Development policy

Human rights law binds states not only on their own territory, but also in the context of their actions in international organisations and abroad. When states take action on development policy, they must ensure that this is based on their human rights obligations.

People in the Global South and East who are among the target groups of development cooperation programmes are partners on an equal footing: they are not receivers of charity, rather they have a right to equal opportunities, participation and the preservation of their livelihoods.

Development policy must therefore aim to focus on these rights and strengthen participatory and transparent processes in development cooperation. The better Germany and its development policy partner countries implement their human rights obligations, the more likely they are to succeed in reducing poverty, reducing inequality and promoting sustainable development in line with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) introduced a binding strategy on human rights in German development policy in 2011, and last updated it in 2023. The strategy emphasises human rights as a guiding principle of development policy. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is supported in its alignment with human rights by the supra-regional project “Implementing human rights in development cooperation”, which is based at the German development agency Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The project works in close cooperation with the German Institute for Human Rights.