In April 1994, Rights and Humanity coined the phrase ‘A Rights-Based Approach to Development’ at a symposium in the UK. The conference, entitled “A Rights-Based Approach to Development: What Does it Offer?”, brought together governmental and civil society practitioners in the fields of development and human rights. In a pioneering speech, Rights and Humanity’s President articulated the called for a human rights-based approach to development which would put human welfare and the realisation of human rights at the centre of development policies.

The human rights approach is a model for addressing the discrimination and social exclusion which are among the root causes of poverty by focusing on equality and empowerment as a basis for human development. This requires simultaneous work top-down with governments to strengthen implementation of human rights obligations, and bottom-up activities empowering individuals to seek and enjoy their rights and participate actively in policy development, implementation and evaluation.
The missing parts of the jigsaw in most countries are the structures and processes necessary to ensure the effective implementation of human rights obligations throughout the chain of devolved authority from central government to the point of service delivery, and the transparent mechanisms required for access to information, participation and accountability.

Every sector of society has a role to play. By acting together, the resulting synergy maximises the impact. Building strategic partnerships between government and civil society, corporations and institutions is an essential aspect of this approach, enabling all sectors to play their role in bettering the human condition in freedom and justice.

We later changed to the phrase “a human rights approach to development” as the term “rights” is broadly used in other connections e.g. intellectual property rights, fishing rights etc and was confusing some people working in development.

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