Ships passing in the night: The current state of the human rights and development debate seen through the lens of the Millennium Development Goals

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 27, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 755-829

  Alston, Philip ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY; HUMAN RIGHTS; MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL;

EID: 27644488353     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2005.0030     Document Type: Review

References (266)

1. UN Millennium Development Goals, available at www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ [hereinafter MDGs].
2. United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted 8 Sept. 2000, G.A. Res. 55/2, U.N. GAOR, 55th Sess., Supp. No. 49, U.N. Doc. A/RES/55/2 (2000), available at www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm [hereinafter Millennium Declaration].
3. See generally Millennium Project website, available at www.unmillenniumproject.org/html/about.shtm.
4. See generally Millennium Campaign: Voices Against Poverty website, available at www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/ pp.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=138312.
5. These reports are described in detail below. See infra notes 127-52 and accompanying text.
6. Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. GAOR, 59th Sess., Agenda Item 56,39, U.N. Doc. A/59/282 (2004).
7. Ends without Means, Economist, 11 Sept. 2004, at 90.
8. The article focuses mainly on the fact that the proclamation of the MDGs was not accompanied by the provision of the funds needed to meet them. It concludes that it is questionable "whether the MDG exercise, with its unimpeachably good intentions and its proliferating bureaucratic overhead, has done any good at all, on balance." Id.
9. United Nation Development Programme, Human Developmnt Report 2003, at 27, 29 (2003), available at hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2003/ [hereinafter HDR 2003].
10. Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Economic and Social Council, U.N. ESCOR, 40th Sess., Agenda Item 14(g), 10, U.N. Doc. E/2002/68 (2002).
11. Id.
12. Selim Jahan, Millennium Development Goals and Human Rights, in Human Rights in Developing Countries: How Can Developmnt Cooperation Contribute To Furthering their Advancement? (2003), available at www.inwent.org/ef-texte/human_rights/jahan.htm.
13. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 10 Dec. 1948, G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess. (Resolutions, pt. 1), at 71, U.N. Doc. A/ 810 (1948), reprinted in 43 Am. J. Int'l L. 127 (Supp. 1949) [hereinafter UDHR].
14. Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted 4 Dec. 1986, G.A. Res. 41/128, U.N. GAOR, 41st Sess., Supp. No. 53, at 186-87, U.N. Doc. A/41/ 53 (1987).
15. See infra notes 127-52 and accompanying text.
16. See Philip Alston, What's in a Name: Does it Really Matter if Development Policies Refer to Goals, Ideals or Human Rights?, in Human Rights in Development Co-operation 95 (Henny Helmich ed., 1998);
17. James Thuo Gatthi, Good Governance as a Counter Insurgency Agenda to Oppositional and Transformative Social Projects in International Law, 5 Buffalo Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 107 (1999).
18. Irene Khan, Message from the Secretary General: Why Human Rights Matter in Annual Report 2004 (Amnesty International, 2004), available at web.amnesty.org/report/2004/message-eng.
19. United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2000, at 19 (2001), available at www.undp.org/hdr2000/english/HDR2000.html [hereinafter HDR 2000].
20. See Thomas Pogge, Global Justice and the First UN Millennium Development Goal, Evening Address at the University of Oslo Global justice Symposium (2003), available at www.etikk.no/globaljustice.
21. Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action: World Food Summit, 13-17 November 1996, Rome, Italy, available at www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/DOCREP/003/W3613E/ W3613E00.HTM.
22. Pogge, supra note 18.
23. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceeding in Certain Socities in London Relative to that Event. In a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in paris (1791).
24. Maurice Cranston, Human Rights: Real and Supposed, in Political Theory and the Rights of Man 43, 51 (David D. Raphael ed., 1967).
25. Michael A. Clemens, Charles J. Kenny & Todd J. Moss, The Trouble with the MDGs: Confronting Expectations of Aid and Development Success 2 (Washington DC, Center for Global Development, Working Paper 40, 2004), available at econwpa.wustl.edu/eps/dev/papers/0405/0405011.pdf.
26. Id. at 5, 28, 30.
27. Id. at 29.
28. Id. at 30.
29. Id. at 1.
30. The two most useful critical sources are the Statement of the Asia-Pacific Civil Society Forum on the MDGs and the Eradication of Extreme Poverty and Hunger, Bangkok 6-8 October 2003, reprinted in Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Human Rights Perspectives on the Millennium Development Goals: Conference Report 31, Annex 3 (New York, NYU Law School, 2003), available at www.nyuhr.org/images/ NYUCHRGJMDGREPORT2003.pdf;
31. and Women's International Coalation for Economic Justice, Seeking Accountability on Women's Human Rights: Women Debate the Millennium Development Goals (2004), available at www.wicej.addr.com/mdg/#pdfs [hereinafter Seeking Accountability].
32. UDHR, supra note 12.
33. See infra III(D).
34. Sunila Abeyesekera, Development and Women's Human Rights, in Seeking Accountability, supra note 28, at 6, 7.
35. Macartan Humphreys & Ashutosh Varshney, Violent Conflict and the Millennium Development Goals: Diagnosis and Recommendations 32 (Paper prepared for the meeting of the Millennium Development Goals Poverty Task Force Workshop, Bangkok June 2004), available at www.columbia.edu/ ~mh2245/papers1/HV.pdf.
36. Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 55th Sess., Agenda Item 4, U.N. Doc.E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/12/ Rev.2 (2003) [hereinafter UN Norms].
37. For general information about the UN Global Compact Initiative, see the Global Compact website, available at www.unglobalcompact.org/Portal/.
38. Humphreys & Varshney, supra note 32.
39. See Andrew Clapham, The Question of Jurisdiction Under International Criminal Law Over Legal Persons: Lessons from the Rome Conference on an International Criminal Court, in Liability of Multinational Corporations under International Law 139 (Menno Kamminga & Saman Zia-Zarifi eds., 2000).
40. General Comment No. 31 on Article 2 of the Covenant: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, adopted 29 Mar. 2004, Hum. Rts. Comm., 80th Sess., 2187th mtg., 8, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/74/CRP.4/Rev.6 (2004).
41. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976) [hereinafter ICCPR].
42. General Comment No. 31 on Article 2 of the Covenant: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, adopted 29 Mar. 2004, Hum. Rts. Comm., 80th Sess., 2187th mtg., 8, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/74/CRP.4/Rev.6 (2004).
43. Id.
44. Id.
45. Id.
46. Millennium Declaration, supra note 2.
47. For general information about the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, see the Johannesburg Summit website, available at www.johannesburgsummit.org/.
48. See also Report of the Commission on Sustainable Development acting as the preparatory committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, U.N. GAOR, 56th Sess., Supp. No. 19, U.N. Doc. A/56/19 (2001).
49. Report of the International Conference on Financing for Development, Monterrey, Mexico, 18-22 March 2002, U.N. GAOR, Int'l Conf. on Fin. and Dev., U.N. Doc. A/CONF.198/11 (2002) [hereinafter Monterrey Consensus].
50. UDHR, supra note 12.
51. For a critique of this tendency see Bruno Simma & Philip Alston, The Sources of Human Rights Law: Custom, Jus Cogens, General Principles, 12 Austl. Y.B. Int'l L. 82 (1992).
52. Gobind Nankani, John Page & Lindsay Judge, Human Rights and Poverty Reduction Strategies: Moving Towards Convergence?, in Human Rights and Development: Towards Mutual Reinforcement (Philip Alston & Mary Robinson eds., forthcoming 2005).
53. UN Millennium Declaration: "Mandate" for Global Governance, Discerning the Times Digest, Sept. 2000, available at www.discerningtoday.org/un_millennium_declaration.htm.
54. Id.
55. In a famous judgment, the International Court of Justice cited the prohibition of genocide, protection from slavery and racial discrimination as examples. Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited (Belg. v. Spain) 1970 I.C.J. 3, 34 (5 Feb.).
56. This list was subsequently expanded in the American Law Intitute, Restatement of the Law Third: The Foreign Relations Law of the United States, vol. 2, at 161, 702 (1987), which lists the prohibitions of genocide, slavery or slave trade, the murder or causing the disappearance of individuals, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, systematic racial discrimination, or a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.
57. For an insightful recent analysis see Anthea Roberts, Traditional and Modern Approaches to Customary International Law: A Reconciliation, 95 Am. J. Int'l L. 757 (2001).
