This document discusses Amartya Sen's concept of capabilities approach to human rights and human development. It defines basic human capabilities as including nourishment, health, mobility, education, and participation. These capabilities are important for human development because lacking them can hinder one's potential. The UNDP's Human Development Reports measure countries' developmental progress based on categories like health, education, and living standards, demonstrating how capabilities are incorporated into assessing human development.

1. Mario Fernando Miralles II
May 18th, 2015
The Concept of Capabilities Approach
What do we perceive when we envision the word humanity? What are humans
immediately associated with at the thought of the word? Do we picture peace and cooperation?
Do we imagine violence and war? Do we see intelligence, reason, creativity, language, and
civilization? These are the questions that need to be asked upon examining the concepts of
human rights and human capabilities.
Amartya Sen’s journal “Human Rights and Capabilities” provided us with an observation
on how the two can overlap and assist each other but also that they should not be considered in
the same category as they also have their differences. This journal provided the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) a foundation for measuring human development through
indices which advanced our understanding of human income, health, and education around the
world. In this paper I will provide what those human rights are and what the most basic
capabilities are as outlined by Sen. I will also demonstrate why these capabilities are important in
determining human development. Last, I will show how the Human Development Reports
incorporate the concept of capabilities as they measure human development.
I’d like to begin by analyzing the definition of the word humane. It stems from the word
humanity and is characterized as “tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals,
especially for the suffering and distressed” (dictionary.com). With this point of view in mind Sen
claims that the most basic capabilities should begin with a list that recognizes “the freedom to be
well nourished, to live disease-free lives, to be able to move around, to be educated, [and] to
participate in public life” (158). Sen makes it clear that this list does not have to be concrete and

2. could be altered and improved on the basis of changes in our society. Nevertheless, this is a great
starting point in identifying what basic human capabilities should be comprised of.
Furthermore, Sen questions as to whether there is some sort of universal understanding of
these rights and capabilities. Can we all have a universally unified view on what these human
capabilities should be comprised of or are there “uncrossable barriers” between the values of
different cultures? This is certainly an issue in very religious societies where the roles of women
are undermined by the male perspective of superiority. This is explained in Martha Nussbaum’s
publication Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach where she identifies
that treating women as equals in social and political life is implausible if they are groomed by
society to view them as things for men to use (244). Women in these societies will never have a
voice or status and will never be able to represent half of a population because of the lack of
capabilities afforded to them.
The importance of basic human needs is essential for growth. Capabilities are significant
in determining human development simply because we, as humans, will never be able to reach
our full potential in society if our most basic needs are not met. Not being able to satisfy our
needs because of a lack of resources or by restrictions placed in our society can severely hinder
this capacity. Picture a willingly able and productive citizen of a lesser developed country that is
unexpectedly injured on the job or a city full of children eager to read and write with no access to
an educational facility. Human development is increasingly diminished by the absence of these
resources and by a deprivation of human rights.
This can be observed through the UNDP’s Human Development Report. This report
records data among the nations of the world and compares their developmental progress by
observing a few categories such as economic risks, inequality, health risks, environment and

3. natural disasters, food insecurity, and physical insecurity. There have been improvements as
characterized in the report since its initial recordings in the year 1990. However, evidence of the
same data is showing that a slowdown in development is emerging (Page 34, Fig. 2.1). The
report also compares and contrasts nations ranging from the very high to the very low levels of
human development and also takes advantage of the Gross National Income (GNI) of a given
country in determining its rank in the world. This could be a very useful national and
international tool for leaders in identifying what works, what does not work, and what needs to
be done.
Conclusion
We can see the potential that comes with the concept of capabilities. Women are a great
example in our country of the power that providing basic capabilities has such as Hillary
Clinton’s bid for President of the United States (Kreutz & Falcone, “Hillary Clinton Running for
President in 2016 as a ‘Champion’ for ‘Everyday Americans”). This is a stark contrast from a
country like Saudi Arabia where women are not even allowed to drive a car (Jamjoom, “Why
Saudi Arabia can’t ban women from driving forever”). How would a restriction like that affect
the women of America in our society? Think about all of the advances of our country and ask
yourself: how have basic capabilities allowed us to prosper in this country and what are some
new issues in 2015 that should be added into our understanding of these capabilities?

4. References
Dictionary.com. Definition: Humane. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/humane
Jamjoom, Mohammed (2013-10-25). “Why Saudi Arabia can't ban women from driving
forever”. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/25/world/meast/saudi-women-drivers-jamjoom/.
CNN. Web.
Kreutz, Liz & Falcone, Michael (2015-04-12). “Hillary Clinton Running for President in 2016 as
a ‘Champion’ for ‘Everyday Americans”. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-
running-president-2016/story?id=30249640. ABC News. Web.
Nussbaum, M. 2000. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge:
University Press.
Sen, A. 2005. “Human Rights and Capabilities.” Journal of Human Development and
Capabilities 6(2): 155-66.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2014. Human Development Report 2014.
http://issuu.com/undp/docs/hdr14-report-en?e=3183072/9245907. UNDP-HDRO. New
York. Web.