Search IPER site

Human Rights and Local Development

Local governance has one of its primary functions, the advancement of local development. Development, in fact, can be considered as the primary raison d’etre for the existence of government.

Speaking of development, the modern and politically-correct definition is one of development by, for, and of peoples. This is best enunciated in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development (UNDRD). The Declaration states, in part, the following propositions:

“The right to development is an inalienable 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 realized.” (Article 1, Section 1)

“The human person is the central subject of development and should be the active participant and beneficiary of development.” (Article 2, Section 1)


The Philippine government, having ratified the Declaration, is duty-bound to implement this people-oriented concept of development.

It is in this sense that the Local Government Code, which gave the local governments a big part of the responsibility for development in their respective areas, should be interpreted and implemented in accordance with this general development framework as defined in the Declaration.

Unfortunately, this human rights-based development framework is not clear in the Code or in any development education course of the government. To be sure, this particular framework is not that widely known among the various development actors, whether in government or in civil society. Even the local human rights community is grappling with the concept only recently, having concentrated its attention to civil and political rights advocacy in the past.

Considering all these, it is not too late to advocate this framework for local development work and for adoption by local governments. In fact, it can be posited that local governments, as well as local NGOs and people’s organizations, can readily adopt the framework. They are located at the grassroots level where direct contact with the people in their everyday life constitute an instant feedback on the various development schemes and actual projects. It is also at the grassroots that the ultimate effects of any development project can be gauged and evaluated.

Local Development and Governance

Under the Local Development code, local government units are empowered to plan and implement local development programs. The local development councils, from the barangay to the provincial and regional levels, were created to undertake this work in consonance with the over-all development plan of the national government.

Local development concerns range from infrastructure, job-oriented industries, social services such as health, education, and job training, cultural and sports projects, to participation in regional or national development programs which impact on the local area. They are normally funded partly by local government development funds. The local government performs both the roles of a project holder as well as a regulator.

An exception is where there is an external investor or funder who finances the project. In this case, the local government functions only in its regulatory role.

Sorely missing in this scenario are the local NGOs and people’s organizations--which are frequently not consulted or else driven to the sideline in the course of the development planning and implementation. They--and the local people--often know about the projects when it is already too late to intervene. Often, the first time they heard of the project is when they heard the terrifying roar of bulldozers running over their fences and plants.

The local development councils are supposed to be the forum in which the NGOs and people’s organizations met with local government officials to draw up a common development plan for the local area. However, this only works if and when the local government finds it necessary or acceptable that such a body may exist in its actual role, and not merely a formal one. This rests largely on the consciousness of local executives regarding the democratic essence of the governing process and the rights and interests of their constituency.

A Human Rights Framework Re Local Development

Local development proceeds from the needs of the local area’s constituency. This is the raison d’etre of its function. However, without any clear idea of a framework of development, local development planning may sometimes degenerate into mere show projects or, worse, run counter to the very idea of a constituency-driven development.

The emphasis on people-centric development is nowhere more pronounced than in the human rights approach to the development question. By making development of, by, and for the people a major criterium in development planning and implementation, the human rights approach squarely tackles the question of social acceptability of any development project.

The human rights approach oblige any developer or investor, whether government or private, to ensure that his or her development or investment project does not violate the rights of the people affected, whether they be beneficiaries of such a project or not. It provides a major test of the social acceptability of a development project.

For example, it has been obligatory, under international environmental agreements, for environmental clearance certificates (ECCs) to be issued before the start of a project. The Philippine government, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), has been doing this for sometime already.

Of course, the whole concept of development is not limited to fulfillment of human rights standards. Development has an all-encompassing subject—the individual and human society. It encompasses areas such as development of natural and human resources, the growth of science and technology, economic advances, and the widening of social and cultural horizons—all of which have dimensions beyond human rights.

However, in a very real sense, human rights are a vital concern in development. They ensure that development does not run wild, that it does not destroy the human community nor the environment we live in, and that it redounds to the benefit of humankind and its future existence.

The human rights way to development have the following key citeria:

1. The human person is the central subject of development. This is a fundamental criterion, deriving as it is from the raison d’etre of development.

2. People have the right to participate in development. This means people’s participation, particularly those who will be affected by projects, to participate in whole development process—from conceptualization and planning to implementation and monitoring. This particularly means the participation of the people at the grassroots as distinct from the government and private vested interests.

3. People are the beneficiaries of development. This implies fair distribution of the fruits of development to all members of society, especially the marginalized sectors.

4. The right to development is universal, indivisible, and interdependent in relation to all other rights. This refers to the limits set by human rights on development particularly in cases where development projects tend to tresspass on other rights. It also points out how seemingly conflicting rights should be handled and resolved.

5. The State has the primary duty and responsibility to create the favorable conditions for the realization of the right to development. This implies the State’s duty for ensuring human rights, including the right to development, in course of the whole process of development. This also implies that non-State actors have the responsibility to respect human rights and that the State have the obligation to ensure this.

There is development aggression when human rights are violated in the course of a development process. This implies an attack on the people’s lives and environment in the name of development, resulting in the deprivation of their basic needs as human beings. It its extreme form, development aggression means the large-scale and systematic suppression of civil and political rights as a consequence of development imperatives.

Development aggression ultimately implies the violations of all human rights of the people—whether they are economic, social, political, civil or cultural rights.

Human rights advocacy provides the way wherein non-empowered or less empowered sections of the people, particularly those at the grassroots, intervene in development projects which changes their very lives. If embraced by the State instrumentalities, it can provide the common language to decide on any development concept, plan, or project.

Local governments, particularly through the tri-partite local development councils, can ensure that development projects, local or otherwise, conform to the rights of the affected local people.

Obviously, this is not yet in place in most, if not all, local government areas. A tremendous amount of work needs to be done, not only in actualizing such a human rights concept, but of even raising the human rights consciousness of the development actors—at the grassroots or elsewhere.