Development and the Rule of Law: Prevention versus Cure as a Human Rights Strategy
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Description
Until very recently the pursuit of human rights objectives has been undertaken in relative isolation from the massive efforts which have been devoted to the elusive quest for development. The loss has been twofold. On the one hand human rights initiatives have foundered because they have sought to treat the symptoms of repression without paying adequate regard to the deeper structural problems which gave rise to the symptoms in the first place. In many instances these problems are rooted in underdevelopment or maldevelopment. On the other hand development programmes have made only very limited headway, due in large part to their overriding preoccupation with growth in macro-economic terms and their consequent neglect of the human factor. Even today the vast majority of economists and development planners look upon human rights issues as extraneous and largely irrelevant matters, the consideration of which can only hinder efficiency and provoke political controversy. Since 1977, United Nations human rights organs have been engaged in a major effort to relate their specific concerns to a range of broader structural issues and to bring human rights endeavours closer to the mainstream of international social and economic concerns. Over the same period the International Commission of Jurists, in cooperation with other bodies, has organized a series of regional or sub-regional seminars around the broad theme of human rights and development. Seminars have been held in Dar-es-Salaam (1976), Barbados (1977), Dakar (1978), and Bogota (1979), and others are planned. The present paper is designed to provide an overview of some of the main development issues with which the international human rights community has been attempting to grapple in recent years. While the treatment provided is by no means comprehensive, an effort has been made to describe as well as provide an objective assessment of pro- gress to date in this field.
Publication Date
1981
Recommended Citation
Alston, Philip G., "Development and the Rule of Law: Prevention versus Cure as a Human Rights Strategy" (1981). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 13.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/13
