Why We Should Develop Human Rights

INTRODUCTION

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Ariel Foundation International Changemakers are young leaders from all over the world participated in the United Nations meeting titled “The Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. ” Fourteen AFI Changemakers from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe share their views on the dialogue.

During the dialogue, the experts examined the the importance of advocating for people to have the right to play a role in how their country is developed.

The Changemakers, young leaders from Ariel Foundation also share their views in two languages across intersections of COVID-19, public health, individual rights, human rights, history, colonialism, and more.

Enjoy reading our reflections on this conference.

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THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT – HOW A JUST TRANSITION FOR AFRICA MAY CHANGE THE WORLD’S FATE?

Thaddeus Anim-Somuah, Ghana/UK

What is the Right to Development? “The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all. peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political. development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized. ” –United Nations Article 1.1, Declaration on the Right to Development. In 1986, the resolution passed at the United Nations with 146 votes for, 1 vote against (United States) and 8 Abstentions (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom).

In real life terms it means that every person on earth has the right decent living standards and improvement of those living standards. The primary responsibility and duty to achieve this is with the national state but it doesn’t end there. Globally and regionally states are jointly responsible for enabling this.

Many African nations have not yet achieved decent living standards: 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa (600 million people) have no access to electricity 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa are living under the poverty line of 1.90 USD a day 15% of Sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished. 75% of Sub-Saharan Africa have no access to clean drinking water

It is the first and foremost priority of the nations to lift their people. It’s even the responsibility of the developed nations who abstained and voted against the declaration to globally cooperate to enable this. This is a duty to build a better future together. It matters especially for every nation when we consider climate change.

Why does the Right of Development matter for Climate Change? UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report as a “code red for humanity ” . In his words “greenhouse‑gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk” . This immediate risk includes threats to the basic human rights of health and safety; with new climate leading to issues such as forced migration, lack of water availability, hunger, infrastructure damage, reduced economic growth and more. Climate change will directly impact the living standards, thus challenging the right to development in each country. With the African continent, which has the greatest need for development facing the greatest challenges. Although Africa has contributed to less than 3% of the world’s cumulative emissions; it is currently the most affected by the consequences of the world’s emissions, with 3 (Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi) of the 5 and 5 of the top 10 most affected countries being from the continent. In short, the consumption of the developed countries is directly inhibiting Africa’s right to development instead of enabling it, as the United Nations requires of it.