INTEGRAÇÃO REGIONAL COMO ELEMENTO DE GARANTIA DO DIREITO HUMANO AO DESENVOLVIMENTO: PERCEPÇÕES A PARTIR DO EXEMPLO DA EAST AFRICAN COMMUNIT

Abstract

The present work has the general objective of verifying the degree of importance that Regional Integration assumes in guaranteeing the Human Right to Development. It is also intended to verify whether the East African Community integration process produced guarantees on the Right to Development in its member states. The theoretical basis to prosecute at such principles consists of, starting from the delimitation of the concepts of development and regional integration and the scientific debate on such matters, verifying whether the key documents of the East African Community integration process manage to guarantee or put into effect the right human development. Thus, at first, the transition from the Right to Development was presented, another matter strictly related to International Law, perceived by an economic bias, to the place of Human Law, perceived as a series of aspects, both psychological and sociopolitical, as well as ecological. In the meantime, the origins of different notions about development are presented. Afterwards, the concept of Integration was discussed and, consequently, the perception about what is Regional Integration, and then present the historical process of formation of the East African Community. Once the concept of development and the concept of regional integration had been delimited, the key documents of the East African Community were recognized, and, after a brief analysis of its provisions, the degree of guarantees and the implementation of dictates related to the right to development are measured. Finally, it is concluded, based on the proposed theory and the documents mentioned, that regional integration only assumes a crucial role in guaranteeing and realizing the human right to development from the moment that it constitutes a community law, with a set of bodies endowed of suprastate authority that bind the national laws of the Member States in order to implement provisions related to the obligation of actions that guarantee the right to development in all its nuances.