58. Christian Tomuschat, Human Rights: Between Idealism and Realism 35 (2004).
59. Theodor Meron, Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law (1989).
60. See, e.g., General Comment on Article 6 (Right to Life, General Comment No. 6, adopted 30 Apr. 1982, Hum. Rts. Comm., 16th Sess., reprinted in Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, at 127, U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.6 (2003).
61. The Indian Supreme Court has also embraced this analysis; for a description and critique see Satyaranjan Purushottam Sathe, Judicial Activism in India: Transgresing Borders and Enforcing Limits (2002).
62. Tomuschat, supra note 53, at 35.
63. MDGs, supra note 1, Goal 8.
64. See supra notes 51-57 and accompanying text.
65. U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Draft Guidelines: Human Rights Approach to Poverty Reduction Strategies 13 (2002), available at www.unhchr.ch/development/povertyfinal.html.
66. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976) [hereinafter ICESCR].
67. HDR 2003, supra note 8, at 28.
68. U.N. Charter, signed 26 June 1945, 59 Stat. 1031, T.S. No. 993, 3 Bevans 1153 (entered into force 24 Oct. 1945).
69. UDHR, supra note 12, art. 28.
70. ICESCR, supra note 60, art. 2(1).
71. Marc Leland, Remarks to the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights (29 Mar. 2004) (transcript available at www.humanrights-usa.net/2004/statements/ 0329Leland.htm).
72. Jeffrey de Laurentis, Explanation of Vote on the resolution on the Right to Food, Remarks to the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights (16 Apr. 2004) (transcript available at www.humanrights-usa.net/statements/ 0421Food.htm).
73. Statement of Phyllis Schlafly, Senate Hearings on International Human Rights Treaties, S. Comm. For. Rel., 96th Cong., 1st Sess. (1979), cited in Steiner and Alston, International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals 764 (1st ed., 1996).
74. See Fifth report of the independent expert on the right to development, Mr. Arjun Sengupta, submitted in accordance with Commission resolution 2002/69, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 5-14, U.N. doc. E/CN.4/2002A/ VG.18/6 (2002).
75. Further analysis of the development compact idea was contained in Review of Progress and Obstacles in the Promotion, Implementation, Operationalization, and Enjoyment of the Right to Development: Consideration of the 6th Report of the Independent Expert on the Right to Development: Implementing the Right to Development in the Current Global Context, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 36-38, U.N. doc. E/CN.4/ 2004/WG.18/2 (2004).
76. Fifth report of the independent expert on the right to development, Mr. Arjun Sengupta, submitted in accordance with Commission resolution 2002/ 69, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 14(c)(vi), U.N. doc. E/CN.4/2002/ WG.18/6 (2002).
77. For an elaboration of what Sengupta describes as "The Operational Model of the Right to Development-Development Compact (RTD-DC)" see Arjun Sengupta, Development Cooperation and the Right to Development 2 (2003), available atwww.hsph.harvard.edu/fxbcenter/ FXBC_WP12-Sengupta.pdf.
78. Millennium Declaration, supra note 2.
79. Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, supra note 44.
80. Monterrey Consensus, supra note 45.
81. See generally World Bank Operations Evaluation Department, The Poverty Reduction Strategy Initiative: An Independent Evaluation of the World Bank's Support Through 2003 (World Bank, 2004).
82. HDR 2003, supra note 8, at 20.
83. See Mac Darrow & Amparo Tomas, Power, Capture and Conflict: A Call for Human Rights Accountability in Development Cooperation, 27 Hum. Rts. Q. 471 (2005);
84. Peter Uvin, Human Rights and Development (2004).
85. See Millennium Declaration, supra note 2.
86. Id. 24.
87. Id. 6.
88. Id.
89. World Bank & International Monetary Fund (IMF) Development Comitee, Global Monitoring Report 2004: Policies and Actions for Achieving the MDGs and Related Outcomes i-ii (2004), available at siteresources.worldbank.org/DEVCOMMINT/Documentation/20193150/ DC2004-0006(E)-GMR.pdf [hereinafter Global Monitoring Report].
90. Id. at i.
91. Id.
92. Id. 27.
93. The Bretton Woods Institutions include the World Bank and the IMF. See generally Sigrun Skogly, The Human Rights Obligations of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (2001).
