Ms Hilde F. Johnson, Minister of International Development
The Nobel Symposium, Holmenkollen Park Hotel, Oslo
13 October 2003

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The Right to Development and Human Rights in Development

Distinguished participants,

It is a great pleasure for me to be part of this symposium on human rights and development. It is an honour to stand in front of such a distinguished audience, where so many have contributed so much to the discourse on human rights and development. I know many of you, and I know your work. Your contributions are invaluable in the debate on human rights and development. You continue to inspire and energize those of us who work in this field – not least my staff and me.

Fighting poverty remains our single most important challenge in the world today. And to fight poverty is to fight for all human rights. Poverty is the most important obstacle to realization of human rights for all.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."

And it addresses the right to a " life in dignity and freedom".

We all agree on what qualifies as a "life in dignity and freedom". And we all agree that too many of our fellow human beings are too far from that kind of life. We must not and cannot be complacent in a world where more than one billion people live in conditions of extreme poverty and suffering. Where more than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water and food. At the rate we are going, it will take 130 years to eradicate hunger in the world.

The right to life of millions is threatened. It is obvious we are not doing enough. Our collective efforts and energy must be directed at this: fighting poverty, fighting for human rights for all. And our efforts must be truly collective: We must work across borders, across political divisions, across academic fields.

I have three main points I would like to address today, all of which I believe to be key when discussing human rights in development:

The first point I have mentioned already: Fighting poverty is promoting human rights. Fighting poverty is fulfilling people’s rights. Living in poverty is not only living without necessities like food and clean water, it is also living without dignity and freedom. The mission of development is delivering in both these areas, providing dignity for the poor.

The second point I would like to emphasize, is the need to end the old dichotomy of development and human rights, and the assumption of a hierarchy between them. Economic, social and cultural rights must be given their rightful place alongside civil and political rights. These two sets of rights are equally important, and they can not and must not be separated. "All Human Rights for All" does not allow for any exceptions. All Human Rights for All means all human rights for all people.

My third point is that we must include actors other than governments in our efforts to ensure human rights for all. International corporations and organizations are not bound by human rights treaties - yet they exert enormous influence on the human rights situation in many corners of the world. We must address their responsibility and their accountability, guided by moral and ethical obligations if not treaties and conventions.

Distinguished participants,

It is particularly inspiring to see that today’s symposium has drawn leading scholars from several walks of the academic world. Not long ago human rights and development were considered separate points on the agenda, two different areas of discourse, discussed in separate fora. The "human rights" arena was mainly populated by lawyers, spiced up with the occasional political scientist. "Development" was the domain of economists, an area where few others dared to tread.

These groups did not always communicate well. I am glad to see that communication across academic fences has been firmly established, and that the "separatism of the past" is now relegated to another academic field - history. Today scholars and practitioners from different backgrounds have joined hands to make progress in this essential area. Economists, lawyers, political scientists, experienced professionals from both human rights-work and development organizations talk together and work together. This is what I see here today and this is how it should be. This is what we need to reach our common goals - to improve the lives of those who suffer, to protect the weak, to empower the powerless.

The link between human rights and development is now solidly accepted and established internationally. The adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development in 1986 and the Vienna Programme of Action in 1993 placed these issues squarely on the top of the international agenda. As the organizers of this symposium correctly point out, we have come to realize that if strategies of development and policies to implement human rights are united, they reinforce one another in a process of synergy and improvement of human conditions.

Those of you gathered around this table have been key forces in the efforts to translate this powerful idea into action. Your research has been invaluable to foster new thinking and has helped practitioners – like me – to push for greater respect for human rights in development.

However, there is still no common understanding of the "right to development." The concept itself is not just controversial; it can still be a "conversation stopper" with certain audiences. But we need to move beyond that point, to focus on common ground rather than controversy. And we have a tool we can use - the Declaration. Until now, the right to development has been discussed most often in human rights fora. Maybe it is time for development practitioners like me to put in our five cents worth and join the academic debate more actively. Because this debate is about human lives. It is too important to be delayed by academic turf wars or relegated to the pages of academic journals. It needs our collective efforts to move forward – in the name of compassion and responsibility.

When development issues are discussed, we often speak of nations, international systems, and global challenges. But we also need to focus on the individual – on her freedom and human rights, on his creativity and role as an agent of change. We must apply these approaches to development and poverty reduction.

The significance of fundamental human rights and freedoms for development is embodied in our Action Plan for Combating Poverty in the South.

