Introduction
The world’s political leaders have in the decades gone by, frequently reiterated the conviction to make the right to development a reality for everyone.[1] Making the right to development a reality conveys the promise that livelihood would become sustainably better for the billions of impoverished peoples around the world whose right to development is consistently denied through structural disadvantage and systemic injustices. That promise, despite its entrenchment in the UN Charter as the spirit and foundational purpose of contemporary international law,[2] has on the most part remained dormant. In over six decades post-decolonisation, legitimate asks for recognition and protection of the right to development in international law remained stifled by seemingly unending polemics obtaining from the deeply politicised geopolitical rift between the global North and the global South on the concept of development as a human right. It will soon be four decades following the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development in 1986, yet implementation remains sluggish.
Crucial about the right to development, unlike all other human rights, is the given that its realisation is heavily contingent on the mechanism of international cooperation and the duty to cooperate, with emphasis on full respect for the principles of international law, which ought to be fulfilled in such a manner as to promote a new international economic order based on sovereign equality, interdependence, and reciprocity among states.[3] While this has been hard to accomplish on the global political stage, avid proponents and leading contemporary subject matter experts like Prof Koen de Feyter stayed on course in advancing rigorous propositions on the legality of the right to development, even when it seemed obsolete to do. With increasing geopolitical surprises and growing international law uncertainties, including the apparent dismantling of the international cooperation framework, question to ponder is whether efforts at sustaining the right to development have the potential to prevail over the shifting dynamics.
Koen’s Undiminished Dedication to the Right to Development
A proper prism through which response to the inquiry can be visualised is by looking at Koen’s unalloyed dedication to the right to development. His vision bore the subtle conviction that there are a million ways to circumvent the politics of global power contestation that has marred the noble commitment to making the right to development a universal reality. Koen did not only theorise on various aspects of the right to development in his several publications,[4] he equally practicalised how and what its realisation entails. He selflessly undertook actions that cumulatively moved the milestones in the evolution of the right to development closer to finalisation. In the rest of this short contribution, I explore two of the undertakings Koen accomplished in his capacity as Independent Expert, Member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development.
Thematic Study on the Duty to Cooperate for Development
The fact cannot be ignored that the rift between the global North and the global South on the question of the right to development has principally centred on the question of cooperation and the nature of the duty to cooperate. As Felix Kirchmeir observes, the global North has been reticent to the idea of a treaty on the right to development that may impose on them a binding obligation to provide development assistance to the developing countries of the global South.[5] I have argued elsewhere that such a perception is an unfortunate misreading of the right to development, which by nature rather implies a solicitation for political sovereignty and socio-economic and cultural self-determination.[6] It required evidence-based research to put a cap on the contours of the duty to cooperate in ensuring development and in eliminating the systemic obstacles that impede the right to development.
Koen’s thematic study on the duty to cooperate unlocked a strategic facet regarding the bearing of non-state actors on development globally.[7] Distancing himself from mainstream interpretations, according to which international human rights law imposed duties exclusively on states, Koen considered that non-state actors are henceforth obligated to shoulder a critical role as duty bearers, especially because their involvement in human rights transgressions. For him, their legal accountability is no longer disputable. Koen’s study visit to Lesotho in January 2023 provided the opportunity to investigate and corroborate how the operations of the corporate entities engaged in diamond mining and dam construction impact on the right to development of the local communities where their human rights transgressions have extensively been documented. The findings support the proposition to subject non-state entities to the duty to cooperate in advancing the right to development.
Drafting of the International Covenant on the Right to Development
As noted earlier, Koen did not only theorise the obligations subjacent to the right to development. He demonstrated that a binding instrument on the right to development under international law was possible and indeed inevitable. His initial suggestion for recourse to a Multi-Stakeholder Agreement on the Right to Development made sense to the effect that such an agreement would allow both states and non-state actors with the commitment to implementing the right to development, to sign onto.[8] He later published a policy paper positing the need for a Framework Convention on the Right to Development, which Wouter Vandenhole writes, was intended “to allow for a phased approach to overcome political controversy and accommodate the concerns of the different geopolitical groups”.[9] These propositions undeniably, shaped and informed the drafting of the International Covenant on the Right to Development[10] (initially named, International Convention on the Right to Development). Koen played a central role, doubling as member of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development and of the Expert Drafting Group, in codifying the draft Covenant. Worth highlighting that the draft Covenant enshrines in Article 13 extensive provision on the duty to cooperate.