94. Global Monitoring Report, supra note 81, at 27.
95. Id. at i.
96. Id.
97. Id. 29.
98. Id. at i-ii.
99. Id. at ii.
100. Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 20 Nov. 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, U.N. GAOR, 44th Sess., Supp. No. 49, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989) (entered into force 2 Sept. 1990), reprinted in 28 I.L.M. 1448 (1989) (hereinafter Children's Convention).
101. Global Monitoring Report, supra note 81.
102. Id. 13.
103. Id. 37.
104. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted 18 Dec. 1979, G.A. Res. 34/180, U.N. GAOR, 34th Sess., Supp. No. 46, U.N. Doc. A/34/46 (1980) (entered into force 3 Sept. 1981), 1249 U.N.T.S. 13, reprinted in 19 I.L.M. 33 (1980) [hereinafter Women's Convention].
105. See infra notes 127-52 and accompanying text.
106. See Report of the Second Interagency Workshop on Implementing a Human Rights-Based Approach in the Context of UN Reform, (Stamford, USA, 5-7 May 2003), available at www.humanrights.se/svenska/ Common%20Understanding%20FN%202003.pdf.
107. See Jeffrey Sachs, UN Millennium Project, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals (2005), available at www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/ MainReportChapterOFrontmatter-highres.pdf.
108. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Report on the Seventh Session (23 November-11 December 1992), U.N. ESCOR, 8th Sess., Supp. No. 2, Annex III, 5, 7, UN Doc. E/1993/22 (1993).
109. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Poverty Reduction and Human Rights: A Practice Note iv (2003), available at www.undp.org/poverty/ practicenotes/povertyreduction-humanrights0603.pdf.
110. Id.
111. ICESCR, supra note 60, art. 2.
112. Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, U.N. GAOR, World Conf. on Hum. Rts., 48th Sess., 22d plen. mtg., part 1, 14, 25, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.157/24 (1993), reprinted in 32 I.L.M. 1661 (1993).
113. HDR 2000, supra note 17, at 8.
114. Millennium Declaration, supra note 2, 11.
115. Poverty Reduction and Human Rights, supra note 101, at 2.
116. Mari Pangestu & Jeffrey Sachs, Millennium Project, An Enhanced Strategy for Reducing Extreme Poverty by the Year 2015: Interim Report of the Millennium Project Task Force on Poverty and Economic Development 4 (2004), available at www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/ tfoneinterim.pdf.
117. Albeit with a handful of communist countries abstaining on the grounds that economic and social rights were not given sufficient prominence and apartheid South Africa also abstaining, ostensibly on the grounds that "a condition of existence does not constitute a fundamental human right merely because it is eminently desirable for the fullest realisation of all human potentialities" and that if economic rights were to be taken seriously it would be "necessary to resort to more or less totalitarian control of the economic life of the country." Comments from Governments on the Draft International Declaration on Human Rights, Draft International Covenant on Human Rights and the Question of Implementation, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 3rd Sess., 11, 13, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/ 82/Add.4 (1948).
118. ICCPR, supra note 38.
119. ICESCR, supra note 60.
120. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted 21 Dec. 1965, 660 U.N.T.S. 195 (entered into force 4 Jan. 1969), reprinted in 5 I.L.M. 352 (1966).
121. Women's Convention, supra note 96.
122. Children's Convention, supra note 92.
123. See Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, supra note 104, 5.
124. HDR 2000, supra note 17, at 73.
125. HDR 2003, supra note 8, at 1.
126. Id. at 15.
127. Id. at 16
128. Id. at 19.
129. Id. at 28, Box 1.1 "The Millennium Development Goals, human development and human rights share a common motivation."
130. Id.
131. Id.
132. UNFPA, State of World Population 2004: The Cairo Consensus at Ten: Population, Reproductive Health and the Global Effort to End Poverty (2004), available at www.unfpa.org/swp/2004/pdf/en_swp04.pdf.
133. United Nations Children's Fund & World Health Organization, Meeting of MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: A Mid-Term Assessment of Progress (2004), available at www.unicef.org/publications/files/ who_unicef_watsan_midterm_rev.pdf.
134. See, e.g., Salman M.A. Salman and Siobhan McInerney-Lankford, The Human Right to Water: Legal and Policy Dimensions (World Bank, 2004).
