Statement to the seventy-second session of the General Assembly by Mr. Saad Alfarargi, Special Rapporteur on the right to development

New York, 17 October 2017

Madam Chairperson, distinguished delegates, representatives of the United Nations and the NGO community,

I am honoured to be with you today in my capacity as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to development. I have accepted the appointment of the Human Rights Council to serve in this capacity with a deep sense of commitment and responsibility to pursue the objectives and deliver the expected outcomes of the mandate which the Council has entrusted to me. Thank you also for the honour, privilege and opportunity given to me today, to share with this distinguished gathering, my vision and plan for the implementation of my mandate.

While, in its resolution 33/14, the Human Rights Council decided for a first time to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the right to development, the right to development has a rich institutional history. The right to development was first mentioned in 1966, when then-Foreign Minister of Senegal, Doudou Thiam, referred to the right to development of the “Third World” before the General Assembly. Reflecting on the decades of failure of States to meet the goals of the first United Nations Development Decade, he linked that failure to the failure of newly decolonized States to resolve the growing economic imbalance between the developing and developed worlds. The Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the General Assembly on 4 December 1986, is built on the edifice of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and was adopted with the great majority of States supporting it.  The right to development was reaffirmed in 1992 in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, in which it is stated that the right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations. In paragraph 10 of part I of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by consensus in 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights reaffirmed the right to development as a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of fundamental human rights.

In 2015, the right to development was also explicitly recognized in four key internationally agreed policy documents: the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development; the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030; “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which included the Sustainable Development Goals; and the Paris Agreement on climate change. These documents have become part of the policy and normative foundation of my mandate.

A number of distinguished international bodies have played a central role in the evolution of the right to development, such as: the Open-ended Working Group of Governmental Experts on the right to development (1993-1995); the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on the right to development (1996-1997); the Intergovernmental Open-ended Working Group on the right to development (1998-present). The Independent Expert on the right to development (1998-2003) and the High-level Task Force (2004-2010) provided substantive inputs to the work of the Working Group.

Madam Chairperson,

More than 30 years after the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development, the right to development is far from being universally recognised and even further from its full implementation. The right to development is not just a declaration or a topic for political debate within the United Nations or academic and political forums. The reality outside these forums is that of billions of people who are in need of improvements in their lives and who are entitled to have their human rights, including the right to development, realized. The particular value of the right to development is that it shifts the focus away from statistics and goods to the well-being of people. Only when people have access to education, when they are allowed to work in a profession of their choice, when they have access to financial services, health care and housing, when they can fully and fairly participate in shaping the policies that govern their lives, only then are they able to lead their lives to their full potential. To recall the words of the Declaration (article 1.1), this would only be possible when every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy development in its economic, social, cultural and political dimensions.

There is an urgent need to reinvigorate the advocacy process for the implementation of the right to development. Business as usual will not be sufficient to achieve progress.

When establishing my mandate, the Human Rights Council emphasized the urgent need to make the right to development a reality for everyone. I see my role as ensuring that the right to development remains a focus in the global discourse on the post-2015 development agenda. I will work to ensure that the right to development, and indeed all human rights, are recognized as an integral part of the sustainable development discourse, while emphasizing that development should happen in accordance with human rights principles and with the goal of achieving the realization of the right to development for all, rather than simply for economic growth. While economic growth is important, it is a quantitative and value-neutral concept that can have both negative and positive impacts on people’s lives. Development, on the other hand, is a qualitative concept; including the human rights dimension is crucial to assessing the actual success of human development. Accordingly, the vision contained in the Declaration on the Right to Development, namely that it entitles everyone to participate in, contribute to and enjoy development in its economic, social, cultural and political dimensions, must be the guiding force in the implementation of the post-2015 development framework.  

On the basis of Resolution 33/14, I have identified several major areas of focus that I would like to develop in the course of my mandate.
         
First, I intend to focus on working to remove structural obstacles to the implementation of the right to development, such as politicisation, leading to a lack of sufficient momentum in the intergovernmental debate at the relevant United Nations forums and low level of engagement of United Nations agencies and civil society in promoting, protecting and fulfilling the right to development. The right to development is facing numerous other adverse trends, such as the global financial and economic crisis, the energy and climate crisis, the increasing number of natural disasters, the new global pandemics, the increase in automation in many sectors, corruption, illicit financial flows, the privatization of public services, austerity and other measures and the ageing of the global population, including in developing countries. I intend to contribute to addressing these challenges by assessing national and international development policies and providing recommendations on fostering effective international cooperation, including in relation to financing for development, as reflected in the Addis Ababa processes.
         
Second, I will aim to develop a constructive dialogue and consult with States and other relevant stakeholders to identify, exchange and promote good practices relating to the realization of the right to development in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change. At the present stage, I have not yet developed benchmarks to assess, measure and compare what qualitatively could be considered good practices. I will further consult stakeholders in this respect. During my dialogue with the Human Rights Council last month, I informed the distinguished delegates that I endeavour to organise several regional consultations, in order to identify good practices in the integration of the right to development in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the Paris Agreement on climate change.  I was extremely pleased to learn that, in its Resolution 36/21, the Council requested me to hold consultations with States and regional consultations on the implementation of the right to development. I count on your support in implementing this difficult task. I have also issued a call for submissions, seeking to collect existing good practices on the implementation of the right to development in the context of the 2015 internationally agreed policy documents, to inform the future work of my mandate.

A third area of focus will be exploring practical measures and providing recommendations for the realization of the right to development at the national and international levels. I am mandated to contribute to the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the right to development in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and other internationally agreed outcomes of 2015, and to this effect engage with Member States and other stakeholders and participate in relevant international meetings and conferences. I will also seek ways to engage with the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). In that context I will examine and evaluate the outcomes of the 2030 Agenda, but also the processes that lead to the above outcomes, with particular attention paid to ensuring the participation of all relevant stakeholders.
         
I am further mandated to contribute to the work of the Working Group on the Right to Development, with a view to supporting the accomplishment of its overall mandate, taking into account, inter alia, the deliberations and recommendations of the Working Group, while avoiding any duplication. I will aim to implement this mandate by providing input to the discussions on finalizing the consideration of the criteria and operational sub-criteria in relation to the elaboration of a comprehensive and coherent set of standards for the implementation of the right to development. I already participated in informal consultations with the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group, representatives of the participating States and civil society organizations and I am continuing to assess how best to carry out this task. I was invited to participate in the next meeting of the Working Group and to conduct an interactive dialogue on modalities for contributing to the work of the Working Group. I also endeavour to use in my work, as a basis for my efforts to move forward the implementation of the right to development, the agreed conclusions of the Working Group. This is going to be a good example of synergies in the work of Special procedures and other mechanisms.

Madam Chairperson,
         
This is my first report to the General Assembly of the United Nations and I have the honour to submit it only a few months after my appointment. A month ago, I presented my vision for the implementation of my mandate to the United Nations Human Rights Council. I was very much encouraged by the reaction of the distinguished delegates and the representatives of the civil society to my initial report. That being said, I am very much aware of the complexities and sensitivities that surround the debate on the right to development. I am also aware of the need to avoid duplication of work being done throughout the United Nations system and to ensure synchronicity and consistency in all activities. The present report contains an initial overview of the main focus areas I would like to address in the course of my mandate. I do not know at this stage if I will have the capacity to address all these issues in full detail, or if I will confine myself only to these issues, as this will also depend upon resources and opportunities.
         
I am, however, looking forward to receiving feedback from the distinguished delegates of the Third Committee, as well as from other relevant stakeholders, including think tanks, civil society organisations, development practitioners and universities. I also look forward to working together with relevant special procedure mandate holders, especially those working on mandates closely related to the right to development.

In conclusion, I would like to stress that an effective discharge of this mandate will only be possible with the full cooperation of Member States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, and with adequate support from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

I thank you all for your kind attention.