Ethics and Development _t_ ill The Network tttt The Australian Development Studies Network seeks to provide a forum for discussion and debate of development issues, and to keep people in the field up-to-date with developments and events, publications, etc. The Network does this through its publications program and by conducting or co-sponsoring seminars, symposia and conferences. The Network produces three publications: Development Bulletin is the Network's quarterly Newsletter: It includes short articles (normally I ,000 to 2,000 words); reports on conferences and seminars; announcements of forthcoming events; details of courses, research and work related to development or development studies; articles on the centres pursuing these activities; and information about development education materials, recent publications and other news. Briefing Papers address a wide variety of development-related: issues. They are concise (normally 2,000 to 5,000 words) and accessible to the non-technical reader, and may inclu~.e implications for Australia's foreign development assistance policy. ' : · The Register of Development Research & Expertise (2nd Edition, 1988) contains the names, institutions, research, project experience and publications of people in Australia who are working in development-related research or who have first-hand experience of Third World development issues. Their expertise covers a broad range of disciplines and geographical areas. The Register is indexed by name, institution, discipline, country of expertise and keywords. To obtain the Register, please send a cheque for A$25.00, made out to Bibliotech, to Bibliotech, ANU, Canberra, ACT0200. Correspondence l You may have information you wish to share with others in the development field: conference announcem~nts or reports, notices of new publications, information about the work of your centre or courses you offer, or you m~y ~ish to respond to articles or Briefing Papers. If so, please write to the Editor. ·· If you wish to obtain Network publications or enquire about membership, subscriptions, seminar sponsorship, etc., please write to the Network Director. The address is: Development Bulletin Australian Development Studies Network Australian National University Canberra ACT0200 Tel: (06) 249 2466 Fax: (06) 257 2886 Deadlines Closing dates for submissions to Development Bulletin are mid-November, -February, -May and- August for the January, April, July and October issues respectively. ISSN 1035·1132 Ethics and evelop111ent Discussion series Ethics of development Russell Rollason 4 Ethics and ends Stephen Loosely 6 Passion, judgement and repining restlessnesse in development practice Doug Porter 9 Ethics and the economist Clive Hamilton 11 The trade, environment and development debate: An economist's perspective on the ethics Greg Barrett 12 Human rights and development cooperation: The Australian perspective Gordon Bilney 14 Human rights and family planning Terence and Valerie Hull 17 International law of human rights Beris Gwynne 22 Justice and development: An outline of ethical justifications Noel Preston 24 HIV, law and development: The Asian and African experience Julie Hamblin 27 The right to a healthy environment Kevin Bray 29 Energy technologies, environment and development IanLowe 32 Militarisation and development: The need for a consistent ethical foreign policy Kevin Clements and Wendy Lamboume 35 The ethics of development for women Suzette Mitchell 38 Educational development cooperation, ethics and the role of the consultant Christine Fox 41 A distorted view: Myths and images of developing countries Nora Godwin 44 Australian cultural aid abroad: An ethical responsibility Barrie Reynolds 47 Development Bulletin Interview: The right to development Stuart Harris 49 Ethics and development: The cutting edge of tomorrow's agenda? Joe Remenyi 51 Updates 55 From the press 60 Conferences 65 Publications 77 Courses 91 Resources 94 Apri/1994 Editors notes This issue of Development Bulletin considers the relationship between ethics, development and development assistance. We have brought together contributors from a variety of disciplines and different areas of expertise. They include academics, members of parliament, journalists, human rights lawyers, aid workers and representatives of non government organisations. Human rights is a recurring theme. Briefing paper In the briefing paper, 'Rich and poor', Peter Singer discusses the philosophy of equality as a fundamental ethic for all development assistance. Aid update We provide background information on the structure, role and composition of the new Advisory Council on Aid Policy and on Australian development assistance in the field of HIV I AIDS. WID Update To keep up-to-date with preparations for the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women and the Women's NGO Forum to be held in Beijing next year, we have. included the latest documentation from Canberra, New York and Washington. From the Press We have combed the national and international newspapers, journals and newsletters for snippets of interesting information and comment, outrageous and otherwise, on aid and development. After Gordon Bitney's hard work to increase the aid budget many feel a bit blue about the cuts. Conferences As usual, we provide reports on important development conferences and information on future conferences both in Australia and overseas. Suzette Mitchell and Helen Hill provide reports on recent women in development conferences in Washington and Manila. Please mark your diary - the Network is holding a symposium, 'Teaching for Development', 23-24 September, 1994, at the Australian National University. Write or phone for further information. Bulletin format To make the Bulletin more attractive and easier to read Mark Kelly has helped us to change the format. We hope you like it. AIDAB assistance The Network gratefully acknowledges the on-going assistance of AIDAB in publishing the Development Bulletin. AIDAB has also assisted the Network publish the book Retrospective on Australian Aid. It is now available. Good reading and we look forward to seeing you in September, Pamela Thomas, Elaine Bliss, Rafat Hussain 2 Development Bulletin 30 Ethics and development Ethics, and the relationship between ethics, development and development assistance are issues that are seldom openly discussed and more seldom written about. Yet, ethical concerns of one kind or another underly much of Australia's development assistance policy and practice. The following papers provide open and informed discussion on the subject and attempt to provoke wider interest in what should be of primary concern to those establishing development policy and those providing and receiving development assistance. At a time when the Australian Government has cut the aid budget, Peter Singer considers how ethical it is for rich countries not to give greater assistance to the poorer. He poses the philosophical question of whether it is the moral equivalent of murder for affluent countries and/or individuals not to provide assistance to those who are starving and thus allow them to die. He raises the question of whether we have an obligation to assist poor countries whose governments have policies that make our aid ineffective. Moral responsibilities to assist the very poor are also taken up by Noel Preston. Changes in the international Code of Ethics established by non government organisations are discussed by Russell Rollason who also raises the ethical question of what donor countries should do when aid money is misused by recipient governments. Stephen Loosely argues that ethical considerations, most particularly those relating to human rights, are given priority in the Labour Government's aid deliberations and that these issues influence practice. He provides case studies of Australian relations with Burma, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. Gordon Bilney discusses conditionality of development assistance and the relationship between good governance, conditionality and human rights. The divide between rational economic thought and the ethics of conservation are discussed by Clive Hamilton, a theme which is also taken up by Greg Barrett. Both arrived at the conclusion, albeit by different routes, that economics is not the value-free objective science that it is often claimed to be and that this has ethical implications. Ian Lowe considers the ethics of energy use and supply. Terry and Valerie Hull review the international debate on human rights and family planning - an issue that is topical in Australia at the moment following the completion of the Independent Inquiry into Population and Development commissioned by the Australian Government. Beris Gwynne provides information on the role of international law in supporting human rights .. Global militarisation and its impact on the right to development is discussed by Kevin Clements and Wendy Lambourne who argue that if the right to development is a positive right, then there is an infringement of rights if appropriate aid and development assistance is not forthcoming. Christine Fox reviews the ethics involved the provision of training by Australian consultants and N6ra Godwin considers the ethical questions of global information technologies and their portrayal of developing countries. The philosphy of equality has dominated development assistance ideology for the last 25 years, however development practice has often resulted in growing inequalities. The very poor, most particularly women have often been bypassed. The ethics