Sustainable development and human rights law (SUSTLAW).

The relationship between law and development continues to be a key issue of debate both in academia and policy circles. The concept of Law and Development is not one-dimensional and has been closely linked with the reality of poverty and unsatisfied basic needs. Although this field focused initially on the economic dimension, as development was mostly seen as a consequence of (if not synonymous to) economic growth, the human and cultural dimensions of development are currently also a central part of the legal analysis. The concept of sustainable development and the rights-based approach to development are now part of the core content of the law and development field. Sustainable Development is a complex concept, which refers to the following topics: environmental protection, respect for socio-cultural contexts, empowerment of the poor, and inter-generational and intra-generational justice (Blewitt 2008:4). Sustainable Development is also connected with global justice because its core concern is the poor and the negative impact of globalization on the poor, including intertemporal impacts (Blewitt 2008:5; Cullet 2010:357; see also Pahuja 2011, 2013).The ITP Sustainable Development & Human Rights Law provides key conceptual and analytical tools to gain in depth knowledge of and critically assess the interplay between law and development. The module offers high quality teaching and learning in a dynamic environment, paying attention to South-North as well as the South-South interactions. In this respect, development is not conceived in unidirectional terms (from North to South) but as a process characterised by complex social, political and economic interactions across the globe where Southern actors play and ought to play roles as important as Northern ones. Key themes explored include not only human rights implementation and development cooperation but also standard-setting on human rights and sustainable development for the future. The ITP purports to overcome the lack of critical reflection on what human rights and sustainable development mean in a development cooperation context and further enrich legal thinking with interdisciplinary insights. At the same time, it offers hands-on training to turn analysis into practice.

Keywords:SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Disciplines:Human rights law

Project type:Service project