Human Rights Based Approach

Human rights are basic rights of human beings which in most countries are enshrined in the constitution. In addition, most countries in the world ratified the various international conventions on human rights. With the ratification, a country gets the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights on its territory, without discrimination of any kind. Moreover, ratifying States are obliged to report to the competent UN committees about their achievements and challenges regarding their human rights obligations. International human rights obligations of donors and receiving countries are increasingly seen as an important common reference framework for development cooperation, setting standards and thematic priorities and providing a basis for responsibilities.

In the last years, several donors and recipient countries have developed a human rights approach to development and development cooperation. SDC, too, committed itself to integrate human rights into its work. According to SDC’s human rights policy, this means integrating human rights principles in the design, implementation and monitoring of development policies, programmes and projects at multilateral and bilateral level. Human rights principles include equality and non-discrimination, participation and empowerment, accountability and the rule of law, indivisibility and universality. Moreover, development cooperation is seen as a process to empower rights-holders and strengthen duty-bearers to comply with their human rights obligations.

Since local government units are part of the State structures responsible for the implementation of human rights, they are to be considered as duty-bearers in the areas of their competences and responsibilities: They are in an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights in these areas (e.g. the right to health, the right to water). For example, local authorities have to design their policies and deliver services in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination. Development cooperation should strengthen their capacities to comply with human rights as well as empower the rights-holders to ask for local governments’ accountability.

Useful links and documents:

· SDC’s human rights policy: Towards a life in dignity – Realising rights for poor people, Bern 2006,

· SDC, Human Rights-Based Approach to Development in Practice: Key questions for programming, Bern 2007,

· BMZ, Applying a human rights-based approach in practice: Factsheet on decentralization: A human rights-based approach in support of democracy, civil society and public administration: Decentralization and Municipal Development,

· SDC, A human rights based approach to water and sanitation, Briefing Paper, Bern 2008,

· GTZ, The ABC of Human Rights for Development Cooperation, Bonn 2009,

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Local Government and Human Rights: Doing Good Service November 2004 Author: ICHRP - International Council on Human Rights Policy This report explores some of these factors and discusses how local governments can improve the services they deliver. It argues that national and local governments have legal obligations to promote and protect human rights. It also argues that local governments can that find it is in their interest to use the human rights framework because, used thoughtfully, it can help them to become more effective and more legitimate. Download (PDF, 589 KB): [en]

Local Rule - Decentralisation and Human Rights November 2001 Author: ICHRP - International Council on Human Rights Policy This short report is the outcome of a project that began in January 2001. Decentralisation is proceeding in dozens of countries – but the implications are receiving little attention from human rights advocates and scholars. Wishing to do some work on the relationship between local government and human rights, but conscious that the subject is not well mapped, the Council decided to begin with a modest survey of the issues. Download (PDF, 438 KB): [en]

Survey of the Issues - Local Government: Links with Human Rights November 2001 Author: ICHRP - International Council on Human Rights Policy Decentralisation: Panchayatri Raj Institutions and Human Rights in India India had, from ancient times, developed a number of systems of community-based management of local affairs. In most of the country these institutions were known as panchayats, which means, literally, a council of five persons. Their functions bordered on local governance. Download (PDF, 215 KB): [en]