The Right to Development

A/HRC/RES/21/32View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2012.

What else is in this group?

49 documents · 2000–2026

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2026).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	A/HRC/RES/63/3	The right to development	3,367	–
2025	A/RES/80/207	The right to development	5,093	–
2025	A/HRC/RES/60/7	The right to development	3,357	–
2024	A/RES/79/170	The right to development	5,367	–
2024	A/HRC/RES/57/19	The right to development	3,234	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 subjects

Human Rights Inter-Agency Cooperation Right to Development

What’s in this document?

18 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the consolidated report of the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to development,⁴ which provided information on the activities undertaken by the Office of the High Commissioner relating to the promotion and realization of the right to development in the period from December 2011 to June 2012;

⁴A/HRC/21/28.

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to submit to the Human Rights Council an annual report on its activities, including on inter-agency coordination within the United Nations system with regard to the promotion and realization of the right to development;

Takes note of the efforts under way in the framework of the Working Group on the Right to Development, with a view to completing the tasks entrusted to it by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 4/4, in fulfilment of the Working Group’s mandate as established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1998/72 of 22 April 1998;

Welcomes the launching in the Working Group of the process of considering, revising and refining the draft right to development criteria and corresponding operational sub-criteria,⁵ with the first reading of the draft criteria;

⁵See A/HRC/15/WG.2/TF/2/Add.2.

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Working Group on its thirteenth session;⁶

⁶A/HRC/21/19.

Recalls that the Working Group, at its thirteenth session, had before it two documents containing detailed views and comments on the draft criteria and operational sub-criteria,⁷ submitted by Governments, groups of Governments, regional groups and other relevant stakeholders, including United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and institutions, as well as other relevant multilateral institutions and forums, in fulfilment of the conclusions and recommendations agreed at its twelfth session;

⁷A/HRC/WG.2/13/CRP.1 and 2.

Acknowledges the need to have the contributions of experts and, in this context, re-emphasizes the importance of engaging further and inviting to the fourteenth session of the Working Group experts from relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and institutions, as well as other multilateral institutions and forums, international organizations and other relevant stakeholders;

Also acknowledges the need to further consider, revise and refine the draft criteria and corresponding operational sub-criteria mentioned in paragraph 4 above, as mandated by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 19/34;

Decides:

To continue to act to ensure that its agenda promotes and advances sustainable development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and, in this regard, lead to raising the right to development, as set out in paragraphs 5 and 10 of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, to the same level and on a par with all other human rights and fundamental freedoms;

That the criteria and corresponding operational sub-criteria mentioned in paragraph 4 above, once considered, revised and endorsed by the Working Group, should be used, as appropriate, in the elaboration of a comprehensive and coherent set of standards for the implementation of the right to development;

That the Working Group shall take appropriate steps to ensure respect for and practical application of the above-mentioned standards, which could take various forms, including guidelines on the implementation of the right to development, and evolve into a basis for consideration of an international legal standard of a binding nature through a collaborative process of engagement;

To endorse the recommendations of the Working Group as reflected in its report on its thirteenth session;⁸

⁸A/HRC/21/19, para. 47.

To convene a two-day informal intersessional intergovernmental meeting of the Working Group with the participation of States, groups of States and relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and institutions, as well as other multilateral institutions and forums, and international organizations and other relevant stakeholders, with a view to improve the effectiveness of the Working Group at its fourteenth session;

To consider the extension of the meeting time of the Working Group, as appropriate;

Encourages the High Commissioner to pursue her efforts, in fulfilment of her mandated responsibility, to enhance support for the promotion and protection of the realization of the right to development, taking as reference the Declaration on the Right to Development, all resolutions of the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council on the right to development, and agreed conclusions and recommendations of the Working Group;

Encourages relevant bodies of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates, including United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies, relevant international organizations, including the World Trade Organization and relevant stakeholders, including civil society organizations, to contribute further to the work of the Working Group and to cooperate with the High Commissioner in the fulfilment of her mandate with regard to the implementation of the right to development;

Decides to review the progress of the implementation of the present resolution, as a matter of priority, at its future sessions.

  The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of the Council on its twenty-first session (A/HRC/21/2), chap. I.

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