UN commission launches video series promoting development as human right

The first-ever video film series aimed at exploring development as a human right was launched today in Bangkok, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has announced.

According to ESCAP, the series -- "A Matter of Rights" -- looks through the prism of Asian and Pacific economic and social issues to explore different facets of the right to development, from the basic provision of safe drinking water to healthy lifestyles for older persons, in an attempt to explain and popularize it as a concept.

"The fundamental message of the series is that the access of ordinary citizens to the basics of life, such as nutrition and adequate income, is as much a part of human rights as the right to liberty or freedom of opinion, " said ESCAP's Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su at the launch.

As for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, she expressed her conviction that "we must, without hesitation, commit to promoting the right to development, to achieving better clarity and broader consensus on its requirements for implementation, to reducing the politicization that has surrounded it in the past, and to working for its realization for all peoples. ESCAP's videos are an important step in educating people and sensitizing the media to this important right."

"A Matter of Rights" -- which comprises 52 five-minute features -- was a collaborative effort by ESCAP, Worldview International Foundation and YA*TV (Young Asia Television), with the support of the Government of Norway. The series will be broadcast throughout Asia and the Pacific and made available to non-governmental organizations and educational programmes.