Why rights, why now? Reflections on the rise of rights in international development discourse

This article seeks to explore some of the trends that have led to the emergence of today's interest in human rights. The grounding of rights-based approaches in human rights legislation, some would argue, makes them distinctively different to others, lending the promise of re-politicising areas of development work, particularly, perhaps, efforts to enhance participation in development that have become domesticated as they have been mainstreamed. But the label "rights-based approach", others would point out, is fast becoming the latest designer item to be seen wearing and is being used to dress up the same old development issues. We ask why rights has come to be of interest to international development actors, and why now, and explore some of the implications of the shift to thinking and talking about rights for the politics and practice of development.