Statement: China on behalf of the Like Minded Group
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of 29 Like Minded Countries (see annex).
The Right to Development is a comprehensive right involving all human rights that are mutually interdependent. It is the coordinated development of all human rights, an organic unity of rights and duties, and an important precondition to the free and full development of human beings. 30 years after the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development, the implementation of the Right to Development falls far short of expectations. To eliminate the obstacles of implementation, the right to development should be fully recognized as a primary, inalienable and fundamental human right; threats of wars and external aggression should be avoided; the unjust and inequitable international political and economic order should be reformed.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly sets forth in “Our shared principles and commitments” that the Agenda is informed by the Declaration on the Right to Development and other instruments. The goals and targets of the Agenda, including those related to sustained and inclusive economic growth, social development, environmental protection and eradication of poverty and hunger, are all closely linked to the right to development, and provide valuable platforms for putting this right into practice. These goals and targets should be implemented in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. Countries should identify their most pressing needs and priorities of development, and formulate their development strategies and plans with concrete implementation measures in light of their national conditions, and on the basis of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. We should persist in innovation, build new development mechanisms and break new grounds in science and technologies.
In the context of economic globalization, international cooperation should be the strategic foundation of the implementation of the right to development. All countries should abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, embrace a new spirit of shared destiny for all, and build a new type of international relations based on win-win cooperation. Developed countries should fulfill their international obligations, by providing financial, technical and capacity building support to developing and least developed countries. These countries should endeavor to promote South-South Cooperation.
UN human rights mechanisms should earnestly fulfill their mandates set out by the UN General Assembly, take as its priority the promotion and protection of the implementation of the right to development, promote effective work by the UN system in mainstreaming the right to development, so as to enhance balanced and sustainable development of all people.
Annex: Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Cuba, DPRK, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe
