The Right to Development

A/HRC/RES/51/7View 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 2022.

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.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2023

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2023	A/HRC/54/38	Right to development report of the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights		A/HRC/RES/51/7

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

International Instruments Right to Development Special Rapporteurs Sustainable Development

What’s in this document?

30 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms its commitment to effectively integrate the right to development into its work and that of its mechanisms in a systematic and transparent manner;

Acknowledges the urgent need to strive for greater acceptance, operationalization and the realization of the right to development at the international level while urging all Member 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;

Also acknowledges the contribution of civil society actors and other stakeholders to the implementation of the right to development, especially at the grass-roots level;

Stresses that South-South cooperation is a complement to North-South cooperation, and hence should not result in the reduction of North-South cooperation or hamper progress in fulfilling existing official development assistance commitments, and encourages Member States and other relevant stakeholders to incorporate the right to development into the design, financing and implementation of cooperation processes;

Calls upon Member States and other relevant stakeholders to take appropriate measures to guarantee fair, transparent, equitable, efficient, universal and timely access to and the distribution of safe, quality, efficacious, effective, accessible and affordable COVID-19 vaccines, and to enable international cooperation;

Welcomes the consolidated report of the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to development;⁴

⁴A/HRC/51/22.

Recognizes that the full-day high-level meeting on the promotion and protection of the right to development, as a celebration of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, to be held at the fifty-second session of the Human Rights Council, presents a significant opportunity for the international community to demonstrate and reiterate its unequivocal commitment to the right to development, recognizing the high profile it deserves and redoubling its efforts to implement this right;

Requests the High Commissioner to continue to submit to the Human Rights Council an annual report on the activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including on inter-agency coordination within the United Nations system that has direct relevance to the realization of the right to development, and to provide an analysis, taking into account existing challenges to the realization of the right to development, and to make recommendations on how to overcome them and concrete proposals for supporting the Working Group on the Right to Development in fulfilling its mandate;

Also requests the High Commissioner to take concrete measures in fulfilment of her mandated responsibility, and to enhance support for the promotion and protection 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;

Urges the Office of the High Commissioner, in the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development, to ensure balanced, efficient and visible allocation of both financial and human resources to the existing mechanisms within the Office, including the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development and the Special Rapporteur on the right to development, for the realization of the right to development, also to ensure the visibility of the right to development by identifying and implementing tangible projects dedicated to the right to development, in collaboration with the Expert Mechanism and the Special Rapporteur, and to provide regular updates to the Human Rights Council in this regard;

Requests the High Commissioner to facilitate the participation of relevant experts in the meetings of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, in order for representatives of relevant international organizations, as well as relevant mandate holders of the Human Rights Council, to contribute to the discussions held at its meetings, as appropriate;

Reiterates the importance of the core principles contained in the conclusions adopted by the Working Group at its third session,⁵ which are congruent with the purpose of international human rights instruments, such as equality, non-discrimination, accountability, participation and international cooperation, as critical to mainstreaming the right to development at the national and international levels, and underlines the importance of the principles of equity and transparency;

⁵E/CN.4/2002/28/Rev.1, sect. VIII.A.

Takes note of the reports of the Working Group on its twenty-second and twenty-third sessions;⁶

⁶A/HRC/51/38 and A/HRC/51/39.

Stresses the importance of the realization of the mandate of the Working Group, and recognizes the need for renewed efforts with a view to overcoming the existing political impasse within the Working Group so that it may fulfil, in a timely manner, its mandate as established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1998/72 and the Human Rights Council in its resolutions 4/4 and 39/9;

Also stresses the importance of constructive engagement at the twenty-fourth session of the Working Group, which will continue its consideration, from its twenty-third session, of the draft convention on the right to development submitted by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group, and requests the Chair-Rapporteur to submit a second revised draft convention to the Working Group at its twenty-fourth session for intergovernmental negotiation and, following that process, to submit the final draft text of the convention on the right to development to the Human Rights Council;

Further stresses that the Working Group will take into account all resolutions on the right to development, in particular Human Rights Council resolutions 9/3 and 42/23 of 27 September 2019;

Requests the High Commissioner to engage experts for their continued provision of necessary advice, input and expertise to the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group in the fulfilment of his mandate and the preparation of the second revised draft of the convention on the right to development, to facilitate the participation of the experts in the twenty-fourth session of the Working Group and to provide advice with a view to contributing to discussions on the elaboration of a draft convention on the right to development, as part of the implementation and realization of the right to development;

Takes note with appreciation of the report of and the thematic study conducted by the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development,⁷ requests the Expert Mechanism to continue to pay particular attention to the international dimension of the right to development, and how this aspect will make the practical implementation of the right to development effective at the international, regional and national levels, and looks forward to the preparation of commentaries on the articles of the Declaration on the Right to Development by the Expert Mechanism;

⁷A/HRC/51/36 and A/HRC/51/37.

Decides to extend for a period of three years the mandate of Special Rapporteur on the right to development, in accordance with the terms set out by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 33/14 of 29 September 2016;

Welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur,⁸ and requests him to continue to pay particular attention to the implementation of the right to development, which facilitates the full enjoyment of human rights, in accordance with his mandate;

⁸A/HRC/51/30.

Also welcomes the work of the Special Rapporteur, in particular the guidelines and recommendations on the practical implementation of the right to development submitted to the Human Rights Council at its forty-second session;⁹

⁹A/HRC/42/38.

Requests the Special Rapporteur and members of the Expert Mechanism to participate in relevant international dialogues and policy forums relating to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including the high-level political forum on sustainable development, financing for development, climate change and disaster risk reduction with a view to enhancing the integration of the right to development in these forums and dialogues, and requests Member States, international organizations, United Nations agencies, regional economic commissions and other relevant organizations to facilitate the meaningful participation of the Special Rapporteur and members of the Expert Mechanism in these forums and dialogues;

Invites the Special Rapporteur to provide advice to Member States, international financial and economic institutions and other relevant entities, the corporate sector and civil society on measures to achieve the goals and targets relating to the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for the full realization of the right to development;

Reiterates its decision to continue to act to ensure that its agenda promotes and advances sustainable development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and in this regard leads 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;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to keep the right to development high on its agenda, to pursue further work in this area in full cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on the right to development and the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development in their activities, and to provide them with all the assistance necessary for the effective fulfilment of their mandates;

Takes note of the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on the biennial panel discussion of the Human Rights Council on the right to development,¹⁰ held at its forty-fifth session;

¹⁰A/HRC/48/22.

Encourages all Member States to cooperate with and to assist the Special Rapporteur and the Expert Mechanism in their tasks, and to supply all necessary information requested, where available, for the fulfilment of the mandates entrusted to them;

Requests all special procedure and other human rights mechanisms of the Human Rights Council to regularly and systematically integrate the right to development perspective into the implementation of their mandates;

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, to contribute further to the work of the Working Group and to cooperate with the High Commissioner, the Special Rapporteur and the Expert Mechanism in the fulfilment of their mandates with regard to the promotion and 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?

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