistical– Test theoretical propositions– Direction, magnitude, significance

• Policy relationships– Declaratory and aspirational– New discourse of development– Difficult to implement

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30 40 50 60Income Inequality

2000Income Inequality and Human Rights

Policy relationships• Human rights standards

– Human rights empower people– People need to struggle for rights– The right to development (RTD)

• Human rights principles– Human rights-based approaches to

development (HRBA)– Added value of human rights principles to

development

Problems and limitations• Separate worlds of development and

human rights are still in tension• Work on statistics and human rights still

fairly new– Source materials and bias– Coding, validity, viability, complexity, and

reliability– Correlation, causation, attribution and

contribution

Summary and implications• Huge policy communities• Huge sums of money dedicated to this

area of work• Immediate needs

– Better data collection– Dissemination of best practice– More training of NGOs and development

delivery specialists– More realistic expectations

Assessing Impact and the Value of Human Rights-Based

Approaches to Development (HRBA )

Outline

• The global agenda• Human rights impact assessment (HRIA)• Human rights based approaches to

development (HRBA)• Limitations of HRBA• Value added of HRBA• Summary of two modules

The global agenda

• Right to Development (RTD)• Human rights-based approaches (HRBA)• Human rights and the millennium

development goals (MDGs)

Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA)

• Forms– Direct– Indirect

• Timing– Ex ante– Ex post

Forms

Direct Indirect

Timing Ex ante

IIntentional planning to change the human rights situation

IIAwareness of impact of other and/or unrelated activities

Ex postIII

Evaluation and assessment of policies, strategies, and programmes for changing the human rights situation

IVEvaluation and assessment of outcomes of policies, strategies, and programmes that were not intended for changing the human rights situation

Theories of change• Intervention assumption• Complexity

– Time– Causation– Spuriousness– Contribution v. Attribution

• Methods– Qualitative– Quantitative– Hybrid

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an r

ight

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otec

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Timet1 t2 t3

Policy interventions

RightsImprovement

Hum

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ight

s si

tuat

ion

Time (t)

No apparent effect

Hum

an r

ight

s si

tuat

ion

Time (t)

Apparent ‘slope’ effect

Hum

an r

ight

s si

tuat

ion

Time (t)

Apparent ‘intercept’ effect(aka ‘step change’)

Hum

an r

ight

s si

tuat

ion

Time (t)

Apparent ‘slope’ and ‘intercept’ effect

Causal Conditions OutcomeCases A B C D E F

1 A b c d e f2 A b c d e f3 A b c d E f4 A B C D e F5 A B C D E F6 A B C D e F7 A b c d E f8 A b c d e f9 A B C D e F

10 A B C D E F

A = establishment of an international human rights standardB = domestic implementation of the international standardC = capacity building of local NGOsD = supportive domestic political environmentE = supportive supranational environmentF = improvement in human rights situation

Bdomestic implementation of the

international standard

C capacity building of local NGOs

D supportive domestic political environment

Fimprovement in human rights situation

+

+

=

Contribution

Human Rights Based Approaches (HRBA) to Development

• Integration of norms, standards and principles of international human rights in the plans, policies and processes of development

• Rights holders and duty bearers– Empowerment of rights holders– Obligations of duty bearers

• Assessment, monitoring, and evaluation in human rights terms

Comparison with development• Similarities

– Participation– Transparency and accountability

• Differences– Processes and outcomes– Obligations– Empowerment (social and legal)– Charity is insufficient driver– Structural and immediate causes– Holistic analysis

Typical ‘checklist’ items for HRBA

• Normative stance on the side of vulnerable in society

• Those involved have thorough knowledge of human rights

• Recognise agency of people• Activities aimed at structural

roots of problems• Involved communities play

an active role• Information is widely shared• Collective action

• Rights holders and duty bearers identified

• Inter-related rights considerations

• Impact on equality and non-discrimination

• Right to organise• Adequate standard of

living addressed

Limitations to HRBA

• State capacity – domestic legal apparatus• Rights awareness

– Among development workers– Within the affected groups

• Inadequacy of international regime• Lack of social science methods

– Measurement– Analysis

Value added

• Well grounded framework• Principles more palatable than standards

– Less absolutism– No ‘obligations’

• Process and outcome are both important• State-individual relationship• Conditions for agency

Summary of Two Modules• Inter-mingling of two dominant discourses• Moved beyond markets and income to values, processes, and

outcomes• Moved the individual human to the centre of development work• Improved our ability to measure, but much work is still needed• Theories of change, society, incentives, institutions and more are

needed• Methods of analysis are still under developed and/or under used by

practitioners• Capacity building in methods is needed• Methods can be a force for change but can yield ‘inconvenient facts’