When Dr. Amartya Sen, who is with us today, visited Oslo last year, I remember him saying that freedom is both the primary objective and the principal means of development. This is precisely how we should approach the interconnection between development and human rights. We cannot have one without the other.

I firmly believe that one basic human right tends to help promote other kinds of basic human rights. The book "Development as Freedom" makes this point, underscored by empirical data.

What an individual is able to achieve depends on economic opportunities, political liberties as well as access to adequate health systems and basic education. These elements are all parts of the human rights family. To me it is evident that this is two pieces of the same puzzle: Promoting human rights is about fighting poverty, and fighting poverty is about promoting human rights.

Economic development must be accompanied by individual freedom and human rights in order to qualify as sustainable development. As Dr. Sen puts it: It is because of these interconnections that free and empowered human beings emerge as a powerful engine of development.

The UN definition of development, "the process of expanding people's choices", shows us that growth - economic or otherwise - is only a means to an end, and not an end in itself. Furthermore, human rights are an integral part of - and a precondition for - expanding people’s choices. Expanding people’s choices means respecting people’s rights. All of them. Every single one of them. This is what development is all about.

The Declaration on the right to development provides guidance on this point in four ways:

• The Declaration places the individual as "the central subject of development" who "should be the active participant and beneficiary of the right to development".
• It emphasizes participation and reminds us of the importance of civil society in the development process.
• It addresses the full range of human rights when it insists on the right for everyone to "participate in, contribute to, and to enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized"..
• And finally, it gives national governments primary responsibility for ensuring the right to development and guaranteeing human rights, while at the same time reaffirming the need for appropriate international policies and cooperation.

Primary responsibility does not, however, mean sole responsibility. For poor states to be able to fulfil the commitments to their citizens, not least in the area of social and economic rights, the rich nations need to step in. We must assist states in ensuring human rights for all. Even though we cannot donate rights, we can donate resources. The goal of human rights for all cannot be reached without effective and generous international co-operation. This is also related to international structures of trade, debt and investment, macroeconomic conditions and development assistance. As Art.28, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:

" everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realised". We have a common responsibility – and a common goal. The international community must be part of the solution.

Addressing these structural issues is crucial. These elements are also essential in implementing a rights-based approach to development. Here, the individual is at the centre of the process. The individual’s human rights - civil and political as well as social, economic and cultural - must be the basis for our development efforts. The promotion of civil and political rights must be accompanied by efforts to implement the right to health and social services, the right to education and the right to food. Both sets of rights are equally important. The new optional protocol to the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights could be helpful here.

We need to remind ourselves that development cooperation is about justice, not charity. For poor people to know this, to feel this - that is to gain confidence, to be empowered, to be able to participate in the development process and demand respect for human rights. This is how development becomes truly sustainable.

Almost all states, developing as well as developed, have made a moral and legal commitment to focus on human rights in development. This gives reason to optimism - but we must all do our part to ensure that this commitment comes alive, that the words set forth in legal treaties are translated into real progress in the lives of the poor.

Here in Norway, we are trying to do just that - to transform our shared goals into tangible policies. The link between development and human rights was a key factor in the Norwegian Plan for Human Rights that was launched in 1999 when I was Minister for international development and human rights. In March last year the Norwegian government continued this work in its Action Plan for Combating Poverty in the South towards 2015. The Action Plan outlines how Norway will contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and reflects the new paradigm in development cooperation by advocating a comprehensive and coherent rights-based approach.

The concepts of accountability, empowerment, participation, equality and non-discrimination lie at the heart of the Norwegian government’s development policy and practice. We have steadily increased our support for good governance, democracy building, and human rights programs. These are also issues that cut across all sectors in our dialogue with partner countries, always on the table in our discussions - on sector level and country level, in PRS-processes and in debt negotiations. The same concepts and the rights-based approach guide our support to Norwegian NGOs and civil society.

Let me mention a specific example. In Zambia, the right to education has been used as a framework adding value to the traditional development approach. This framework has helped us to define policies, using human rights standards stating that education should be available, adaptable and accessible for all.

As stated earlier development work is in many ways promoting human rights. But for this approach to work, everyone involved in practical development work must have a basic knowledge about human rights. Competence building is a key factor in bridging the development - human rights divide. The handbook on Human Rights Assessment is a valuable first step in this direction. It is a tool that can be used to address human rights concerns in all development programs. It analyzes possible effects, positive and negative, and is useful for planning as well as for implementation of development programs.

