Rights-based Approach To Development Research Articles

A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT: THE LINK BETWEEN HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT

This article explores the relationship between human rights anddevelopment and the emergence of a Rights-Based Approach toDevelopment (RBAD). It will give a RBAD more consideration in order tocontribute to the conceptual direction of academic discourse, andperhaps even the political direction by proposing solutions to Africa’ssocio-economic problems, especially in South Africa, which is facingmany developmental challenges. Human rights and development havelong been understood as separate terms that were incompatible.Historically, development was only perceived for its role in promotionof economic growth and prosperity of particular countries without anyconsideration for human development and well-being. However, humanrights and development cannot be understood separately. Developmentand human rights share the same goal, which is to promote the dignityand worth of a human person by creating an environment where peoplecan achieve their full potential. Following the adoption of the UNCharter in 1945, development became a key issue for the United Nationsand, for the first time, for the international community. Humandevelopment is now central to the realisation of human rights. Aftermany years of debating development and human rights, it was agreedthat human rights standards and principles do indeed recognise the linkbetween human rights and development. In the 1990s, a RBAD emerged,transforming the global development order and affirming thisrelationship.

The ambivalent link between globalisation and socio-economic rights in post-apartheid South Africa: Making a case for the right to adequate houses

ABSTRACT This paper examines the extent to which globalisation has affected the post-apartheid state’s ability to fulfil the right to adequate houses enshrined in the South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996). Underpinned by the rights-based approach to development (RBAD) which provides a mechanism to promote, protect, and fulfil various rights, the study employed a quantitative methodology. A survey was the preferred data collection method and a questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. The probability sampling technique of random cluster sample was used in the study and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse questionnaires focusing primarily on descriptive statistics. The sample size consisted of 500 survey respondents selected from two towns in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province. We used an alpha level of .05 for all statistical tests. The study was premised on the following null hypothesis (H0): the right to housing is equally distributed among the population. The findings indicate that the right to houses is not equally distributed among the population, X2 (2, N = 500) = 56.37, p < .05. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected. We can conclude, therefore, that there is a statistically significant difference amongst the groups.

The African State in a Wake of Neoliberal Globalization: A Cog in a Wheel or a Wheel in a Cog

This paper situates the Sub-Saharan African state amidst the conflictual interface between the forces of political (Note 1) and economic globalization (Note 2) that have been ushered in the state milieu by neo-liberalism (Note 3). The paper argues that states are situated in an imperialistic globalization with capitalistic economic extirpation as central concern and social justice as a peripheral one. This categorically explicates the persistence of globalised economies and localized oppressive state apparatuses, ideologies and practices. The paper also contends that the forces of economic globalization have superimposed the cultural mantra in the Sub-Saharan Africa state milieu, rendering it virtually impossible to pursue a Rights Based Approach to Development (RBAD). The apparent assault by this globalization from above (economic globalization), continues almost unabated due to absence of an afro centric globalization from below to mitigate the homogenizing effects of economic globalization. Worse still, the inability of political globalization to check the daunting implications of economic globalization using a human rights antidote and the consequent slumber of the glocalisation dialectic in the African state locale explicate the problematic of Africa in the wake of erosion from above (global pillage) and devolution from below.