Director: Stephen P. Marks

The Program on Human Rights in Development seeks to deepen the understanding of the human rights dimensions of human development and to apply a human rights-based approach to development policy and implementation, particularly regarding health. It links the health and human rights paradigm to national policies of economic and social development, drawing on the host country's commitments undertaken at global conferences and under human rights treaties. The principal aim of this program is to work with host governments as well as both nongovernmental and private-sector actors to adjust development policies and practices to incorporate a human rights-based approach to human development. The principal project within the program is the Right to Development Project.

Link to a videotaped presentation by Stephen Marks on "The Human Rights Framework: Its Relevance for Development" (New York, July 6, 2000)

---

Program Areas

Right to Development Project
The project provided support to Arjun Sengupta, when he was the UN Independent Expert on the Right to Development, and involved significant research at the FXB Center in Boston, at the Center for Development and Human Rights in New Delhi, and at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. In addition, to the reports of the Independent Expert to the UN, the project produced seven country studies focusing on the part human rights play in the development process and how governments and their development partners can adapt policies and programs to meet the commitments of the Declaration on the Right to Development.

Research on Human Rights in Human Development
Research is a critical tool to promote policies integrating human rights into development. This program conducts and disseminates such research on a variety of topics. For example, a study is now in progress on economic and human rights impacts of children orphaned by AIDS, with the aim of providing analysis to policymakers and governments.

Support for Work of International Agencies
The Program is assists international and intergovernmental agencies by bringing an academic perspective to human rights issues in the context of various national and international development policies. The program also supports the work of special rapporteurs, independent experts, and others working on behalf of international human rights bodies and agencies to develop a rights-based approach to development with particular reference to health. Support activities include preparation of policy papers, hosting of research fellows, and committee participation. The program works closely with Dr. Sengupta in his current mandate as Independent Expert on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. It also works with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. Both Sengupta and Marks are members of the UN High Level Task Force on the Implementation on the Right to Development and in 2005 Marks was elected chair of the Task Force.