135. UNDP Country Reports website, available at www.undp.org/mdg/ countryreports.html
136. Bosnia and Herzegovina Human Development Report 9 (UNDP, 2003), available at www.undp.org/mdg/engleseka_final.pdf.
137. Id. at 19.
138. Id. at 22.
139. Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, and United Nations Country Team in Thailand, Thailand: Millennium Development Goals Report (UNDP, 2004), available at www.undp.or.th/mdgr.htm.
140. Id. at vi.
141. Id. at 36.
142. Id. at 57.
143. Philippine Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals (UNDP, 2003), available at www.undp.org/mdg/phil.pdf.
144. Id. at 7.
145. Id. at 29.
146. Ghana: Millennium Development Report ii (UNDP, 2003), available at www.undp.org/mdg/ghana_report.pdf.
147. Ministère de la planification et de la programmation du développement, Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement 12 (UNDP, 2003), available at www.undp.org/mdg/ Gabon_report_french.pdf.
148. The United Nations in Vietnam, The Millennium Development Goals: Bringing the MDGs Closer to the People 47 (UNDP, 2002), available at www.undp.org/mdg/vietnam2002.pdf.
149. Ministry of Finance and Economic Development & United Nations Country Team, Millennium Development Goals Report: Challenges and Prospects for Ethiopia, Vol. 1, at i (UNDP, 2004), available at www.et.undp.org/ Documents/MDG-in-Ethiopia.PDF.
150. Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Millennium Development Goals: China's Progress (UNDP, 2004), available at www.undp.org/mdg/chinaMDG.pdf.
151. Millennium Development Goals: Reducing Poverty and Social Exclusion: Hungary (UNDP, 2004), available at mdgr.undp.sk/DOCUMENTS/ MDG_Hungary_GB.pdf.
152. Millennium Development Goals: Report for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (UNDP, 2002), available at www.undp.org/mdg/saudi.pdf.
153. Millennium Development Goals: Reducing Poverty and Social Exclusion: Slovak Republic (UNDP, 2004), available at mdgr.undp.sk/DOCUMENTS/ MDG_Slovak_GB.pdf.
154. Millennium Development Goals: Reducing Poverty and Social Exclusion: Slovenia (UNDP, 2004), available at mdgr.undp.sk/DOCUMENTS/ MDG_Slovenia_GB.pdf.
155. Ministry of Economy and European Integration of Ukraine, Millennium Development Goals: Ukraine (UNDP, 2003), available at www.undp.org/mdg/ Ukraine_report.pdf.
156. Millennium Development Goals: Progress Report 2003: Zambia (UNDP, 2003), available at www.undp.org/mdg/MDGRZambia.pdf.
157. Opening Doors to Opportunity: Afghanistan's Millennium Development Goals (UNDP, 2004), available at www.undp.org/mdg/afghanistan/ afghanistan_mdg.pdf.
158. See Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Int'l Conf. on Population and Dev., U.N. Doc. A/CONF.171/13 (1994).
159. State of World Population 2004, supra note 124, at 11.
160. Id. at 13.
161. UNDP, Millennium Development Goals Reports: An Assessment (2003), available at www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/MDGR_Final.pdf.
162. Id. at 29.
163. Id. at 9.
164. See also id. at 36.
165. Manouchehr Ganji, The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Problems, Policies, Progress, U.N. Sales No. E.75.XIV.2 (1975).
166. See Proclamation of Teheran, Final Act of the International Conference on Human Rights, Teheran, 22 April to 13 May 1968, in Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, at 51-54, U.N. Doc. ST/HR/1/Rev.5(Vol.I/Part.1) (1994).
167. Resolution 4 (XXXII) of the Commission on Human Rights, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., E/CN.4/RES/1976/4 (1976).
168. See The Human Rights Based Approach to Development Cooperation: Towards a Common Understanding Among the UN Agencies, in Report of the Second interagency Workshop, supra note 98, at 17-19 [hereinafter Statement of Common Understanding].
169. They included: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNDP, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UNFPA, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), World Bank, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and World Health Organization (WHO).
170. Id.
171. Id. at 17.
172. Darrow & Tomas, supra note 76, at 537.
173. Department for International Development, Key Sheet: Rights-based Approaches 1 (July 2003), available at www.keysheets.org/ red_18_rights_based_approaches.html.
174. UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2004, Annex B, at 91-92 (2004), available at www.unicef.org/sowc04/files/AnnexB.pdf.
175. Darrow & Tomas, supra note 76, at 497.
176. Urban Jonsson, Human Rights Approach to Development Programming 38 (UNICEF, 2003).
177. Id. at 38-41.
178. Statement of Common Understanding, supra note 159, at 19.
179. Id.
180. Id.
181. See Report of the Second Interagency Workshop, supra note 98, at 10.
182. For a more detailed exposition of a human rights based approach see Jonsson, supra note 166.
183. For a detailed and challenging evaluation of the role of rights based approaches to development see Uvin, supra note 76.
184. For a brief overview see Rosalind Eyben, The Rise of Rights: Rights-Based Approaches to International Development, IDS Policy Briefing 17 (2003), available at www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop/briefs/ Pb17.pdf.
185. Statement of Common Understanding, supra note 159, at 19.
186. Id.
187. Id.
188. This is not to suggest for a moment that the author would go as far as Uvin who characterizes the UN human rights mechanisms as "some of the most powerless, underfunded, toothless, formulaic, and politically manipulated institutions of the UN." He adds that "even the human rights NGOs by and large neglect them," which is demonstrably not the case. Uvin, supra note 76, at 181.
189. Statement of Common Understanding, supra note 159, at 19.
190. Id.
191. Id.
192. Id.
193. As Woolcock concludes, "The development community has too few examples of demonstrated successes and even fewer examples of how empowerment projects have fared compared with plausible alternatives." See Michael Woolcock, Empowerment at the Local Level: Issues, Responses, Assessments, in Power, Rights, and Poverty: Concepts and Connections 111, 116 (Ruth Alsop ed., UK Department for International Development, 2004), available at siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEMPOWERMENT/Resources/ PPFinalText.pdf.
194. For example, Mosse observes that decentralization often has the effect of empowering local elites to capture resources from the poor and that this outcome "is consistent with a stream of recent research emphasizing that the existence of a strong center that is able and willing to resist the power of local elites (to earmark funds, support strong local staffing, and so on) is a necessary precondition for decentralization." David Mosse, Power Relations and Poverty Reduction, in id. at 51, 60.
195. For a diverse range of views on the relationship between decentralization initiatives and the protection of human rights see HDR 2003, supra note 8;
196. International Council on Human Rights Policy, Local Rule: Decentralisation and Human Rights (2002), available at www.ichrp.org/ac/ excerpts/96.pdf;
197. World Bank, East Asia Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit, Decentralizing Indonesia: A Regional Public Expenditure Review Overview Report, Report No. 26191-IND (2003), available at Inweb18.world bank.org/ eap/eap.nsf/0/30e999786f323f2147256d72001c7bcf?OpenDocument;
198. Dele Olowu, UN Research Institute for Social Development, Decentralisation Policies and Practices under Structural Adjustment and Democratisation in Africa, Democracy, Governance and Human Rights Programme, Paper No. 4 (2001);
199. Decentralization & Power Shift: An Imperative for Good Governance, A Sourcebook on Decentralization Experiences in Asia, Vol. 1 (Alex Brillantes, Jr. & Nora Cuachon eds., Center for Local and Regional Governance, University of the Philippines, CLRG Working Papers Series 2002/02, 2002), available at www.decentralization.ws/srcbook_main.asp.
200. Statement of Common Understanding, supra note 159, at 19.
201. Department for International Development, supra note 163, at 2.
202. Ruth Alsop & Andrew Norton, Power, Rights, and Poverty Reduction, in Power, Rights, and Poverty, supra note 181, at 3, 13.
203. In terms of legal empowerment more broadly, Woolcock has argued that it is necessary to discover which groups within a community "have the hardest time gaining access to, and a fair hearing from, the court systems, and identifying which groups have to negotiate their way between the largest number of dispute resolution alternatives." In his view, evaluating the empirical effectiveness of empowerment strategies "requires integrated forms of qualitative and quantitative data," which would help in identifying appropriate service delivery mechanisms for excluded groups in specific contexts. Woolcock, supra note 181, at 115.
