The Right to Development

A/HRC/RES/33/14View 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 2016.

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?

6 subjects

Development Indicators Right to Development Special Rapporteurs Standards Sustainable Development Working Groups

What’s in this document?

26 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;³

³A/HRC/33/31.

Requests the High Commissioner to continue to submit to the Human Rights Council an annual report on the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner, including on inter-agency coordination within the United Nations system that have direct relevance to the realization of the right to development, and to provide an analysis of its implementation, taking into account existing challenges and making recommendations on how to overcome them, in his next annual report;

Urges the High Commissioner to pursue his efforts, in fulfilment of his 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;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner, in the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development, to take sufficient measures to ensure balanced and visible allocation of resources and due attention to ensure the visibility of the right to development by identifying and implementing tangible projects dedicated to the right to development, and to provide regular updates to the Human Rights Council in this regard;

Recognizes the need for renewed efforts towards intensifying deliberations in the Working Group to fulfil, at the earliest, its mandate as established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1998/72 and the Human Rights Council in its resolution 4/4;

Acknowledges the need to strive for greater acceptance, operationalization and realization of the right to development at the international level, while urging all States to undertake at the national level the necessary policy formulation and to institute the measures required for the implementation of the right to development as an integral part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Welcomes the celebrations held in 2016 to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, including the convening of the annual high-level panel discussion on human rights mainstreaming, with the theme “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and human rights, with an emphasis on the right to development” at the thirty-first session of the Human Rights Council, the panel discussion on the promotion and protection of the right to development at the thirty-second session of the Council and the high-level segment of the General Assembly to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, held at the seventy-first session of the Assembly, which provided a unique opportunity to Member States to demonstrate and reiterate their political commitment, accord the right to development the great attention it deserves and to redouble their efforts towards the realization of the right to development;

Also welcomes the report of the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Development on the seventeenth session of the Working Group;⁴

⁴A/HRC/33/45.

Further welcomes the re-election of the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group and the skill with which he led the discussions at the seventeenth session;

Notes the presentation to the Working Group at its seventeenth session of the set of standards for the implementation of the right to development prepared by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group,⁵ which is a useful basis for further deliberations on the implementation and realization of the right to development;

⁵A/HRC/WG.2/17/2.

Requests the Working Group to continue to consider criteria and operational subcriteria with a view to finalizing the text as expeditiously as possible, preferably no later than its nineteenth session;

Requests the High Commissioner to facilitate the participation of experts in the eighteenth session of the Working Group, to provide advice with a view to contributing to discussions on the implementation and realization of the right to development, including the implications of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and looks forward to the possible engagement of the Working Group with the high-level political forum;

Decides:

To continue to act to ensure that its agenda promotes and advances sustainable development and the achievement of the remaining Millennium Development Goals and of the Sustainable 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;

To endorse the recommendations of the Working Group adopted at its seventeenth session;

That the Working Group, taking into account Human Rights Council resolution 9/3, shall finalize consideration of the criteria and operational subcriteria, preferably no later than the nineteenth session of the Working Group, in relation to the elaboration of a comprehensive and coherent set of standards for the implementation of the right to development, and shall also take appropriate steps to ensure respect for the practical application of these 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;

Also decides to appoint, for a period of three years, a Special Rapporteur on the right to development, whose mandate will include:

To contribute to the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the right to development in the context of the coherent and integrated implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other internationally agreed outcomes of 2015, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction,⁶ the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development⁷ and the Paris Agreement on climate change,⁸ and to this effect engage with Member States and other stakeholders and participate in relevant international meetings and conferences;

⁶General Assembly resolution 69/283, annex II.

⁷General Assembly resolution 69/313, annex.

⁸See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex.

To engage and support efforts to mainstream the right to development among various United Nations bodies, development agencies, international development, financial and trade institutions, and to submit proposals aimed at strengthening the revitalized global partnership for sustainable development from the perspective of the right to development;

To contribute to the work of the Working Group 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;

To submit any specific study requested by the Human Rights Council in accordance with its mandate;

To submit an annual report to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly covering all activities relating to the mandate with a view to maximizing the benefits of the reporting process;

Invites all Governments to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the performance of the tasks and duties mandated, including by providing all necessary information requested, and to give due consideration to the recommendations of the mandate holder;

Requests the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to provide the Special Rapporteur with the administrative, logistical and staff support necessary for the implementation of the mandate under the present resolution;

Encourages relevant bodies of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates, including United Nations specialized agencies, funds and programmes, relevant international organizations, including the World Trade Organization and relevant stakeholders, including civil society organizations, to give due consideration to the right to development in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to contribute further to the work of the Working Group, and to cooperate with the High Commissioner and the Special Rapporteur in the fulfilment of their mandates 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.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What else is in this group?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents