The First Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development - Statement by Mr. Bonny Ibhawoh, Chair of the EMRTD

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

Virtual private meeting

Thank you very much colleagues for having the confidence in me to elect me as the chair of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. I am honoured to work with such a distinguished group. We have had meetings up until now and it has been very rewarding being part of the conversations on how to make the right to development real.

In our conversations we have come up with two overarching themes that will guide our work within the context of our mandate of the Human Rights Commission. The first one is to reinvigorate and mainstream the right to development. As we have just heard from Mr Howland, the right to development is an old right but is one that has not really gained the kind of the attention that it deserves. We have an opportunity here to build on what has been done by others over the years in order to strengthen this right.

The second overarching theme is to empower civil society and grass-root organisations to use the right to development in their work.

I look forward to working with colleagues in this mechanism. I am particularly excited with the depth and breadth of thematic studies proposed. There is indeed a challenge that we face regarding the lack of secretariat support. That would be essential for the success of this Mechanism. We hope that a solution will be found so that we can continue enthusiastically with the work we set out for ourselves.

I hope we can continue with the progressive and fruitful deliberations we had so far.

Thank you.