The Right to Development: Reframing a New Discourse for the Twenty-First Century

Since its adoption in 1986 the Declaration on the Right to Development has been mired in academic and political controversies, and has had little impact. Yet it was an important innovation that takes international human rights in addressing injustices in the operations of the global economy that impinge human rights, especially in developing countries. The concept is particularly relevant to the twenty first century challenges as global market integration continues to proceed. The paper argues that the failure of RTD to gain momentum is due not only to ideological capture by states but by lack of civil society mobilization. A new discourse on this right is needed for the concept to fulfill its potential in bringing human rights principles into the governance of the global economy. Such discourse should focus on three areas of global economic systems: resource flows, volatility of global markets and asymmetrics of power in multilateral rule making.