Developing countries and the right to development: a retrospective and prospective African view

The end of World War II, and the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, unleashed great expectations of a brave new world, in which the promotion and protection of human rights would become the central organising principle of international relations. This article examines the long struggle that African countries, joined by other developing countries, have waged at the UN for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) and for the right to development to be recognised as legally enforceable and universal. To date, however, the right to development has not entered the practical realm of planning and implementation at the national and international levels. The article assesses the internal and external factors that have prevented countries in the Global South from fulfilling the rights of their citizens to development and from moving the agenda forward.