Former Chairman of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development: Why is the right to development important and how can it be promoted?

Brussels, 6 Jun (ZXS) -- Why is the right to development important and how can it be promoted?

- Interview with De Feit, former Chairman of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development

China News Agency reporter De Yongjian

What is the relationship between the right to development and human rights? In the face of global challenges such as the gap between the rich and the poor and climate change, how can the right to development be implemented? In 1986, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Right to Development, which recognized the right to development as an inalienable human right; In 2019, the UN Human Rights Council decided to establish an Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. Koen De Feyter, Professor of International Law at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, was Chair of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development.

De Feitt recently gave an exclusive interview to the China News Agency's "East-West Question" to discuss the relationship between the right to development and human rights, and put forward his views on promoting the implementation of the right to development. In his view, the right to development should be given sufficient attention and understood beyond the concept of "individual" human rights; The implementation of development required cooperation between developed and developing countries and the synergy of international organizations.

The following is a summary of the interview:

China News Agency: How should we understand the right to development and its relationship with human rights?

De Feit: The right to development is a human right, development and human rights are inseparable, and human rights are included in the concept of development. That was one of the major outcomes of the Declaration on the Right to Development, which made it clear that development and human rights should not be treated as completely different concepts and that the right to development should be on an equal footing with economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.

According to the Declaration on the Right to Development, the right to development concerns both individuals and peoples and can be understood as balancing individual and collective rights; At the national and international levels, a country should not only promote the implementation of the right to development internally, but also strengthen international cooperation to promote the implementation of the right to development.

Village appearance of Gaxiu Village, Gahai Town, Luqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. Gaxiu Village is a typical plateau pure pastoral village, which has completed the gorgeous transformation through projects such as the ecological relocation of nomadic settlements, the pilot construction project of ecological civilization demonstration village, and the construction of ecological civilization well-off village. Photo by Zhang Jingang

Since the right to development involves various relationships between individuals and people, people and the state, and between the state and the state, its connotation is relatively complex and brings some difficulties. For example, the United States defines human rights as "individual rights", but the right to development involves the rights of people, meaning that the entire population of a country — including indigenous people — also has the right to participate actively, freely and meaningfully in development.

Villagers watch a Tibetan version of a movie in Ba Township, Gacha County, Shannan City, Tibet Autonomous Region. Photo by Zhao Lang

China News Agency: At the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, nearly 80 countries, including China, Brazil and South Africa, jointly stressed the equal importance and balanced promotion of economic, social and cultural rights, civil rights, political rights and the right to development.

De Feit: I agree that the right to development should be given equal importance and on an equal footing with other human rights. It will bring two major benefits to the international human rights cause: First, it will promote international cooperation. At a time when the resources devoted to the implementation of the right to development were clearly unequal, it was necessary to strengthen solidarity and promote cooperation among States if human rights were to be enjoyed equally by all. This is an important role of the right to development, but it has not yet been fully utilized.

The fifth "Temporary Craftsman" Skills Competition in Baohe District, Hefei City, Anhui Province was held in the Lingdatang Temporary Distribution Center of Changqing Street, and masonry workers competed in wall building skills. Photo by Han Suyuan

The second is to promote community development. The concept of the purely "individual" may fit well with the Western view of human rights, but I think it needs to go beyond it. In real life, many people can be seen receiving support from communities and relying on these communities to realize their rights, so in addition to the national level, it is important to implement the right to development through the community level.

China News Agency: In the face of the current challenges such as the gap between the rich and the poor, climate change, and environmental protection, how should developed countries help developing countries achieve sustainable development?

De Feit: I think the obligation of countries to cooperate with each other is very important. National power and resources for the protection of human rights were not equal, and developed countries had an obligation to cooperate. This means that they should take developing countries into account when making decisions, and their trade, agricultural and other policies should not harm the interests of developing countries.

Ideally, there should be a consensus that development was a common problem facing human society and a common goal of the international community, not the responsibility of any one country. A country cannot only consider its own interests and only pursue the maximization of its own interests.

The contestants performed their skills in the equipment manufacturing competition unit of the first World Vocational College Skills Competition. Photo by Tong Yu

As for concrete measures, it was important for developed countries to invest in capacity-building in developing countries, both to enhance a country's ability to fulfil its human rights obligations and to empower rights holders, i.e. the people themselves.

The inequality of national power is also related to the international economic order. Historically, international trade organizations, international financial institutions and even the entire international economic system have benefited more developed countries, and now it is necessary to rethink how to make some international economic institutions more beneficial to developing countries.

China News Agency: How should developing countries strengthen cooperation and achieve win-win development?

Defet: The obligation to cooperate with each other also applies to emerging economies, and cooperation with less developed countries in the region should be strengthened.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is the first new type of multilateral development bank initiated by China to focus on infrastructure investment. Photo by Chen Xiaogen

Historically, colonialism had affected relations between developed and developing countries, causing developing countries to have doubts about some of the actions of developed countries. The view was therefore expressed that "South-South cooperation" would be easier since there was no colonialism. Just as anti-colonialism gave impetus to the Non-Aligned Movement, I believe that a common memory of colonialism will also motivate developing countries to strengthen cooperation.

China News Agency: What measures do you think multilateral human rights bodies such as the UN Human Rights Council and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) should take to promote the implementation of the right to development?

De Feit: At present, on a global scale, the right to development is only a declaration, not a convention, and it is a so-called "soft law" without legal binding, which makes the implementation of the right to development insufficient. Since 2019, the UN Human Rights Council has begun to draft a draft convention on the right to development and promote the formulation of a legally binding instrument on the right to development. For the UN Human Rights Office, I believe that the implementation of the right to development should continue to be promoted.

In addition, as many countries integrate the promotion of development into their national planning, the UN Human Rights Office could compile best practices on the implementation of the right to development and international cooperation and disseminate good examples to countries and peoples around the world, including through the organization of international conference field visits. The UN Human Rights Office is already working in this area. (End)

Respondent Profile:

Koen De Feyter is Professor of International Law at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Global Legal and Development Research Network, and former expert of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, focusing on international law and sustainable development and human rights in non-Western contexts.