RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH
TO DEVELOPMENT
Trilochan Pokharel & Anil Gupta, NASC
Presentation Outline
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3.
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5.
Policy Discourse
Principles and Concept of RBA
Application of RBA
Issues about RBA
Conclusion
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Policy Discourse
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Charity Approach
Needs Approach
Rights-based Approach
Focus on input not
outcome
Focus on input and output
Focus on process and
outcome
Emphasizes increasing
charity
Emphasizes meeting needs Emphasizes realizing
rights
Recognizes moral
responsibility of rich
towards poor
Recognizes needs as
valid claims
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Recognizes individual and
group rights
as claims toward legal
and moral
duty-bearers
Contd…
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Charity Approach
Needs Approach
Rights-based Approach
Individuals are seen
as victims
Individuals are objects of
development
interventions
Individuals and groups
are empowered to claim
their rights
Individuals deserve
assistance
Individuals deserve
assistance
Individuals are entitled
to assistance
Focuses on manifestation
of problems
Focuses on immediate
causes of problems
Focuses on structural
causes and their
manifestations
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Generations of human rights
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 First generation rights - civil and political (CP)
rights (the right to a trial, not to be tortured),
 Second generation rights - economic, social
and cultural (ESC) rights (the right to food,
housing, a job)
 Third generation rights – environmental
security, development
 Fourth generation –???
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Who is right-holder?
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A rights-holder,
 is entitled to rights
 is entitled to claim rights
 is entitled to hold the duty-bearer accountable
 has a responsibility to respect the rights of others
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Concept of RBA and Guiding Principles
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Concept of RBA
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Recognizing people’s needs as rights (i.e. not only do
people have a need for clean drinking water but they
also have a right to it).
It shifts focus of development from servicing needs to
building capacity of individuals and communities to
understand, claim and fulfill their rights.
It is conscious and systematic integration of rights and
principles into development work.
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Contd...
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It emphasizes and deepens participation.
It empowers marginalized communities.
It encourages local ownership of development
programmes.
It leads to greater accountability from all actors at all
levels.
It provides tools for dialogue and engagement with
duty-bearers.
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Guiding Principles of RBA
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Universality and inalienability
Indivisibility
Interdependence and interrelatedness
Equality and non-discrimination
Participation and inclusion
Accountability and the rule of law
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Why RBA to development?
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
Normative reasons
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Programme reasons
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RBA puts values and politics at the centre of development
A vision of what ought to be
A means to ensure accountability including non-state actors
Rights imply duties and duties demand accountability
Ethical reasons
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Exposes power relationships in society
Sharpens the political edge of participation
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What can we do with RBA?
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RBA to development sets the achievement of human
rights as an objective of development.
It uses thinking about human rights as the scaffolding
of development policy.
It invokes the international apparatus of human rights
accountability in support of development action.
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Essential Human Rights to Development
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Human rights necessary for survival and dignified living
include:
 The rights to life and liberty
 The right to a standard of living adequate for health and
wellbeing of the individual and his/her family
 The right to social protection in times of need
 The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health
 The right to work and to just and favourable conditions of work
 The rights to food, and housing
 The rights to privacy and to family life
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Contd...
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Human rights also cover those rights and freedoms
necessary for human dignity, creativity and intellectual
and spiritual development, for example:
 The right to education and to access to information
 Freedoms of religion, opinion, speech, and expression
 Freedom of association
 The right to participate in the political process
 The right to participate in cultural life
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Contd...
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They also include those rights necessary for liberty and
physical security, for example:
 Freedom from slavery or servitude
 The right to security of person (physical integrity)
 The right to be free from arbitrary arrest or
imprisonment
 Freedom from torture and from cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.
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Contd...
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Cross-cutting are the twin principles of the equal rights
of women and men, and the prohibition of
discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, property, birth or other status.
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Application of RBA
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Human Rights Dimensions
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Aspects of HR
Respect
Protect
Fulfill
Civil and political
rights
Torture, extrajudicial killings,
disappearance,
arbitrary detention,
unfair
trials, electoral
intimidation,
disenfranchisement
Measures to
prevent non-state
actors
from committing
violations, such as
torture, extrajudicial killings,
disappearance,
abduction, and
electoral
intimidation.
Investment in
judiciaries, prisons,
police
forces, and
elections, and
resource
allocations
to ability
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Human Rights Dimensions
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Aspects of HR
Respect
Protect
Fulfill
Economic, social
and cultural rights
Ethnic, racial,
gender or linguistic
discrimination in
health, education,
and welfare and
resource
allocations
below ability
Measures to
prevent non-state
actors
from engaging in
discriminatory
behaviour that
limits access to
health,
education, and
other welfare
Progressive
realization
Investment in
health, education,
and
welfare, and
resource
allocations to
ability
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A process example…
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Some questions with human face!
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
Are human rights relevant to your work?
RBA to development planning is about safeguarding
basic rights both during planning and implementation
and should be a guide in programme design and
resource allocation at all levels.
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Contd…
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Is there human face visible in your planning?
 Pro-people
planning
 Participation
 Voice
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Has your plan ensured quality growth?
 Participation
 Pro-poor
growth
 Reducing inequality
 Sustainable growth
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Focus Area…
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Most Vulnerable
Root Causes
Rights-holders and duty bearers
Empowerment
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RBA – a crosscutting issue
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Process of RBA
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Process
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Mainstreaming rights into development
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Change the view of development (e.g. poverty)
View development as question
Form, mobilize and empower peoples organizations
Ensure equal access, control and ownership over public
resources
Mobilize public resources in a sustained and proper
way
Regarding service receivers as the strength
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Issues related to RBA
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Hierarchy of rights
Balancing individual and collective rights (and
responsibilities)
Progressive realization- resource constraints
Role of international and non-state duty bearers
Measuring accountability
Legal status of accountability
Planning process- bottom-up vs top down
Policy analysis – macro vs micro
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What determine application of RBA
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Ability factors – governance, society and international
systems
Willingness factors – commitment, confidence, values
Instrumentality factors – moral, legal and technomanagerial instruments
Environmental factors
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Conclusion
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Owners of resources are the people
Poor, women, Dalits, victimized and the ethnic minorities
must get equal opportunity
An environment where people can get education, health
services, social security and freedom to participate in
politics must be made
Participation must be broad and meaningful
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Contd...
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Active participation of the targeted people is a must
in the decision making process of every development
activities
Access to resource and control over it must be vested
upon the poor and the voiceless people
Enhance self reliance and help each other to solve
common problems
Establish basic needs as basic rights
Outcomes and processes
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Suggested readings
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McInerney Lankford, Siobhan & Sano, Hans-Otto, 2010, Human
Rights Indicators in Development: An Introduction, Washington DC:
The World Bank.
Boesen, J. K., & Martin, T., 2007, Applying A Rights-Based
Approach: An International Guide for Civil Soceity, Copenhagen:
The Danish Institute for Human Rights.
National Planning Commission, 2011, Three Year Plan 2010/112012/13, Kathmandu: National Planning Commission.
UNDP, 2006, Applying A Human Rights-Based Approach to
Development Cooperation and Programming, New York: UNDP.
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