spiritual development in condition of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity.”3 The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1982) is the first human right instrument at the regional level to have recognised the right to development as the third generation of human rights. It has not only proclaimed under its Article 22(2) that states have the duty to ensure (individually or collectively) the exercise of the right to development, it has also incorporated under its Article 22(1) that “All peoples shall have the right to their freedom and identity and in the equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind”. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights strengthens the substance of the right to development and its legal philosophy. It is until now the only regional instrument giving individual and people’s collective right to development with obligatory and enforceable commitment required from states.4 Since the time of the initiation of the right to development, the developing states upheld the admittance of this right as human right through the United Nations. The support ultimately resulted in 1986 in the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, which recognised the right as a basic principle of human rights.5The right to development was assorted again by the World Conference on Human Rights (1993) in its Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. It laid down a significant authoritative example by pronouncing that human rights— whether civil and political rights or economic, social and cultural rights — are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. The Vienna Declaration was notable in the sense that it showed a vital agreement of states also that had registered their reservations to the acceptance of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development in endorsing it as a significant human right.6 1. Third Generation of Human Rights Derived from the UN Charter, the UDHR, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the third generation of human rights has become a part of customary international Louis B. Sohn, ‘The New International Law: Protection of the Rights of Individual Rather Than States’ (1982) 31 American University Law Review 52 4 ‘African Charter on Human and People’s Rights’, (1982) 21 International Legal Materials 58; Richard Warrer Perry, ‘Rethinking the Right to Development: After the Critique of Rights’ (1996) 18 Law and Policy 228. 5 United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development, General Assembly Resolution no. 41/128. (A/ RES/41/128, 4 December 1986). 6 D.P. Verma, ‘The Right to Development: Conceptualization, Legal Realism and Prospect of Realization’ (2016) 11 Universitas 1, 17; Karin Arts & Atabongawung Temo, ‘The Right to Development in International Law: New Momentum Thirty Years Down the Line?’ (1960) 63 Netherlands International Law Review 221, UN, United Nations Action in the Field of Human Rights 270-271, and 383-396. Centre for Human Rights (New York / Geneve 1994). ST/HR/2/Rev. 4. 3 2 Journal of the National Human Rights Commission, Vol. 22, 2023