I enjoyed participating in the recent Webinar on the 2009 CDI. I really like the breadth of metrics used to assess governments’ ‘commitment to development’, with what I feel is one glaring exception. Whether a high income country fosters the enjoyment of human rights in low income countries was not once explicitly mentioned.

In my view, after 17 years working in international development, if there’s one key to a country’s development (going well beyond economic growth alone) it’s constructing a culture of and systems ensuring respect, protection, and progressive realization of human rights for all – women and men. Now, one could argue that the defense and promotion of human rights is picked up in some of the other categories, i.e. that it’s cross-cutting, and thus is factored into your ratings. I don’t know enough about the specific indicators and data you are using to respond to that but, in any case, would feel much better if this were made explicit and prioritized the way it should be. How much do wealthier countries contribute to and reward, or alternatively ignore or in different ways undercut, developing countries’ laws, policies, and systems for rights protection and realization? My own view is that constitutional democracy permeated by a commitment to human rights for all is essential to development.

In sum, it’s worth agreeing the best ways to measure how countries are doing in this regard and, for purposes of the CDI, how well they are being supported by wealthier countries in the process.