Upon adoption by the UN General Assembly, the International Covenant on the Right to Development will not only become a binding treaty, but in essence also an integral component of the International Bill of Rights. Notwithstanding the persistent objection by the majority of the countries of the global North against a legal instrument on the right to development, prospects are high that the Covenant will largely be voted for by the global South, which forms the bulk of the membership at the UN General Assembly. A treaty on the right to development just like every other treaty, does not necessarily require universal recognition to become a binding in international law.[11] This milestone is of major importance to the global South where development aspirations necessitate the protection of international law that genuinely guarantees sovereign equality of states, non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, self-determination in making development choices and permanent ownership over natural resources. The International Covenant on the Right to Development guarantees such protection.
Concluding Reflection
The two accomplishments discussed in this paper are just a few of the many memorable legacies of Prof Koen de Feyter, whose tenacity in favour of giving the right to development universal effect – including through a binding instrument in international law – eventually prevailed against the polemics. In the backdrop of the lethargy in implementation by the global South, coupled with the rapidly shifting global dynamics, the emerging political surprises and the uncertainties that currently characterise the landscape of international law that is envisaged to provide the context for actualisation, I am driven to deep reflection how Koen’s accomplishments on the right to development could be sustained.
In the twelve years that I knew Prof Koen, initially as a student of his and eventually as a senior colleague and mentor, he pulled me closer, introduced me to some of his valued connections and suggested projects to work on; apparently intending that I follow in his footsteps. While the shoes are obviously really too big to step into, I will not shy to endeavour. With the envisaged adoption of the Covenant and its eventual coming into force, the next major phase in the evolution of the right to development will obviously centre on its implementation. Actual work in ensuring effective realisation of the right to development is thus just about to begin. The endeavour requires undiminished commitment of the kind and nature that Koen de Feyter demonstrated.
[1] Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Resolution A/RES/70/1 of 27 September 2015, Para 10; Paris Agreement of 2015, Preamble; Durban Declaration of 8 September 2001, Para 78; Millennium Declaration Resolution A/55/L.2of 8 September 2000, Paras 11 & 24; Rio Declaration on Environment and Development adopted at the UN Conference on Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro, on 14 June 1992, Principle 3.
[2] UN Charter of 26 June 1945, Preamble and Art 1.
[3] Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 4/128 of 4 December 1986, Art 3.
[4] Some of his publications include the following: Koen de Feyter, ‘The Holders of the Right to Development’ In Carol Chi Ngang (ed) International Covenant on the Right to Development: Implications for Developing Countries and the Global Balance of Power (Brill, 2025) 58-85; Koen de Feyter, ‘The Declaration on the Right to Development Revisited’ (2018) 1:1 Journal of National Law University of Delhi, 15-32;Koen de Feyter, ‘The Right to Development in Africa’ in Eva Brems; Christophe Van der Beken and Solomon Abay Yimer (eds), Human Rights and Development: Legal Perspectives from and for Ethiopia (Brill/Nijhoff, 2015) 21-50; Koen de Feyter, ‘Towards a Framework Convention on the Right to Development’ (2013) Friedrich Ebert Stiftung,1-21;Koen de Feyter, ‘Indigenous Peoples’ in UN Human Rights (ed), Realizing the Right to Development: Essays in Commemoration of 25 Years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development (UN Publication, 2013) 159-168; Koen de Feyter, ‘The Right to Development and the Development of Human Rights’ (1986) Studia Diplomatica39(3): 269-283.
[5] Felix Kirchmeier, ‘The Right to Development – Where Do We Stand?: State of the Debate on the Right to Development’ (2006) Dialogue on Globalization Occasional Papers 23, 10-12.
[6] Carol Chi Ngang, ‘Towards a Right-to-Development Governance in Africa’ (2018) 17:1 Journal of Human Rights, 12.
[7] A/HRC/54/84: Duty to Cooperate and Non-State Actors – Thematic Study by the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, 5 July 2023.
[8] Koen De Feyter, ‘Towards a Multi-Stakeholder Agreement on the Right to Development’ in Stephen Marks (ed), Implementing the Right to Development: The Role of International Law (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2008) 97-102.
[9] Wouter Vandenhole, ‘Mapping Koen de Feyter’s Legacy: Geographies of Shared Responsibility for Sustainable Development for Subaltern People(s)’ (2025) 11 Journal of National Law University Delhi, 17.
[10] Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development—Report by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Development, Zamir Akram (Pakistan) Human Rights Council A/HRC/54/50 54th Session, 6 October 2023.
[11] Carol C. Ngang, ‘Differentiated Responsibility Under International Law and the Right to Development Paradigm for Developing Countries’ (2017) 11:2 Human Rights & International Legal Discourse, 286.