Development and human rights as known today are new expressions which have been used a lot

after World War II and the adoption of the UN Charter and the Human Rights Declaration in the
materials and documents related to international law etc.

Although they started and grew in a similar and equal situation, development and human rights
were placed parallel to one another and without convergence. However, various challenges not
only changed them substantively and expanded them conceptually but also made them two
things which are essential to each other with the same destiny.

The obligation of observing the human rights in designing the strategies of development and the
necessity of viewing development within human rights policies as well as the need to create
convergence and coordination between the two, have all become the concerns of the UN and all
the institutions and centers specializing in human rights at international, regional and national
levels. These institutions and centers all try to contribute to global peace and security through
development's support of the human rights and vice versa as well as through placing the right to
development alongside the basic human rights. They also try to obligate governments to change
their approaches based on profit-making to the ones which are pro-human rights by codifying
and preparing legally binding laws.

It seems that although certain governments such as the US oppose people-oriented development,
it will become far-reaching. The day will come when the right to development will not only be
recognized as a public duty and obligation at the service of nations but also a shared asset
belonging to all mankind. On that day, development will have gone beyond the artificial
boundaries of governments to serve humankind. Therefore the authoritative elite of nations have
to think of adopting laws on how development can be justly distributed and also of establishing
executive bodies and the required sanctions to do so.

People-oriented Development

The issue of development has gained such a lofty and high status in political, social and
economic discussions that governments can not turn a blind eye to it in their visions; neither can
they leave them out of their medium and long term causes and objectives.

In order to know "people-oriented development" and how it relates to "human rights" or to

The historical developments of the concept of "Development"

The United Nations has declared four decades as "development decades". By reviewing them
one realizes that the applied approaches towards developments have been changing from
absolutely economic to humanistic.

The First Development Decade:

The Second Development Decade:

In the second development decade i.e. the 70's, "a more balanced distribution of wealth and
income" gained significance and it was emphasized in Resolution 2626 of the UN General
Assembly that the “growth in GDP” alone can not play as effective role as it should in removing
deprivations. It was said that "the ultimate purpose of development is to provide increasing
opportunities to all people for a better life". Gradually social factors started to be taken into
consideration.

The Third Development Decade:

In this decade the ground was created by institutes and universities to pay attention to the cultural
and human dimensions of development. Theories of development gradually became more
concerned with expounding these cultural and humanistic aspects.

The Fourth Development Decade:

Human development found a new form after entering the fourth decade of development. In the
new concept, humans are the ultimate purpose of Development and human development is
defined as a process which makes it possible to freely choose one's job, religion, thoughts, decide
one's own fate, enjoy long lives, good health and sanitation, tranquility, peace and quiet, security
and more important than all, education for all.

Therefore, the development plans of countries are not just limited to economic movements. Now
it is of utmost importance to attach value to "human resources" and each individual by
reinforcing and actualizing people’s potential and innate abilities. The emphasis placed on
"expanding people's choices” is actually a positive approach regarding the "better life" which
results in the dynamic understanding of the trend of human development. The concept of human
development is expanded beyond just economic concerns because the patterns of economic
growth are generally measured by the increase in the per capita income rather than by the
improvement in the quality and the level of living. The message of human development is to get
developed "for and by" the people. Such a goal is not materialized unless it is made possible for
the capabilities of the people of the society to flourish.

The proponents of human development postulate that the wealthiest countries are not the ones
whose people live the best lives. Richard Jolly the special advisor to United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) has said that "there is no clear link between economic growth
and human development". The number of the marginalized people living in some rich countries
is indicative of the fact that severe inequalities exist in them. Ms. Fukuda-Parr says that "market
efficiency does not give you equality, environment stability or human security" she also says
that" human activities flourish in places where there are human supervisions, whereas the current
model for development leaves such little time for this. It is a matter of regret that an economic
theory ignores half of all the human activities because it can't measure them with numbers and
figures".

Development and Sustainable Development

According to the definition by the "Brant Land" commission, sustainable development may be
considered as meeting the needs of the present generation in a way that the abilities of the next
generation in meeting its needs are not ruined. As a matter of fact, sustainable development is a
concept that shows the responsibility of the present and next generations. UN refers to
development as: a process which unites the efforts of people and the government for improving
the economic, social and cultural conditions of a region; a process which involves the people of a
region in the life of a nation and empowers them the best way possible to participate in national
prosperity and progress.

Attention paid to the "human aspects of development" has made the UN adopt a new method in
measuring development called the "human development indicator".

The purpose behind people-oriented development

As it was mentioned, development, although it has been in existence for a short time, has seen
manifold changes conceptually. As a matter of fact, the case of development is open and new
meanings and aspects are yet to come and affect it.

People-oriented development seems to be a different interpretation of usual and ordinary words

One can have different impressions of people-oriented development based on the four
development decades mentioned above:

A: people-oriented development has nothing to do with the first concept of development offered
in the first development decade.

B: people-oriented development equals what was raised in the second development decade i.e. a
more balanced distribution of wealth and income and reduction of inequalities.

C: people-oriented development equals balanced development and being mindful of the cultural
aspects of development.

D: people-oriented development is all about humans and the quality of their lives. Nowadays,
such a definition is more acceptable compared to the other ones.

It seems that people-oriented development encompasses all theses definitions and meanings but
pursues a higher purpose. If we follow the trends more closely we realize that economic
conditions and the removal of obstructions to economic development as well as the change in the
economic tools and capital are still pivotal in the concept of development; the ultimate goal is
still a "better life" with the emphasis on welfare. However, what has been missing and has been
the root cause of the development problems in the past and the present and has emerged in the
various stages of development is the status of people in their societies minus their economic role
and effectiveness.

Although no one can deny the importance of economics and optimization of economic tools
which have a high status within comprehensive development plans, the title of people-oriented
development itself clearly shows that people and humans must be the basis of planning and
policy making in any kind of development

The major difference between people-oriented development and the four development decades is
that the UN has made conceptual changes in the aforesaid definitions of economy as well as in
analyzing the results of economy. However, the shadow of an economy-based approach is still
cast over the development definitions, studies and debates. This limits the scope of the non-
economic initiatives and proposals and reduces the cooperation of governments. People-oriented
development claims that "humans" must be made the basis of development planning; therefore
first we need to present a proper understanding of humans and then take the next steps. In other
words we have to go from "humans" to "economies" and not the other way round i.e. from
economy and its related challenges to humans. This is where this new approach differs from
what was championed in those four development decades mentioned above therefore we may
call this the "Fifth Development Decade".

The above definition of people-oriented development is actually another interpretation of human