The right to economic development

One of the central elements of the NIEO and CERDS was the economic development of states. This element was reinforced and strengthened through a 1986 resolution of the UN General

Assembly on the right to economic development of states. The main operative provisions of this declaration read as follows:

Article 1

1. The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised.

2. The human right to development also implies the full realisation of the right of peoples to self-determination, which includes, subject to the relevant provisions of both International Covenants on Human Rights, the exercise of their inalienable right to full sovereignty over all their natural wealth and resources.

Article 2

1. The human person is the central subject of development and should be the active participant and beneficiary of the right to development.

2. All human beings have a responsibility for development, individually and collectively, taking into account the need for full respect for their human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as their duties to the community, which alone can ensure the free and complete fulfilment of the human being, and they should therefore promote and protect an appropriate political, social and economic order for development.

3. States have the right and the duty to formulate appropriate national development policies that aim at the constant improvement of the well-being of the entire population and of all individuals, on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of the benefits resulting therefrom.

Although the right to development is a difficult right to define in concrete terms and does not have much legal significance, the articulation of this right in 1986 has enabled the international community to rely on it to support and develop:

_ other principles of international trade and development

_ special and preferential treatment for developing countries

_ the need to address the problem of the international debt.

It can also be argued that the right to development was a contributor to the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals by the international community in 2000, at the dawn of the new millennium.

Self-assessment questions

What are the main principles of international economic law?

How have those principles evolved over time?

 

INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT

What do you know about international investment? Choose the right answer.

1) Friendship, commerce and navigation treaties were common instruments throughout... century.

a) the 19'b century and the beginning of the 20,h; b) the 18* century and the beginning of the I9,h c) the 20,h century and the beginning of the 21,h.

2) The ICSID Convention was opened for signature on March 18,... and entered into force on October 14.....

a) 1966; 1967 b) 1965; 1966 c) 1964; 1965

3) The WTO's aims are to continue the work of... in agreeing international trading rules and furthering the liberalization of international trade.

a) OECD b) GATT c) ASEAN

4)... is designed to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade while taking account of the need to promote effective protection of intellectual property rights.

a) NAFTA b) ASCM c) TRIPS

5)... was set up in 1961 to supersede the О EEC.

a) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development b) Association of South-East Asia Nations c) International Trade Organization.

 

Consult your dictionary for the right stress in the following words and memorize their meaning.

alien, sojourn, reciprocal, multifaceted, multilateral, insufficient, eligible, entirely, differentiate, curtailment, tenuous, siege social, tribunal

 

Read the following text and give synonyms for the underlined words.

INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT

International rules related to investment issues have a long history. They are multifaceted and span the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. They can take the form of binding or voluntary instruments setting out different types of commitments, which often overlap.

BILATERAL RULES