ABSTRACT

This chapter considers the role of social rights in relation to social development and, in particular to the alleviation of poverty. The purpose is to reflect on different ways in which social rights are a part of the social development process. It is human development that enhances human capabilities so as to give the full expression to freedom. The Human Development Report 2000 included a careful discussion of the capabilities concept. The process that led to the formulation of the MDGs had begun with the UN's Vienna Declaration of 1993, followed by the Copenhagen Social Summit of 1995. The chapter enables locating social rights in relation to recent international measures intended to promote social development and alleviate global poverty. In an attempt to illuminate some rather complex debates, the chapter has focused on three broad approaches: right to development, idea of the development agenda, and poverty as a rights violation.