Concept Note on Panel Discussion on Right to Development at the Human Rights Council

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights prepared a Concept Note on the panel discussion held during the 32^nd  Session of the Human Rights Council, in order to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development.  The Concept Note includes a useful background as well as a list of reference documents.  Below is the Concept Note.  

Date and venue: Wednesday, 15 June 2016, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Palais des Nations, Room XX , Geneva

(will be broadcast live and archived on http://webtv.un.org)

Objective: To increase awareness among all stakeholders, including Member States, relevant bodies of the United Nations system, United Nations specialized agencies, funds and programmes, in particular human rights mechanisms, as well as the international financial and trade institutions, of the distinct role and intrinsic value of the right to development as an inalienable and independent human right by virtue of which all human rights can be fully realized and all people can enjoy economic, social, cultural, and political rights. This discussion will focus on the promotion and protection of the right to development including in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 17, and in this context, to generate policy recommendations and practical measures for making the right to development a reality for everyone.

The debate will be guided by the following questions:

1. How can the United Nations system, in particular human rights mechanisms, contribute to the implementation and realization of the right to development?
2. How can the United Nations system help to overcome the existing challenges around the right to development as an independent and distinct right?
3. What role can international cooperation play in the realization of the objectives enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development?
4. How can the implementation of the 2030 Agenda contribute to the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development, with a view to achieving inclusive, equitable and sustainable development for all?
5. How can the right to development be operationalized to create an environment conducive to achieving the SDGs, in particular Goal 17 on strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development?
6. What ways and means can be pursued to integrate, claim and build capacity on the right to development among all stakeholders?

Chair: H.E. Mr. Choi Kyonglim, President of the Human Rights Council

Video screening: The panel will open with a video produced by OHCHR to mark the 30^th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development

Opening statement: Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Moderator: H.E. Mr. Amr Ramadan, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva

Panellists: Ms. Flavia Piovesan, Secretary for Human Rights at the Ministry of Justice of Brazil, and Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo

H.E. Mr. Wayne McCook, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations  Office  and other international organizations in Geneva

Mr. Mihir Kanade, Head of the Department of International Law and Human Rights and Director of the Human Rights Centre, United Nations-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE), San Jose, Costa Rica

Mr. Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre, Geneva

Outcome: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will prepare a summary report on the panel discussion for submission to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-third session.

Mandate: In paragraph 3 of its resolution 31/4, the Human Rights Council decided to convene, at its thirty-second session, a panel discussion on the promotion and protection of the right to development, as part of the celebrations of the thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. In paragraph 4, the Council invited the High Commissioner to liaise with States and all stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, treaty bodies, special procedure mandate holders, national human rights institutions and civil society, with a view to ensuring their participation in the panel discussion.

Background: Some progress has been made in global efforts towards realising the vision of the 1986 United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development¹ (‘the Declaration’). Yet, progress has been uneven, particularly for people in Africa, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing States.² Globally, persistent poverty and rising inequalities remain among the many interconnected threats to peace and security, human rights and development. Consequently, the global commitment to “making the right to development a reality for everyone”³ in the Millennium Declaration remains unfulfilled in several respects.

The year 2015 provided momentum for realizing the vision of the Declaration on the Right to Development. The commitments made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (AAAA) and the Paris Climate Agreement gave new impetus to its vision. The 2030 Agenda sets out a transformative vision for people and planet-centred, human rights-based, and gender-sensitive sustainable development. The successful implementation of this Agenda requires an enabling environment at both national and international levels. The Declaration on the Right to Development provides a normative framework for such an environment: grounded in development, peace and security and human rights. The 2030 Agenda “is informed by the Declaration on the Right to Development.”⁴

The Declaration proclaimed development to be a right, with active, free and meaningful participation in development and fair distribution of its benefits. It places on States and on the international community duties to make national and international development policies aimed at the constant improvement of human well-being and to cooperate to ensure development and eliminate obstacles to development. It supports peace and disarmament; upholds the right to self-determination and to full sovereignty over all natural wealth and resources; and makes equality of opportunity for development ‘a prerogative both of nations and of individuals who make up nations.’⁵ The Declaration underlines that steps should be taken at both the international and national level, to ensure the full exercise and progressive enhancement of the right to development, including the formulation, adoption and implementation of policy, legislative and other measures.⁶

The 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action recognized that lasting progress towards the implementation of the right to development requires effective development policies at the national level, as well as equitable economic relations and a favourable economic environment at the international level. It also reaffirmed that the right to development should be fulfilled so as to meet equitably the developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations.⁷

The 2030 Agenda aims “to leave no one behind.” It includes a key commitment to “reaching the furthest behind first” by ensuring that SDGs and targets are met “for all nationals and peoples and for all segments of society”. This is encapsulated in SDG 5 on “Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls” and SDG 10 on “Reducing inequalities within and between countries”.

Together with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, Goal 17 on “Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development” provides new ground for realizing the right to development. The vision of the Declaration must be the guiding force in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the AAAA. The SDGs can be realized only through a credible, effective and universal commitment to the means of implementation by all stakeholders. Goal 17 and a number of targets under the other 16 Goals address a range of financial and other means of implementation which are critical for the achievement of the SDGs and the realization of the right to development.

Background materials:

• 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development
• 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
• Consolidated report of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner on the right to development (A/HRC/30/22)
• Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (General Assembly resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015)
• 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development
• 2015 Paris Climate Agreement
• Report of the Secretary-General on critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level (A/70/684)
• Frequently Asked Questions on the Right to Development (Fact Sheet No. 37)
• OHCHR video marking the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development

End notes:

¹ General Assembly resolution 41/128.

² Para. 16, General Assembly resolution 70/1, ‘Transforming our world: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

³ Para. 11, General Assembly resolution 55/2.

⁴ Para. 10, General Assembly resolution 70/1 (2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development).

⁵ Preamble, Declaration on the Right to Development.

⁶ Article 10, Declaration on the Right to Development.

⁷ Principle 3, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (A/CONF.151/26); and paragraph 11, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (A/CONF.157/23).