Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
Working group on the Right to Development
About the mandate
The Working Group was established by the Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1998/72, and by the Economic and Social Council, in its decision E/DEC/1998/269, to:
- monitor and review progress on promoting and implementing the right to development;
- review information submitted by States, United Nations agencies, and other organisations on the relationship between their activities and the right to development;
- present the Commission on Human Rights with a sessional report on its deliberations, including advice to OHCHR regarding the implementation of the right to development; and
- suggest possible programmes of technical assistance at the request of interested countries with the aim of promoting the implementation of the right to development.
The mandate was most recently renewed in General Assembly resolution A/RES/74/152. Read more about the mandate.
About the Working Group
The Working Group meets once a year in Geneva and submits its report to both the Council and the General Assembly. United Nations agencies, other international organisations, as well as civil society representatives may participate as observers in its sessions, which are chaired by the annually elected Chair-Rapporteur.
Current Chair-Rapporteur
In 2015, Ambassador Akram was elected Chair-Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council Working Group on the Right to Development. As Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva from 2008 to 2015, Zamir Akram has played a leading role in areas such as Disarmament, Human Rights, Refugees, Humanitarian Affairs, Trade and Development, Intellectual Property, Labour and Health, among others.
Read more about Ambassador Akram and the role of the Chair-Rapporteur
Latest reports
This report contains the draft international covenant on the right to development, submitted by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Development, Zamir Akram, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 51/7. In submitting the draft covenant, the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group recommends to the Human Rights Council that it transmit the draft, together with the commentaries, to the General Assembly and that it recommend that the Assembly, as the appropriate forum, convene an intergovernmental conference, under the auspices of the United Nations, with the mandate to consider the draft international covenant and conclude the text of an international legally binding instrument on the right to development as soon as possible.
The addendum 1 to the report A/HRC/54/50 contains the text of the draft international covenant on the right to development together with commentaries
The addendum 2 to the report A/HRC/54/50 contains the consideration of comments and textual proposals made by delegations prior to, during, and pursuant to the twenty-fourth session of the Working Group to aid the elaboration of the draft international covenant on the right to development together with commentaries. In addition, it contains in its annex the draft text in tracked changes, compared with the second revised text of the draft.
This report covers the proceedings of the 24th session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development. During the session, the Working Group continued to review progress in the implementation of the right to development and held an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right to development and with the Chair of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. Moreover, it considered and conducted intergovernmental negotiations of the second revised text of the draft convention on the right to development.
In its resolution 48/10, the Human Rights Council stressed the importance of constructive engagement at the twenty-second session of the Working Group, which would continue its consideration of the draft convention on the right to development submitted by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group, and requested the Chair-Rapporteur to submit a revised draft convention to the Working Group at its twenty-third session.
Meetings and events
15-19 May 2023, Geneva, PdN, Assembly Hall/Hybrid
24th session of the Working Group on the Right to DevelopmentActivities
24th session of the Working Group on the Right to Development
Opening remarks by Chair-Rapporteur, Ambassador Zamir Akram
15 May 2023
23rd session of the Working Group on the Right to Development
Opening statement by Chair-Rapporteur, Ambassador Zamir Akram
16-20 May 2022