How can we achieve development goals if we ignore human rights?

01 Mar How can we achieve development goals if we ignore human rights?

PovertyMatters Blog, Guardian.co.uk

If only real life was as simple as word processing. Search and replace, problem solved.

At a talk at the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton on Thursday, a member of the audience explained how, while doing some recent work for a major development agency, he had been told todo a search-and-replace for all references to human rights in policy documents.

It was, he said, a typical example of how human rights were being steadily eradicated from the language of development organisations and donors.

Some governments are threatened by an enforceable, rights-based approach to development as it requires systemic change and infinite capacity.

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