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Human Rights , Governance , and Development An empirical perspective

I T I S N O S E C R E T T H AT H U M A N R I G H T S, governance, and development may all be linked to each other. Yet the nature and extent of these links have barely been explored empirically, in partly due to the paucity of measurement in the human rights field. Based on recently available data, we embarked on an investigation, focusing on the links between what is often labeled as first generation human rights (political and civil rights, including women’s rights and press freedoms, for instance), and second and third generation human rights (socio-economic and development rights). Indeed, over the past few decades increasing importance has been given to socio-economic and development rights issues. Implicit was the presumption that dramatic progress had already been attained on political and civil rights issues, yet the increasing importance given to socio-economic and development rights also arose because of the increasing emphasis given to socio-economic development by the global community. While the latter is indeed warranted, this research suggests that if insufficient emphasis is being paid to political and civil rights issues, then the pendulum may have swung a bit too far. First, this is because the evidence suggests that protection of political and civil rights (and life protection) remains a major challenge in many countries. Indeed, various indicators show checkered progress at best, since major violations in fundamental physical (and life) protection, as well as in political and civil rights and media freedoms, still prevail in many settings (see Figure 1). And second, as importantly, our analysis also suggests that media freedoms and political and civil rights matter significantly for the attainment of socio-economic developmental rights. Consequently, a narrow focus on socio-economic developmental rights per se may not suffice; instead substantial emphasis in the political and civil rights will also be needed— not only because of its own intrinsic value, but also to further progress in achieving second generation human rights and related developmental objectives. We also find evidence on the links between rule of law, corruption, and corporate ethics, on the one hand, and civil liberties and related human rights variables, on the other. Through this empirical investigation, we suggest that governance is a central mediating link between political/civil rights issues and socio-economic/development issues, and a significant determinant of development outcomes (see Figure 2). These empirical findings, if corroborated through further research, have important operational implications—summarized at the end of this article— in the areas of human rights and of governance for the donor aid community and emerging economies alike.