Rights and development: the costs of human rights in Ethiopia

Townsend, Dina and Broeckhoven, Nicky (2020) Rights and development: the costs of human rights in Ethiopia. In, Wouters, Jan, Lemmens, Koen, Poecke, Thomas Van and Bourguignon, Marie (eds.) Can We Still Afford Human Rights? Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 270-299. (doi:10.4337/9781839100321.00020).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

It is sometimes argued that more attention needs to be paid to the cost of realizing human rights in human rights scholarship and practice. In Ethiopia, a focus on the cost of realizing human rights has played a crucial role in justifying the government’s aggressive development plans. While the aim of this development is to reduce poverty and secure greater rights and well-being for the future, rapid growth has come at a considerable human rights cost. This raises questions about what the relevant costs of rights are and how those costs ought to be understood or justified. A straightforward costs-approach to human rights, however, may not adequately take into account the cost of generating the means to pay for rights. We find that examining rights from a costs perspective in a case like Ethiopia requires investigations not only into what rights cost the government, but also into how that wealth is generated.

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12-Wouters-Chapter 12 (Townsend + Broeckhoven)

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