Development and human rights as known today are new expressions which have been used a lot after World War II and the adoption of the UN Charter and the Human Rights Declaration in the materials and documents related to international law etc.

Although they started and grew in a similar and equal situation, development and human rights were placed parallel to one another and without convergence. However, various challenges not only changed them substantively and expanded them conceptually but also made them two things which are essential to each other with the same destiny.

The obligation of observing the human rights in designing the strategies of development and the necessity of viewing development within human rights policies as well as the need to create convergence and coordination between the two, have all become the concerns of the UN and all the institutions and centers specializing in human rights at international, regional and national levels. These institutions and centers all try to contribute to global peace and security through development's support of the human rights and vice versa as well as through placing the right to development alongside the basic human rights. They also try to obligate governments to change their approaches based on profit-making to the ones which are pro-human rights by codifying and preparing legally binding laws.

It seems that although certain governments such as the US oppose people-oriented development, it will become far-reaching. The day will come when the right to development will not only be recognized as a public duty and obligation at the service of nations but also a shared asset belonging to all mankind. On that day, development will have gone beyond the artificial boundaries of governments to serve humankind. Therefore the authoritative elite of nations have to think of adopting laws on how development can be justly distributed and also of establishing executive bodies and the required sanctions to do so.

People-oriented Development

The issue of development has gained such a lofty and high status in political, social and economic discussions that governments can not turn a blind eye to it in their visions; neither can they leave them out of their medium and long term causes and objectives.

In order to know "people-oriented development" and how it relates to "human rights" or to predict their future together, one needs precise information on the evolution of the concepts of "development" and "human rights" in the contemporary history and especially in the aftermath of World War II.

The historical developments of the concept of "Development"

The United Nations has declared four decades as "development decades". By reviewing them one realizes that the applied approaches towards developments have been changing from absolutely economic to humanistic.

The First Development Decade:

In 1960's, "economic growth" was emphasized. It was construed that absolute poverty alleviation could be achieved through economic growth. Increase in the GDP was introduced as the best choice.

The Second Development Decade:

In the second development decade i.e. the 70's, "a more balanced distribution of wealth and income" gained significance and it was emphasized in Resolution 2626 of the UN General Assembly that the “growth in GDP” alone can not play as effective role as it should in removing deprivations. It was said that "the ultimate purpose of development is to provide increasing opportunities to all people for a better life". Gradually social factors started to be taken into consideration.

The Third Development Decade:

In this decade the ground was created by institutes and universities to pay attention to the cultural and human dimensions of development. Theories of development gradually became more concerned with expounding these cultural and humanistic aspects.

The Fourth Development Decade:

Human development found a new form after entering the fourth decade of development. In the new concept, humans are the ultimate purpose of Development and human development is defined as a process which makes it possible to freely choose one's job, religion, thoughts, decide one's own fate, enjoy long lives, good health and sanitation, tranquility, peace and quiet, security and more important than all, education for all.

Therefore, the development plans of countries are not just limited to economic movements. Now it is of utmost importance to attach value to "human resources" and each individual by reinforcing and actualizing people’s potential and innate abilities. The emphasis placed on "expanding people's choices” is actually a positive approach regarding the "better life" which results in the dynamic understanding of the trend of human development. The concept of human development is expanded beyond just economic concerns because the patterns of economic growth are generally measured by the increase in the per capita income rather than by the improvement in the quality and the level of living. The message of human development is to get developed "for and by" the people. Such a goal is not materialized unless it is made possible for the capabilities of the people of the society to flourish.

The proponents of human development postulate that the wealthiest countries are not the ones whose people live the best lives. Richard Jolly the special advisor to United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has said that "there is no clear link between economic growth and human development". The number of the marginalized people living in some rich countries is indicative of the fact that severe inequalities exist in them. Ms. Fukuda-Parr says that "market efficiency does not give you equality, environment stability or human security" she also says that" human activities flourish in places where there are human supervisions, whereas the current model for development leaves such little time for this. It is a matter of regret that an economic theory ignores half of all the human activities because it can't measure them with numbers and figures".

Development and Sustainable Development

According to the definition by the "Brant Land" commission, sustainable development may be considered as meeting the needs of the present generation in a way that the abilities of the next generation in meeting its needs are not ruined. As a matter of fact, sustainable development is a concept that shows the responsibility of the present and next generations. UN refers to development as: a process which unites the efforts of people and the government for improving the economic, social and cultural conditions of a region; a process which involves the people of a region in the life of a nation and empowers them the best way possible to participate in national prosperity and progress.

Attention paid to the "human aspects of development" has made the UN adopt a new method in measuring development called the "human development indicator".

The purpose behind people-oriented development

As it was mentioned, development, although it has been in existence for a short time, has seen manifold changes conceptually. As a matter of fact, the case of development is open and new meanings and aspects are yet to come and affect it.

People-oriented development seems to be a different interpretation of usual and ordinary words and expressions which need to be articulated.

One can have different impressions of people-oriented development based on the four development decades mentioned above:

A: people-oriented development has nothing to do with the first concept of development offered in the first development decade.

B: people-oriented development equals what was raised in the second development decade i.e. a more balanced distribution of wealth and income and reduction of inequalities.

C: people-oriented development equals balanced development and being mindful of the cultural aspects of development.

D: people-oriented development is all about humans and the quality of their lives. Nowadays, such a definition is more acceptable compared to the other ones.

It seems that people-oriented development encompasses all theses definitions and meanings but pursues a higher purpose. If we follow the trends more closely we realize that economic conditions and the removal of obstructions to economic development as well as the change in the economic tools and capital are still pivotal in the concept of development; the ultimate goal is still a "better life" with the emphasis on welfare. However, what has been missing and has been the root cause of the development problems in the past and the present and has emerged in the various stages of development is the status of people in their societies minus their economic role and effectiveness.

Although no one can deny the importance of economics and optimization of economic tools which have a high status within comprehensive development plans, the title of people-oriented development itself clearly shows that people and humans must be the basis of planning and policy making in any kind of development

The major difference between people-oriented development and the four development decades is that the UN has made conceptual changes in the aforesaid definitions of economy as well as in analyzing the results of economy. However, the shadow of an economy-based approach is still cast over the development definitions, studies and debates. This limits the scope of the non-economic initiatives and proposals and reduces the cooperation of governments. People-oriented development claims that "humans" must be made the basis of development planning; therefore first we need to present a proper understanding of humans and then take the next steps. In other words we have to go from "humans" to "economies" and not the other way round i.e. from economy and its related challenges to humans. This is where this new approach differs from what was championed in those four development decades mentioned above therefore we may call this the "Fifth Development Decade".

The above definition of people-oriented development is actually another interpretation of human rights. They are actually two sides of the same coin.