Ryan Heman
Graduate School of Arts and Science, Graduate
Human Rights and Development Practice: Dismantling Aid Conditionalities for LGBTI People
AbstractIncreasing demands for aid effectiveness have resulted in a shift toward human rights-centered approaches to development. This paper will argue, nonetheless, that attempts to condition aid on the realization of particular rights demonstrate the limitations of incorporating human rights within development methods. Despite the real leverage aid conditionalities might offer in the pursuit of policy liberalization, implementation of such programs necessarily abdicates responsibilities imposed on the international community to contribute meaningfully to the development of recipients. Even further, as seen in recent responses to “anti-gay” legislation abroad, conditionalities specifically conceived so as to impose “positive rights” in contrast to local customs may on the contrary further entrench persecution of the most vulnerable. Future engagements on rights-based development must therefore pay special attention to shared ownership of aid agreements and promote inclusion and collaboration in lieu of simply penalizing exclusion.