The Paris Declaration and the Right to Development

This report on the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Right to Development was discussed by the High Level Task Force on the Implementation of the Right to Development in Geneva last January 8 and 9, 2008. Summary The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (PD) as a non-binding document on ways to disburse and manage ODA more effectively does not deal with any of the commitments spelled out in MDG8 (trade, finance, debt, increased aid) but it can be deemed to indirectly contribute to them if its goal of making aid more efficient is actually achieved. However, while relatively minor gains in efficiency could be obtained from avoiding duplications in delivery and simplifying reporting, the main causes of aid inefficiency (i.e. tied aid and unpredictability of aid income) are not properly addressed. There is a danger that the political momentum around the PD might deviate attention from the need of building global development partnerships around the still largely unmet commitments of MDG8. The PD does not constitute in itself a partnership, as it brings together national and international actors in the aid cycle with extremely asymmetrical conditions and does not spell out corresponding rights and obligations. As a framework for bilateral partnerships between donors and creditors on the one hand and individual aid recipient countries on the other, the PD fails to provide institutional mechanisms to address the asymmetries in power. Institutional ownership of the PD process rests with the OECD DAC and the World Bank, where donors and creditors have exclusive or majority control, with little or no developing country voice or vote. Human rights, including the Right to Development (RtD) are not mentioned in the PD. While some of its principles (national ownership and mutual accountability) can be supportive of the RtD, the practical implementation of the PD and the down to earth objectives, as spelled out in its indicators, can work in practice against RtD and erode national democratic processes. Those conclusions derive from an analysis of the PD and each of its indicators according to the criteria agreed by the Working Group on RtD.