Many major international organisations and development agencies, including the United Nations, the European Commission and the Canadian, Swedish, British and Dutch development agencies, have over the last decade adopted specific policies committing them to treating human rights as constitutive to development. Rather than seeing development in predominantly economic terms, or more broadly defined in terms of human needs, development is to imply the realisation of fundamental human rights. Human rights are not an optional bonus at the end of the process of development but the principles and norms that inform the entire development process and which determine development objectives. Development thus conceived is a subset to human rights, and not the other way around (see Frankovits 2001, The Rights Way to Development. A Human Rights Based Approach to Development: Policy and Practice, Human Rights Council of Australia Inc). This is generally referred to as the “human rights-based approach to development”.

In one sense, these new policies signify a remarkable shift over the last decade in how both development and human rights are seen in international relations and development cooperation. On the other hand, while the second part of the 1990s saw a rhetorical incorporation of human rights in development discourse, there was not much “rights-based action” (see Eide 2005, Ten propositions on human rights-based development in general and the role of development agencies therein, paper prepared for Meeting on the Nordic Human Rights Institutes on Human Rights Reform in the United Nations, Lund 17-18 May 2005).

In China, where I work, many development agencies feel that it is politically too sensitive to use human rights terminology, and that they are able to address the same issues without explicit reference to human rights. For me it is difficult to see how one would be able to apply a human rights-based approach to development programming without using the terms, standards and principles this approach is based in.

I would be interested in hearing about other forum participants’ experiences of applying the human rights-based approach in the countries and institutions (government, NGO, development agency etc) that you are working in. Do you have any positive or negative experiences of introducing human rights as a framwork or basis for your work?  Is it possible to use human rights terminology in the development context in your country or have you found other strategies? Does anyone have any examples and personal experiences of how the HRBA has improved development programming?

I do not claim I really understood your post. I mean, it depends on what role you have in working with these organizations. Does it have a training/ educational component forexample? And you said "For me it is difficult to see how one would be able to apply a human rights-based approach to development programming without using the terms, standards and principles this approach is based in". This may imply that there may be an underlying lack of knowledge of what 'rights' really are! As a human rights education fanatic, I guess there is always an added value when it comes to raising awareness be it direct or indirect and it does contribute towards a culture of human rights, without which it may be very hard to reach a human rights-based approach to development. This is however a long term endeavour. I hope I my post don't look like so dull and 'wise' and do benefit you one way or another.
I am attaching 2 files that may be of relevance to you.

Note to the administrator: it may be good if the size of attachments can be a bit more flexible...

Dears,
As being involved in defending human rights (especially women rights) in the Palestinian occupied territory (West Bank and Gaza Strip), I would like to state the following:
Human rights as a concept within countries under conflict like Palestine, is still considered second priority. Thus, not that much attention is given to these issues. It would be great if all activists from such regions develop their own perception of human rights and develop the required strategies to defend such rights. In Palestine, the issue of human rights is melting between the national resistence to liberate from colonialism and the tendency to build modern democratic communituy.
Diab