Contextualising development and human rights in mountain areas

This work aims to shortly introduce how the development thinking, the ideas of right to development and rights-based approach to development emerged and evolved through the paradigm shifts that ranged from a pure economic perspective to a human component, and lastly to a sustainability-based understanding in the last 50 years. It also touches upon the mainstream international soft law instruments that shaped the construction and content of the right to development and rights-based approach to development up to date. In order to illustrate the sustainable development in practice with a rights-based approach, this paper briefly focalises on a specific context, taking into account the environmental, socio-economic and cultural characteristics: the mountain areas.