each person to freely choose economic and social model of development without
outside interference.11 So far as the ambit and content of the right to development is
concerned, the respect for human rights is a prerequisite for the development of human
personality. This needs a national as well as an international environment to identify
the collective aspect of development with the possibility of each state to ensure free
and full growth of the potential of its individuals.12 Thus, the constituents of the right
to development include:
(a) right to participation as an essential characteristic of all kinds of development;
(b) human centric development putting people first and supporting their development;
(c) right to fair distribution of benefits of economic development for states;
(d) right to non-discrimination in development without distinction of race, sex,
religion, political opinion, nationality of origin, property, birth or other status; and
(e) right to self-determination to include inalienable right to full sovereignty over all
their natural wealth and resources.13
2. Right to Development
The conceptual evolution of the right to development started with the UN Declaration
on the Establishment of New International Economic Order (NIEO). It became
a process of vehicle for the concretisation and promotion of this right, while the
Charter of the Economic Rights and Duties of States specially mentioned respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the promotion of international social
justice among the fundamental principles of international economic relations.14 The
right to development places people at the heart of the development process, so that
development is intended to advance “the well-being of the entire population and
of all individuals on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in
development and in the fair distribution” of the consistent advantages.15
The ethical bearing of the right to development has the practical glimpse in the best
interest of all states to endorse the universal accomplishment of the right as well as the
fundamental philosophical value underlying the right to development in its expansive
sense. These include points as under:
Henry J. Steiner & Philip Alston, International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals (Oxford, Oxford University Press 2000), 1321-1323.
12
S.K. Verma, ‘Development, Human Rights and Globalization of Economy’ (1998) 40 Journal of Indian
Law Institute 220; Ved P. Nanda, ‘Development as an Emerging Human Right under International Law’,
(1984) 13 Denver Journal of International Law & Policy 161.
13
Verma, Supra note 6, at 12.
14
UN, General Assembly Official Records, 6th Spl. Sess., 2229th Mtg. [GA Resolution 3201 (S-VI), 1
May 1974].
15
UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, Development and Human Rights: OHCHR and
the Right to Development, 2.
11
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Journal of the National Human Rights Commission, Vol. 22, 2023