EKHT48 Assignment 1 | Joyce Tethloach Makuei Chol
Human Rights and its place Economic Development
The place of human rights within the UN has changed dramatically over the past decades. After
being side lined for a long time, human rights are now – in recent decades – at the core of most
UN activities (Alston, 2013). Such an evolution is evidenced by the prominence of previously
ignored societal concerns in the agenda, increased key treaty bodies and treaty ratifications by
member states, and more resources dedicated to human rights programmes (Mégret & Alston,
2020). In this essay, I seek to understand the UN frameworks – the human rights treaties and
the later inaugurated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and how they intersect. Doing
so sheds some light on how human rights have been contextualized in economic development.
To further this discussion, this essay then looks to economic globalization and the consequent
opportunities and threats it presents or poses to human rights. Subsequently, the essay shall
answer the following research question:
What role has international development played in protecting or undermining human rights?
Despite being part of a broader human rights regime, the UN has unique legitimacy and
authority in developing human rights standards and policy and the engagement of states and
other actors (Alston, 2013). This is due to its legal mandate that manifests in its Charter,
treaties, and other human rights initiatives. As a UN mandate, the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) defines human rights treaties as binding agreements
that obligate partnering states to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights specific to the ratified
treaty. There are nine core human rights treaties, among other treaties. Through ratifications,
the government implements and legislates these human rights locally while adhering to
international law. Corresponding treaty bodies/committees continually monitor and evaluate
states to ensure they uphold the agreed human rights to standards of international law. On the
other hand, SDGs are a blueprint for achieving a better and sustainable future for all (United
Nations, 2015). Inaugurated in 2015 under the Agenda 2030, these goals were unanimously
adopted by all UN member states. The human rights treaties and SDGs are somewhat
embedded in the UN’s Universal Declarations for Human Rights of 1948 and assume a nature
perspective on human rights (Morsink, 1984). In this perspective, human rights are given, and
each human is entitled to these rights by being human (Dembour, 2010).
The human rights treaties and the SDGs are interconnected in many ways. Kaltenborn,
Krajewski and Kuhn (2019) point out that several SDG targets are in tune with the already
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EKHT48 Assignment 1 | Joyce Tethloach Makuei Chol
existing human rights treaties. For instance, they point out that SDG 2 to end global hunger
corresponds directly with the Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR), a key human rights treaty. To be exact, 152 of the 169 targets of
the SDGs mirror human rights and basic labour standards according to Danish Institute for
Human Rights. Such intersections may falsely imply that human rights and development
agendas have always been closely linked, especially to outsiders of the development field, far
from it. These intersections stem solely from the evolution of the place of human rights in the
UN system that Mégret and Alston (2020) discuss in greater detail. Though presently invalid,
Alston (2005) is a testament to the dissonance between human rights and development agendas
in the previous decades. In that article, he likened the human rights and development debate to
‘ships passing in the night’, referring to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in
particular. Simply put, human rights and development matters were tackled separately in the
past. This speaks to the nuance in the operationalization of human rights treaties and SDGs.
The former is obligatory in nature, and the ratification by member states was gradual, while
the latter was a voluntary, instantaneous, and unanimous agreement among member states,
signifying the essence of human rights in development.
While the recent emphasis on the human rights approach to development is laudable, the actual
implementation remains fanciful. For some authors like Sano (2020), the human rights
approach is instrumental in tackling persistent and stifling issues such as poverty, SDG 1. To
sufficiently beat poverty, Sano underscores the importance of considering the struggling social
actors at the grassroots level through empowerment and promotion of equal access to service
and opportunities naming new technologies as a tool to achieve this. On the contrary, FIAN
(2020), a report on the digitalization of land rights, finds compelling evidence where such
technologies exacerbate human rights instead of fostering them. Still, on poverty, Alston (2020)
contests the validity of the World Bank’s international poverty line. He holds that the measure
is flawed, exaggerating the eradication of extreme poverty claims and whitewashing the parlous
state of poverty among billions. While he recognizes the great achievements of SDGs, he calls
for an urgent recalibration of key goals like poverty, gender equality, among others, in response
to the ongoing pandemic, surging global warming and the ensuing recession. His arguments
provide insights useful in the realization of the SDGs.
Economic Globalization and Human Rights
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EKHT48 Assignment 1 | Joyce Tethloach Makuei Chol
Globalization is a salient theme in the 20th Century. It has led to enormous benefits to some
people and countries, especially those better placed to seize and reap the consequent
opportunities. At the same time, it is responsible for economic losses and enormous injustices
facing the losing nations, placing it the epicentre of some global issues we continue to grapple
with, such as the relentless increase of inequality, among other ills (Milanovic, 2016). The
adverse impacts of globalization are lived through the regrettable colonization and the slavery
history, among other instances, where corporates extractive motives fuelled the need to subdue
countries abroad (Lustig, 2020). At the time, human rights were disregarded, which is
consistent with the discourse school of thought in the matter (Dembour, 2010).
After World War II, the UN was established to foster peace and promote better relations among
nations – a critical juncture for human rights in general. However, as multinational corporations
proliferated, thanks to liberalization, the west maintained economic hegemony and the
influence and extractive nature of their corporations persisted even in the post-colonial era with
examples of the Firestone company in Liberia, according to Sikkink (2017). However, Sikkink
highlights that this trajectory shifted in the 1950s and 1960s as the UN membership expanded
to include newly independent states who questioned the premise of an international legal order
that overlooked their interests in international trade matters. In turn, they formed the New
International Economic Order (NIEO), a coalition aimed at protecting the sovereignty of these
states and checking the influence and control of multinational corporations over their resources.
These concerns were raised by civil societies of the west and academia, highlighting the
importance of civil society involvement in human rights. These developments challenged the
power and privilege the west had in international investment.
Another noteworthy event that Sikkink highlights is the important role that the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling favouring post-colonial states in the Anglo-Iranian Oil and the
Barcelona Traction cases had in the promotion of justice and fairness in the international law
despite the costly economic repercussions. As the west lost faith in the ICJ to protect their
interests, they sought alternative forums to settle international investment protection concerns
leading to institutional transitions later. These transitions cemented human rights in
international law, and corporate responsibility was based on these rights. Individuals were then
recognized as subjects in international law, and corporate responsibility was founded upon
human rights.
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EKHT48 Assignment 1 | Joyce Tethloach Makuei Chol
From then on, as human rights were included in the international investment law, hosting states
issued operation licences to global corporations, which did not translate to social license;
concerns arose in a scenario that Ruggie (2018) describes as the paradox of corporate
globalization. Firms then responded by incorporating corporate social responsibility (CSR).
The overall effectiveness though vague, was remarkable progress towards doing better. The
UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are global
initiatives to close the gap between legal and social license. Ruggie states that these initiatives
reflect and have contributed greatly to the normative evolution through with corporations are
viewed.
To conclude, it is evident that important human rights have increasingly been emphasized in
global economic development and trade. This, however, has not been the case. In essence, it
took the immense of Global actors to institutionalize and collectively protect human rights,
with the UN as the key authority figure.
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EKHT48 Assignment 1 | Joyce Tethloach Makuei Chol
References
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Alston, R. P. (n.d.). DOES THE PAST MATTER? ON THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN
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