ABSTRACT
While some theoretical issues still haunt the true legal concept of the RTD, the direction of the debate has significantly diverted towards the practical issue of its implementation. During the past two decades, remarkable work has been done in the UN to bring about a policy shift in development practice. In 1992, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to prepare an agenda for development.1 The report submitted by the SecretaryGeneral in 1995 records that the UN has started ‘a process of re-examination and redefinition of development’.2 In this context, the 1990s witnessed major changes in the linkage between human rights and development. This linkage has found expression in the rights-based approach to development, which is increasingly gaining currency as a major policy goal. The main source of this linkage lies in the concept of the RTD that recognizes development as a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized. Between 1992 and 2001, a series of major international conferences and events have been held on: the environment, human rights, population, social development, women, the fiftieth anniversary of the UDHR and racism.3 All these conferences have made explicit references to the RTD. As cmpared to the 1980s, during which decade the RTD was entangled in ideological rivalry, the changes in the 1990s opened up many possibilities for the promotion of the RTD.
