Author(s): Heather Gibb, John Foster and Ann Weston
Publisher: 2008, Human Rights Based Approach Portal
In both bilateral donor agencies and many multilateral development and finance organizations, “human rights” have tended to be viewed as governance issues. It is only recently that agencies have turned to consider how to integrate human rights in their private sector development (PSD) strategies. In this context, this paper explores what integrating human rights in donor agencies’ PSD activities might entail and raises questions about human rights dimensions of the broader policy framework within which PSD interventions take place. The author encourages and broadens discussion on opportunities and challenges in integrating human rights principles donor agencies’ PSD activities.
There is a growing consensus that development cooperation activities should promote human rights, and that human rights can promote development. Many donor agencies, have adopted human rights policies that guide their development cooperation activities. While there have been several decades of experience by international development agencies with both private sector development (PSD) as a tool for poverty reduction, and with human rights based approaches to poverty reduction, the links between the two in the form of rights based approaches to PSD remain relatively undeveloped. The study draws on both a literature review and interviews with selected OECD donor agencies, financial institutions and civil society organizations, and finds approaches to both promoting human rights and PSD in developing countries an evolving field. The paper concludes with observations on human rights implications for donors in the areas of monitoring and accountability; opportunities and constraints in approaches that draw from “hard law” and “soft law”, and policy coherence. It offers some suggestions for capacity-building on human rights for donor agencies.
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