On The Right To Development Under The WTO Framework

The right to development means every person and every country has right to participate in, promote and enjoy the development of economy, society, culture and politics. Based on the historical reasons and the need of reality, the developing countries raised the concept of the right to development and insist on it. For a long time, there are a lot of controversial questions about the right to development between the developing and developed countries, such as the legal status, sources, subject of the right and obligations and conditions of realization of the right. However, as a fundamental human right, the right to development has been confirmed in the Charter of the United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Human rights Convention and other UN General Assembly as a fundamental human right.The World Trade Organization aims to promote the world economic growth and improve the people's living standard through trade liberalization. WTO covers almost all the key fields in the right to development including the legal relationship of the trade in goods, service, investment, intellectual property rights and so forth. From 1947 General Agreement on Trade and Tariff to 2005 Council of Ministers in Hong Kong, how to develop is always an important issue. Due to an array of Special & Differential Treatment in WTO trade law beneficial to the developing countries, the stipulations on the right to development are relatively adequate in WTO.However, there are some defects in WTO itself that constitute obstacles to the realization of the right to development, such as the serious imbalance of legal rights and obligations between the developed and developing member states, lacking of democracy during the decision-making procedure. The practicability of arrangement for special and deferential treatment to the developing countries is not adequate. Provisions on the intellectual property rights also put a heavy pressure on the developing members. These obstacles caused the effect of the World Trade Organization in the realization of the right to development is rather limited. It is necessary to reform WTO to realize a fair international economic circumstance and to ensure the people's right to development of the developing world. Therefore we can promote the harmonious developing of the world. On one hand, the general preferential system should be taken into effect and stabilized. The technical assistance and cooperation under the world trade organization should also be strengthened. On the other hand, democracy and transparency in the decision-making procedure should be strengthened. The most fundamental solution to the comprehensive development including economic, social and cultural affairs is to increase the developing countries' overall capability to develop. The developed and developing countries should make common efforts to develop together.As a developing country, after changing the system and opening thedoor in the late 1970's, China's national strength has increased rapidly and made some achievement in the realization of right to development, but some problems still exist. In order to comprehensively realize China and Chinese right to development, China should make efforts to lay down adequate rules and regulations on the right to development, make the foreign trade system and domestic economic management system link up with international rules.