Human dignity part of rights
The adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development does not only mark the official recognition of the right to development, but it can also be regarded as the first successful joint action undertaken by the Global South, comprising Asia, Africa and Latin America, at the international level in the area of human rights. Its success can serve as a source of inspiration.
There can be no doubt that China's successful effort to eradicate poverty is the biggest human rights accomplishment in the history of humankind. Many Westerners fail to see the right to development is not about money, but about human dignity. Having decent sanitation and hygiene, access to affordable healthcare, and enough food on the table are the basic conditions of a dignified life.
The link between human dignity and the right to development was made for the very first time eloquently in the 1991 White Paper on Human Rights in China. The idea of people-centered development, as stressed by the white paper, has become a key concept in discussions about the right to development.
Cooperation key to progress
Although terrorism is a global threat, it is mostly the developing countries that are at the forefront of this war, and the economies of many of these countries are increasingly facing unprecedented challenges, as the financial cost of combating terrorism is hindering the ability to efficiently utilize their limited economic resources in promoting sustainable growth, job opportunities and social inclusion, thereby hindering the processes which these countries have committed to undertake to avail, safeguard and advance the UN Right to Development for their societies at large.
The global threat of terrorism emphasizes the need for more effective global actions to invest in the resilience of our societies, through agile and robust development cooperation that focuses on investment in human capital and empowers developing countries to effectively deliver more efficiently basic social services for the people, including healthcare and education.
This much needed cooperation, involving developed partners, multilateral development banks and international financial institutions, and considerably contributing to the right to development, is an essential ingredient, not only in our fight against terrorism, but also in enhancing our capacity to address other globally daunting challenges, such as climate change, natural disaster risks and increasing inequalities.
By Wu Hongbo, Tom Zwart and Hisham El-Zimaity.
Wu Hongbo,under-secretary-general of the United Nations
Tom Zwart, a professor of human rights at Utrecht University and director of Netherlands School of Human Rights Research
Hisham El-Zimaity, a board member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs
