The First Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development - Opening statement by Mr. Todd Howland, Chief, Development, Economic and Social Issues Branch

Tuesday, 23 June 2020, 11:00-13:00 (EDT)/17:00-19:00 (CEST)

Virtual private meeting

Distinguished experts,

It gives me great pleasure to deliver opening remarks at this first session of this new Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development.

It is unfortunate that under the present circumstances it was not possible to hold a more conventional in-person session, which would have allowed for broad participation, a key component of the right to development.

I am impressed by all you have achieved since you started to operate, in particular under the prevailing circumstances and I would like to congratulate the Chair-Designate for his able stewardship of the group so far and all of you for your selection and appointment to serve as the first members on this important mechanism.

I am particularly pleased by the overall vision you adopted and the proposed thematic studies.

It is so important that we move beyond rhetoric and ideological debates to concrete analysis and identification of practical solutions. The human rights movement is often criticized for not offering concrete answers to the many problems humanity faces. Your work in identifying obstacles and policy recommendations to operationalize the right to development, to reinvigorate and mainstream it and to empower social movements to more effectively use it as an analytical and powerful advocacy tool is therefore of utmost importance.

This will also help to dispel the many myths and futile controversies that have plagued the intergovernmental debates surrounding the right to development since way too long.

You are starting an exciting journey at a challenging time. Even without the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was not on track to achieve the 2030 Development Agenda, and the social and economic impact of the pandemic will further derail our efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals. The impact affects all countries, both developed and developing. Yet, most developing countries in particular do not have sufficient financial resources to mitigate the consequences of the economic recession and adopt powerful recovery measures, with the result of leaving millions of people further behind.

We need to get the development model right and address increasing inequalities, unemployment, in particular youth unemployment and the climate, environment and biodiversity disasters, just to mention a few of the burning issues.

Ultimately, we are facing a crisis of governance at multiple levels and the shortcomings of global governance are without doubt major stumbling blocks to the realization of all human rights and in particular of the right to development.

The right to development has by now a quite lengthy history within the United Nations. From having been mentioned the first time by the then Foreign Minister of Senegal in the general debate of the General Assembly in 1966 to the first inclusion in a resolution of the Commission on Human Rights in 1977 to the present, quite a few mechanisms have been dedicated to this right. Despite the considerable age of the right, it is still young, compared to many others and the normative development and application is still growing.

Next to this Expert Mechanism, the Intergovernmental Working Group and Special Rapporteur on the right to development deal at present exclusively with this right. It is also important in the work of other human rights mechanisms. It is therefore particularly important to ensure close collaboration and complementarity between the various mechanisms.

As you are aware, the right to development is not only the only right explicitly mentioned in the mandate of the High Commissioner, we also have a specific work programme and section dealing with this right. Given the breadth of its reach, the right to development is also relevant to the work of other parts of the Office and we are very pleased that this is an area receiving increasingly attention and demand, including at the country level.

Your guidance will therefore be most important and appreciated to the operationalization and realization of this right.

I thank you and wish you a successful work.