BMZ Action Plan on Human Rights and Development Cooperation 2008-2010

The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) recently released its new Action Plan (in German) on Human Rights and Development Cooperation 2008-2010. It aims to continue and deepen the systematic streamlining of human rights in German development cooperation.

BMZ sees the following as some of the challenges for the period until 2010:

• to address the structural causes of poverty and exclusion
• to ensure that economic growth is accompanied by human right protection
• to increase aid effectiveness and donor harmonization
• to address human rights and climate change

Among others, the BMZ wants to implement the following measures:

• to continue the political dialogue with partner countries on the enhancement of economic, social, cultural, civil and political human rights
• to support international transparency initiatives such as EITI and to support regional and national human rights institutions
• to address the relationship of human rights and climate change
• to work on the actualization of the EU Commission's Communication on Human Rights
• to advocate a stronger orientation of international finance institutions on human rights
  
• to strengthen the dialogue with private sector and international corporations on human rights

The Action Plan was welcomed by German civil society organizations. While most of the measures are embraced by the German Forum for Human Rights, one of the key NGO networks in Germany, it points out some missing concrete steps: to protect human rights defenders and measures to institutionalize cooperation with civil society.

See Euforic dossier on German Development Cooperation; and our news feeds in German and on human rights

by Martin Behrens