204. Alsop & Norton, supra note 185, at 13.
205. For a sophisticated and oft invoked version of this argument see W. Michael Riesman, Through or Despite Governments: Differentiated Responsibilities in Human Rights Programs, 72 Iowa L. Rev. 391 (1987).
206. Uvin, supra note 76, at 166.
207. The World Bank Operational Manual, Operational Policies: Environmental Assessment, OP 4.01, ¶ 3 (Jan. 1999, revised Aug. 2004), available at wbln0018.wor1dbank.org/ Institutional/Manuals/OpManual.nsf/0/ 9367A2A9D9DAEED38525672C007D0972? OpenDocument.
208. Alsop & Norton, supra note 185, at 8.
209. There is a rich and extensive body of literature on this problem in relation to the PRS process. For a synthesis of some of the critiques see Susan Mathews, Poverty Reduction Strategies and Human Rights: A Position Paper for the World Social Forum - 2004 (Interchurch Organization for Development Co-operation, 2004), available at www. wemos.nl/prs/mailinglist/011mar/paper_iccog_rights_and_pap.pdf.
210. Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted 4 Dec. 1986, G.A. Res. 41/128, U.N. GAOR, 41st Sess., Supp. No. 53, at 186-87, U.N. Doc. A/41/ 53 (1987). In extolling the virtues of participation the Declaration states that: "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," id. at preambular ¶ 2; Declaration on the Right to Development Cooperation "development policy should ... make the human being the main participant and beneficiary of development," id. at preambular ¶ 13; "every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development," id. art. 1; "the human person ... should be the active participant and beneficiary of the right to development," id. art. 2(1); national development policies must aim 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," id. art. 2(3); and "States should encourage popular participation in all spheres," id. art. 8(2).
211. UDHR, supra note 12, art. 25.
212. Morton Kjaerum, National Human Rights Institutions Implementing Human Rights, in Human Rights and Criminal Justice for the Downtrodden: Essays in Honour of Asbjørn Eide 631 (M. Bergsmo ed., 2003).
213. See Draft general comment no. 10: The role of national human rights institutions in the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, U.N. ESCOR, Econ., Soc. & Cult. Rts. Comm., 19th Sess., Agenda Item 3, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1998/25 (1998);
214. General comment no. 2: The role of independent national human rights institutions in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, U.N. ESCOR, Comm. on Rts. of the Child, 32d Sess., U.N. Doc. CRC/GC/2002/ 2 (2002).
215. Terry McKinley, Overview of UNDP's Support to Poverty Reduction Strategies (UNDP, 2004).
216. World Bank Operations Evaluations Department, The Poverty Reduction Strategy Initiative An Independent Evaluation of the World Bank's Support Through 2003 (Washington DC, World Bank, 2004), available at www.worldbank.org/oed/prsp/.
217. Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund, Report on the Evaluation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and The Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) 164-74 (Washington DC, 2004), available at www.imf.org/External/NP/ieo/2004/prspprgf/eng/ report.pdf.
218. United Nations Development Group, Guidance Note: UN Country Team Engagement in PRSPs ¶ 5.3 (2004), available at www.undp.or.id/mdg/ documents/Guidance%20for%20UNCT%20in%20PRSP.pdf.
219. Management Response to the Assessment of the Millennium Development Goals Reports, Executive Board of the UN Development Programme and of the UN Population Fund, 1st Sess., Agenda Item 2, ¶ 1, U.N. Doc. DP/ 2004/3 (2004).
220. Id. ¶ 6.
221. Id. ¶ 9.
222. Id. ¶ 12.
223. See Report of the Second Interagency Workshop, supra note 98, at 10.
224. See The Right to Development, C.H.R. Res. 2001/9, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 57th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2001/9 (2001);
225. Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, C.H.R. Res. 2001/31, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 57th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2001/31 (2001);
226. Globalization and Its Impact On the Full Enjoyment of All Human Rights, C.H.R. Res. 2001/32, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 57th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2001/32 (2001).
227. The Right to Development, C.H.R. Res. 2002/69, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 58th Sess., ¶ 5, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2002/69 (2002).
228. See also id. ¶ 6.
229. Id. ¶ 12.
230. Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Economic and Social Council, U.N. ESCOR, U.N. Doc. E/2002/68 (2002).
