For several decades after the UN Charter insisted that the promotion of development and human rights were central to post-World War II conceptions of world order, the two fields remained in virtual isolation from one another. Only in the past 15 years or so, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the realization that freedom and economic well-being are empirically linked, have the professional communities dealing with development and human rights issues really begun to communicate effectively. But too much of the dialogue has been confined to an abstract or theoretical level. This volume addresses highly specific but crucial aspects of the human rights and development interface, including the economics of social rights; land rights and women's empowerment; child labour and access to education; reform of legal and judicial systems; the human rights role of the private sector; and building human rights into development planning, especially the Poverty Reduction Strategy process. Contributors include lawyers, economists, and both scholarly and practitioner perspectives are presented. Several chapters are written by Senior World Bank officials, including the Bank's President and the head of the International Finance Corporation.

Philip Alston is Professor of Law at New York University Law School and Faculty Director of its Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. Since 2002 he has been Special Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Millennium Development Goals. Professor Mary Robinson founded Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative in 2002. Previously she was President of the Republic of Ireland (1990-97), and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002).