The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) met on 13 September 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the report of the 14th session of the Intergovernmental Open-Ended Working Group on the Right to Development.
The meeting marked the beginning of the Council's general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
13 September 2013: The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) met on 13 September 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the report of the 14th session of the Intergovernmental Open-Ended Working Group on the Right to Development. The meeting marked the beginning of the Council’s general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
Working Group Chairperson-Rapporteur Tamara Kunanayakam (Sri Lanka) said the Working Group, which met in May 2013, had completed a first reading of draft operational sub-criteria for “comprehensive, human-centered development policy,” and had considered adding further material. She highlighted the need to reach agreement on whether the Working Group should devise indicators to help progress toward implementing the Declaration on the Right to Development. She announced that the 15th session of the Working Group will take place from 12-16 May 2014.
The Working Group report notes that 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration adopted at the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and that the post-2015 development process is an important opportunity to realize the right to development.
At the May 2013 Working Group meeting, the US and Australia expressed concern about creating a new international mechanism. Switzerland said the right to development could bring human rights and development together, highlighting the importance of a global partnership for development. China said the right to development is an inalienable human right, and called on the international community to improve mechanisms of global governance. Algeria, Cuba, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa and Venezuela called for a binding instrument, with Senegal recommending the right to development be given a high profile in the post-2015 development agenda. [Publication: Report of the Working Group on the Right to Development on its fourteenth session] [HRC Meeting Summary] [Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action] [HRC Website]