231. Human Rights and Terrorism, C.H.R. Res. 2004/44, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/44 (2004).
232. Trafficking in Women and Girls, C.H.R. Res. 2004/45, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/45 (2004).
233. Follow up to the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, C.H.R. Res. 2004/71, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/71 (2004).
234. The Right to Food, C.H.R. Res. 2004/19, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/19 (2004).
235. Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living, C.H.R. Res. 2004/21, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/21 (2004).
236. The Right to Education, C.H.R. Res. 2004/25, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/25 (2004).
237. The Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, C.H.R. Res. 2004/27, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/27 (2004).
238. Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, C.H.R. Res. 2004/23, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., ¶ 10(e), U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/ 23 (2004).
239. Effects of Structural Adjustment Policies and Foreign Debt On the Full Enjoyment of All Human Rights, Particularly Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, C.H.R. Res. 2004/18, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/18 (2004).
240. Human Rights and International Solidarity, C.H.R. Res. 2004/66, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/66 (2004).
241. Rights of the Child, C.H.R. Res. 2004/48, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CNA/RES/2004/48 (2004).
242. Report of the Working Group on the Right to Development on its fifth session (Geneva, 11-20 February 2004), U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., ¶ 43(g), U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/23 (2004).
243. Id. ¶ 49(a).
244. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living, Miloon Kothari, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/48 (2004);
245. Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living: Report by the Special Rapporteur, Miloon Kothari: Addendum, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/48/Add.2 (2004).
246. The Right to Food: Report Submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, in Accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2003/25, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., ¶ 54(a), U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/10 (2004).
247. The Right to Food: Report by the Special Rapporteur, Jean Ziegler: Addendum, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/ 2004/10/Add.2 (2004).
248. The Right to Food: Report by the Special Rapporteur, Jean Ziegler: Addendum, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., ¶ 33, U.N. Doc. UCN.4/2004/10/Add.1 (2004).
249. The Right to Education: Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Katarina Tomasevski, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., ¶ 21, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/45 (2004) (MDGs address only primary school attendance);
250. see also id. ¶ 29 (MDG monitoring has been most successful in Western European countries).
251. The Right to Education: Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Katarina Tomasevski: Addendum, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/45/Add.2 (2004).
252. The Right to Education: Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Katarina Tomasevski: Addendum, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 60th Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/45/Add.1 (2004).
253. The Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, U.N. GAOR, 59th Sess., ¶ 18, U.N. Doc. A/59/422 (2004).
254. See generally The Future of U.N. Human Rights Treaty Monitoring (Philip Alston & James Crawford eds., 2000).
255. World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, agreed to at the World Summit for Children on 30 September 1990, available at www.unicef.org/wsc/declare.htm;
256. Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s, available at www.unicef.org/wsc/plan.htm.
257. See Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, in Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4-15 September 1995, Annex I and Annex II, UN Doc. A/CONF.177/20 (1995).
258. This reporting was a major focus of the Bretton Woods Institutions, the UN General Assembly, and the Secretary General.
259. Carol Barton, Introduction, in Seeking Accountability on Women's Human Rights, supra note 28, at 3.
260. For a list of all of the 'core documents' that have been submitted see the UN Treaty Body Database, available at www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/ Documentsfrset?OpenFrameSet.
261. Guidelines on an expanded core document and treaty-specific targeted reports and harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties, Report of the secretariat, ¶ 13, U.N. Doc. HRI/ MC/2004/3 (2004).
262. Id. ¶ 31.
263. The same report asserts that MDG reporting "is of particular interest to many of the committees insofar that [sic] each goal impacts on related articles of the treaties" and includes a detailed Appendix listing the human rights instruments and documents that are of direct relevance to each of the MDGs. Id. Appendix 5, ¶ 55.
264. The Secretary General has recently observed that "[t]he concept of 'mainstreaming' human rights has gained greater attention in recent years, but it has still not been adequately reflected in key policy and resource decisions." In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. GAOR, 59th Sess., ¶ 144, UN Doc. A/59/2005 (2005).
265. Reuters, W. Bank's Wolfensohn slams women battery in Africa (15 Oct. 2004), available at www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/Ll533689.htm.
266. Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Economic and Social Council, U.N. ESCOR, ¶ 11, U.N. Doc. E/2002/68 (2002).