Rights-based development imperfect
(10/30/09 12:00am)
Much of the Western world's efforts to promote economic growth and human development in the last 60 years have focused on human rights. All people have a right to life, health and happiness - at least according to the unanimous declaration of human rights by the United Nations in 1948. Upcoming commencement speaker and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has even argued that access to financial credit is a human right.These may indeed be human rights, and achieving their universal realization would be a tremendous milestone in human development.
