Human rights
Human rights and development: the empirical challenge
Does development improve human rights situation?
Authors:
Publisher:
World Bank, 2004
This paper addresses some of the challenges related to the measurement and empirical analysis in the fields of human rights, governance and development.
The authors assess recent data and trends on human rights, and review the links between the first generation human rights (political and civil rights) and second-generation (socioeconomic) human rights. Based on the evidence, they suggest that first generation human rights have not advanced significantly worldwide in recent times, and, importantly, that these first generation human rights may causally affect the country’s second generation human rights outcomes and performance.
The results pointing to the causal link from first generation human rights to improved socio-economic outcomes are apparent at the aggregate countrywide level as well as the micro project level.
The authors then explore the empirical linkages between both generations of human rights, on the one hand, and other governance dimensions, on the other. In particular, within governance, how rule of law, corruption, and corporate ethics interface with civil liberties and related human rights variables. They suggest that components of governance, such as corruption, are a mediating link between first and second-generation human rights issues, and a determinant of development outcomes.
These findings, if corroborated through further research, have important implications for the donor aid community and emerging economies alike. In particular, it would point to the potential need to account for first generation human rights issues in enhancing effectiveness of development aid and its projects (either associated with the ‘socio-economic second-generation’ human rights, or with other development projects).
Further, it would also point to the need to deepen the integration of the corruption and rule-of-law dimensions of governance in aid strategies so as to enhance effectiveness related to socio-economic human rights and development.
