The Right to Development : A Binding Source of International Law or a Needless, Non-Enforceable, Right to Everything?

A review of the scope, legality and enforceability This article aims to provide the reader with a critical analysis of the scope, legality and enforceability of The Right to Development the (RTD), more precisely of “the right to a process of development in which all rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized”. Three particular problems will be addressed; the first problem is that the RTD, in its current, can be interpreted in many ways. In particular in regards to determining who the beneficiaries and duty-bearers of the right are. The second problem relates to the legal status of the RTD, more specifically; whether it falls within the scope of one of the categories of the official definition given to International Law in the Statute of the European Court of Justice. The third issue is the questionable enforceability of the RTD, which has been an issue of concern and criticism of many authors. This article offers a view on whether or not this concern is justified. To conclude the necessity of a separate RTD will be discussed, as many critics think of the RTD as a synthesis of already existing codified human rights and therefore having a separate RTD would not be needed