Implementing a Human Rights-Based Approach to Development

The objective of the research project is to study the human rights approach to development, which integrates the norms, standards and principles of the international human rights system into the plans, policies and processes of development. The emphasis is on the implementation of the human rights-based approach, with particular focus on the express linkage to rights, accountability, empowerment, participation and non-discrimination as its essential elements. The project devotes special attention to certain vulnerable groups, such as people with HIV/AIDS, internally displaced people, indigenous communities and children. Focusing on the practical implementation of the human rights-based approach in development policies and on concrete issues of central importance in development processes, the studies conducted seek to be of direct benefit to policy-makers on the national and international level. The research project is jurisprudential of its nature, but the issues of law are addressed in a multidisciplinary perspective. The project also includes research visits to countries under specific attention by the research team, including Tanzania, Malawi, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Bolivia.