In the UN, Norway strongly supports Secretary General Kofi Annan’s efforts to place human rights at the heart of the organisation’s activities. There is certainly much that remains to be done. We need to strengthen the human rights machinery, not least by ensuring that it receives sufficient funds. We need to mainstream human rights in all UN activities. And we need to get rid of the view held by some that human rights are "competing" with development work. The interdependence, the two pieces of the puzzle - this needs to be the guiding principle for all of us who work in this field.

The World Bank and the regional development banks are paying increasing attention to the connection between human rights, and economic and social development. We must encourage this development - and make sure it is strengthened.

As we all know, there has been considerable disagreement as to how the right to development should be interpreted. The debate within the Working Group on the Right to Development has been divisive and – in my opinion – not particularly productive. I do not subscribe to the view that difficult issues are best avoided. Those of you who know me well would probably say, "quite the contrary". However, in this case I worry that we are headed for a debate that will do more to harden positions and delay progress than to find solutions and practical answers.

Allow me to be blunt for a second: I am not sure that a Convention on the Right to Development will do much to bridge divisions and bring us forward. I believe that what we do need is to use the existing framework of the Declaration in a more efficient way. We need to make it an operational tool, as professor Singupta has done in his work. The Declaration must be a part of our development policies at all levels. This is where we need to focus our attention - and our action.

We must spend our time and our energy wisely. Rather than focusing on legal obligations, we ought to address development challenges and concerns in " the social and economic order" and on the ground. First and foremost we must fight poverty from a human rights perspective, using all the development instruments at our disposal - be it trade, debt, macroeconomic framework, development assistance and national responsibility. We need to focus on what provides concrete and tangible results for the poor. They need deeds, not another round of words.

To reach such tangible results all significant forces influencing poverty need to be addressed - also the process of globalisation. Globalisation can be viewed as an impregnable wall of multinational intrigue, as economic imperialism - or as something that may bring new opportunities to every corner of the world. A great deal of power is transferred from democratically elected assemblies to the board rooms of multinational companies and supranational corporations. This influences any given country’s capacities to develop national policies and to address development and human rights issues. We must not allow these forces to develop without addressing their impact on human rights and global welfare.

On the contrary: We must ensure that this powerful process includes the kind of globalisation that we are looking for here - the globalisation of human rights, the globalisation of accountability, the globalisation of ethics.

On UNCTAD’s list of the 100 largest economies in the world, there are 71 countries and 29 companies. The fundamental shift of power from government offices to corporate boardrooms will continue. This means that the importance and relevance of corporate social responsibility will continue to grow. Many companies exert great influence on society, particularly where state structures are weak. We must ensure that this influence is accompanied by an equal degree of responsibility.

The concept of corporate social responsibility, CSR, is becoming widely accepted in the corporate world. It does not only apply to the concept of human rights, it also applies to the environment, to transparency, against corruption, and to accountability. This is good news.

Consumers, business partners, civil society and regulators are all keeping a close eye on the conduct of corporations. Our expectations to the corporate world should be clearly spelled out. "Corporate social responsibility" is still a somewhat blurry concept, and we need a clearer division of roles between businesses, governments and other actors. We need to develop benchmarks and encourage businesses to be responsible corporate citizens.

The UN Global Compact, which was partly inspired by a similar initiative called KOMPAKT in Norway started in 1998, now counts 1240 member companies. Among them we find many of the world’s largest corporations. This is encouraging. However, for CSR to have lasting impact on global development, we need to get more businesses to commit to this way of thinking, and to act accordingly.

Distinguished participants,

The Nobel symposium will address a number of important and complex issues.

Your deliberations here in Oslo, your collective wisdom and experience will undoubtedly bring the debate forward. I urge you to keep in mind the ultimate goal of all our discussions and deliberations, seminars and symposia: to contribute to improving the lives of the poor, to ensure every single person a life " in dignity and freedom".

Albert Schweitzer said:

"Thought is the strongest thing we have. Work done by true and profound thought - that is a real force".

I urge you to use your force often, well and loud. Your thoughts and ideas are powerful weapons in the fight against poverty, a fight where the goal must be "All Human Rights for All", empowerment of the poor – in every way.

"All Human Rights for All" does not allow for any exceptions. Not for women because they are not men, not for children because they are too young. Not for the poor because they lack resources, not for the imprisoned because they are not free. Not for anybody – because an exception would be a denial of the dignity of every human being.

That can only happen when your thoughts and ideas descend from the towers of theory to the arenas of action. That is where human rights are protected. I wish you every success in that endeavour.

Thank you.