Media advisories Special Procedures

UN expert on right to development to visit Albania

17 May 2022

GENEVA (17 May 2022) - The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development Saad Alfarargi, will conduct an official visit to Albania from 23 May to 1 June 2022 to assess the country’s efforts to integrate the right to development into its domestic policies.

“I look forward to meeting Government representatives and other stakeholders who are working towards implementing sustainable development goals and promoting the realisation of the right to development,” Alfarargi said.

It will be the Special Rapporteur’s third country visit since his appointment by the UN Human Rights Council in 2017. During his visit to Albania, Alfarargi will examine how the government promotes and guarantees effective popular participation and accountability in the development process. The UN expert will also assess compliance with the right to development in the Albanian Government’s response and recovery action related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The right to development is focused on inclusiveness, promotion of equality and equitable sharing of the benefits of economic growth and development,” Alfarargi said. “The right to development also requires that development initiatives are sustainable and integrate environmental and climate-related concerns,” he said.

The expert said he was aiming to help the Government strengthen its legislation, policies and practices in accordance with the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development.

Alfarargi will meet with public officials, international development actors and civil society representatives in Tirana and Elbasan during his visit.

The Special Rapporteur will present his preliminary observations during a press conference on 1 June 2022 at 2 PM local time at Rogner Hotel in Tirana. It will be strictly limited to journalists.

Alfarargi will present a report on his visit to the Human Rights Council in September 2022.

Mr. Saad Alfarargi (Egypt) was designated as the first Special Rapporteur on the right to development by the Human Rights Council in 2017. Mr. Alfarargi served as Ambassador and Permanent Observer of League of Arab States to the United Nations and International Organizations in Geneva (1998-2012), Regional Director for Arab States, Assistant Administrator, UNDP, New York (1995-1997), Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Chief of the President Office for Economic Affairs, Cairo (1992-1995), Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations and International Organizations in Geneva. He holds BSc. and MSc. in Political Science from Cairo University, and a degree in International Relations, from the London School of Economics.

The Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, Country Page — Albania

For more information and press inquiries, please contact: in Albania, Mr. Guri Daco, (+355 (4) 2276619/+355 69 2223999/guri.daco@un.org ); in Geneva: Ms Antoanela Pavlova (antoanela.pavlova@un.org) or write to hrc-sr-development@un.org.

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Mr. Jeremy Laurence (+41 22 917 9383/ jeremy.laurence@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.

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