Kariyawasam, Rohan --- "Jekyll and Hyde and Equation 5: Enforcing the Right to Development through Economic Law" [2006] ELECD 73; in Dine, Janet; Fagan, Andrew (eds), "Human Rights and Capitalism" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Human Rights and Capitalism

Editor(s): Dine, Janet; Fagan, Andrew

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845422684

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Jekyll and Hyde and Equation 5: Enforcing the Right to Development through Economic Law

Author(s): Kariyawasam, Rohan

Number of pages: 30

Extract:

8. Jekyll and Hyde and Equation 5:
Enforcing the Right to Development
through economic law
Rohan Kariyawasam1

We are writing a bill of rights for the world ... one of the most important rights is
the opportunity for development (Eleanor Roosevelt)



1. INTRODUCTION
The Declaration on the Right to Development (the `Declaration'), which
states that the right to development is a human right,2 was adopted by the UN
General Assembly, resolution 4/128 on the 4 December 1986. Despite being
in force for just under 20 years, the Declaration, not being a legally binding
instrument, has suffered from a lack of implementation and the political will
required for international cooperation. The Declaration's evolution can be
traced back to the transposition of civil and political rights (Articles 1 to 21
Universal Declaration of Human Rights)3 and economic, social, and cultural
rights (Articles 22 to 28 Universal Declaration of Human Rights) into two
separate legally binding treaties (i) International Covenant on Civil and Po-
litical Rights (ICCPR);4 and (ii) International Covenant on Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).5 As the Independent Expert on the Right to
Development, Arjun Sengupta, argues, `it took many years of international
deliberations and negotiations for the world community to get back to the
original conception of integrated and indivisible human rights. The Declara-
tion on the Right to Development was the result.'6 The Right to Development
(`RTD') as a human right has been reaffirmed in the Vienna Declaration
adopted at the Second ...