Development policy affects human rights in manifold ways. For example, trade agreements can have an adverse impact on the rights to health or food by making essential medicines or goods less accessible or available. Or large-scale investment projects influence indigenous rights when they entail...

A decisive change now seems to be occurring in the development practices of the major OECD donor countries. Their own economic objectives are being moved distinctly closer to centre stage. Changes in the instruments of development policy are reputed to generate direct benefits for their own...

Despite considerable disbursements of official development aid the average annual per capita income in developing countries has increased only slightly. The prosperity gap between these countries and the industrialised nations has widened. In many cases the least degree of progress has been made...

A fresh start is needed in development policy in order to move away from the sort of superficial, overselective assistance, which is very often altruistic in appearance only, towards a more comprehensive, world-wide structural policy which does not only raise more resources for setting up a...

The recommendations of international organizations such as the World Bank, ILO, OECD and FAO and comparable demands by critical social scientists evince a growing awareness that basic human needs should be made the point of departure and orientation for analyses, planning and evaluation. They...