The right to development as a human right and the role of culture in its achievement

Abstract

In the last decades, more attention has been given to the link between culture and development. It is true that development is a comprehensive process involving sustainable improvement of the economic, social and political well being of all individuals and peoples. Development aims for the realisation of all human rights- civil, cultural, economic, political and social- and for the greatest possible freedom and dignity of every human being. There has been an exploration of the relationship between cultural rights and resources and development - that is tangible and intangible heritage, cultural values, beliefs and attitudes, and their impact on development and vice versa. As a result of that link, culture and development are about the role of culture in contributing to the achievement of development goals. Accordingly, culturally- sensitive development which respects cultural rights and assets and which looks for opportunities of using cultural action to support development processes can contribute to sustainability. Then, this work is about finding the definition of these two concepts and to discovering the link between them. It will also lead to discovering the way by which culture can contribute in the process of development.