Right to Development Program

Created by Res. RECTOR N° 3287/2015

Director: Prof. Mag. Jorge Raúl Murillo

:: INTRODUCTION:

Social reality demands that university institutions address strategic issues; politically, educationally and culturally relevant.

At the same time, it demands – for the study topics – an interdisciplinary academic approach, critical debate and the production of significant knowledge that contributes to the fulfillment of the human person, the integral development of communities, social justice and democracy. inclusive.

Within the framework of these premises, the study of the Right to Development can be understood as strategic, relevant and socially significant; especially from the perspective of Human Rights and, likewise, as a relevant axis of Latin American regional integration.

Consequently, it requires ways of thinking and acting challenged by the paradigm of complexity and methodological plurality.

:: JUSTIFICATION AND RATIONALE:

Current events continue to challenge us: At a global level, more than half of the world's population – just over 7000 billion people – suffer from poverty or destitution and the inequalities between the richest and poorest states on earth appear evident; reality that is verified – even – within the countries themselves.

This new world order , far from promoting the integral development of people and nations, seems to feed on the globalization of poverty and the destruction of the environment, while generating social apartheid , encouraging discrimination and ethnic struggles, and undermining basic human rights [1].

For its part, although Latin America has registered a considerable improvement in its social and economic indicators in the last decade (increasing life expectancy, reducing poverty levels, lowering unemployment or increasing the middle class population considerably [2] ) it continues to be a deeply unequal region of the world.

In this context, deep reflection and interdisciplinary study of development (in its various theoretical, philosophical and socio-political manifestations) and, especially, the Right to Development , as a multidimensional process and as a human right and, particularly, its effective realization, become unavoidable tasks for the present and future of society and the region and constitute in themselves a key and strategic task for the university and its insertion and active projection in the environment.

:: BACKGROUND:

The United Nations Charter of 1945 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 lay the foundations of the post-war international legal architecture on three pillars: human rights, peace and development.

Since then, the international community seems to move from (and debate between) the classic paradigm – based on the sovereignty of States (state-centric vision) – to another that rescues the centrality of the human person and their dignity, as well as that of the peoples (humanistic or “person- and community-centered” vision). That is to say, along with the traditional system of state coexistence, another system of international cooperation and solidarity is beginning to emerge.

Among the various institutions and public policies that have acquired progressive development since then, the different systems for the promotion and/or protection of human rights (universal and regional: inter-American, European and African) deserve to be highlighted.

Also, in the 1960s: i) the first United Nations Development Decade (1960-1979) was established; ii) the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, in 1964, as a subsidiary body within the organization) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, in 1965) were created ; iii) the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) were adopted; and iv) the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) was established as an autonomous body of the system.

In 1970, by Resolution 2626, the General Assembly established the Second United Nations Development Decade (1970-1980) and its International Development Strategy focused on progress and social development.

In 1974 the United Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order (NIEO), whose objectives sought a fairer international order.

In 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna proclaimed that democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing concepts, and reaffirmed the right to development as a universal and inalienable right and as an integral part of fundamental human rights and, in particular, declared that the lack of development cannot be invoked as a justification for limiting internationally recognized human rights.

However, a few years earlier the Right to Development would achieve universal citizenship with the United Nations General Assembly Declaration on the Right to Development (DDD) of 1986.

Article 1 defines it as follows: “The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human being 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.”

From then on, development will also be conceived as “a global economic, social, cultural and political process, which tends towards the constant improvement of the well-being of the entire population and of all individuals on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of the benefits derived from it” [3]

Therefore, the Right to Development (RDD) implies: i) the inalienable human right to personal (individual) and collective (peoples, states and humanity) fulfillment; 2) the eradication of poverty and hunger, the fight against underdevelopment and the establishment of a more just international economic order; 3) the preservation and development of the cultural and spiritual identity of man and peoples; and 4) in a healthy environment.

At the Millennium Summit in 2000, the United Nations established eight Millennium Development Goals (with a view to 2015), namely: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; 2) Achieve universal primary education; 3) Promote gender equality and empower women; 4) Reduce child mortality; 5) Improve maternal health; 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; 7) Ensure environmental sustainability; and 8) Develop a global partnership for development

However, progress is far from remarkable. Serious inequalities persist (more than 800 million people live in extreme poverty, on less than $1,25 a day; and progress tends to discriminate against women and vulnerable people: children, indigenous peoples, among others). Concurrently, a post-2015 agenda on Sustainable Development Goals is being debated , aiming for a more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable world [4].

In short, the Right to Development (RDD), as a macro-system, will require a multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional approach, thus demanding the study of different topics, among others: human rights and international law, public policies and development, international economics, investments and intellectual property; acquiring special relevance the study of: aid to —and financing of— development, external debt, the establishment of a New International Order of solidarity, food security, regional integration, the right to education and culture (which includes cultural diversity), economic, social, labor and pension rights, and environmental sustainability.

:: OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS:

In general terms, the objectives of the Right to Development Programme are:

  • contribute from the University to the study, research, teaching and dissemination of the Development as a Human Right(and as a multi-dimensional process).
  • the interdisciplinary approach to Right to Development, valuing and/or critically highlighting the contributions, convergences (and divergences), conceptual contents coming from various disciplines (among others: Politics, Law, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, International Relations, Cultural Studies and Regional Integration), under a pluri-methodological perspective.
  • the reflection of (and on) public and/or pedagogical and/or communication policies closely linked to the Right to Development, and the explanation and/or formulation of strategies and/or proactive actions for their effective implementation and/or deepening.

Therefore, the following has been considered :

  • Specify training and/or training actions to address academic and institutional issues demanded by the UNR;
  • Promote the formation of teams of researchers and/or participation in research projects (even together with other centers, institutes and/or programs related to the subject);
  • Develop activities aimed at knowledge and dissemination of the Right to Development (DAD); among others, conferences, talks, conferences, congresses, seminars;
  • Promote meetings with thinkers and/or academics and/or political and/or community leaders (national and international) for the exchange of information and/or experiences linked to the Right to Development;
  • Prepare materials and productions of the Program for the communicability of results;
  • Establish a bibliographic and dissemination center:
  • Propose and/or integrate UNR Master's and Doctorate seminars on Development and/or Right to Development; especially, from the perspective of human rights.

For more information, contact: murillo.jorge@hotmail.com

[1] Conf. CHOSSUDOVSKY, Michel, “Globalization of poverty and the new world order”, trans. from the English of Ana María palos and Bertha Ruiz de la Concha, Siglo XXI ed., México, 2003; Page[7].

[2] ECLAC Conference, “Social Panorama of Latin America 2013”, Santiago, Chile, ECLAC/United Nations, December 2013.

[3]UNITED NATIONS, “Declaration on the Right to Development”, Preamble, paragraph 2.

[4] See: UNITED NATIONS, “Millennium Development Goals. 2015 Report”, United Nations, New York, 2015; and the ““Foreword” by its Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon; available in:http://www.un.org/es/millenniumgoals/ (March 2016)