For over 40 years, multilateral development banks (MDBs) have wrestled with the role that human rights should play in their work. The factors impacting that debate have remained the same, but the world has changed. MDBs have transformed their core missions, and legal interpretations of the relevant clauses of their foundational charters have evolved. MDBs are under increasing pressure to respond to calls for greater engagement in human rights. The issue is the extent to which human rights could and should be included in their core agendas. The moral imperative of including human rights in development work gained prominence four decades ago. But it was only recently that economists concluded that the advancement of human rights also contributes to economic development. MDBs, however, remain hesitant to include human rights among the key objectives of development, and continue to rely on traditional economic measures... — blog.adb.org/blogs