The United Nations, Human Rights, and Development.

This article discusses the concept of human rights and development in the United Nations. Development has always been a contested concept. Like other concepts such as peace, security, and human rights, development has been the focus of much debate at the United Nations. Quite clearly in the early history of the United Nations, development referred essentially to national macro-economic growth. A common interpretation of this phrase was that development meant economic growth in such a way that future generations were not worse off. It was also widely agreed that sustainable development had social dimensions. After all, one was talking about sustainable human development. The social dimensions of sustainable human development, and especially those aspects pertaining to women, were clearly recognized in the 1995 UN World Summit for Social Development. At about this same time, democratic development became the mantra of Western donor governments who were crucial to the funding of UN development activities. The leadership of the U.S. Agency for International Development spoke repeatedly about democratic development.