The Right to Development

A/RES/60/157View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 71b Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2006.

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 · 2006

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2006	A/61/211	The right to development report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/60/157

What’s in this document?

31 operative paragraphs

Endorses the agreed conclusions and recommendations adopted by the Working Group on the Right to Development at its sixth session,¹⁰ and calls for their immediate, full and effective implementation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other relevant actors;

¹⁰See E/CN.4/2005/25, sect. III.

Welcomes the convening of the first meeting of the high-level task force on the implementation of the right to development, held at Geneva from 13 to 17 December 2004, and expresses its appreciation to the task force for the work it has undertaken;

Notes with appreciation that the high-level task force, at its second meeting, examined millennium development goal 8 on a global partnership for development and suggested criteria for its periodic evaluation with the aim of improving the effectiveness of global partnership with regard to the realization of the right to development;¹¹

¹¹See E/CN.4/2005/WG.18/TF/3.

Stresses the importance of the core principles contained in the conclusions of the Working Group at its third session,¹² 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;

¹²E/CN.4/2002/28/Rev.1, sect. VIII.A.

Notes with appreciation that the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights decided at its fifty-seventh session to submit the concept document establishing options and their feasibility for the implementation of the right to development¹³ to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session, in this regard calls upon the Commission to give due consideration to the options contained therein, and requests the Secretary-General to report on progress in this regard to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session;

¹³E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/23.

Takes note of the convening and outcome of the third Social Forum held at Geneva on 21 and 22 July 2005 on the theme “Poverty and economic growth: challenges to human rights”¹⁴ and the strong support extended to it by the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and invites Member States and all other stakeholders to participate actively in its subsequent sessions;

¹⁴E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/21.

Reaffirms the commitment to implement the goals and targets set out in all the outcome documents of the major United Nations conferences and summits and their review processes, in particular those relating to the realization of the right to development, recognizing that the realization of the right to development is critical to achieving the objectives, goals and targets set in those outcome documents;

Also reaffirms that the realization of the right to development is essential to the implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,3 which regards all human rights as universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, places the human person at the centre of development and recognizes that, while development facilitates the enjoyment of all human rights, the lack of development may not be invoked to justify the abridgement of internationally recognized human rights;

Stresses that the primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of all human rights lies with the State, and reaffirms that States have the primary responsibility for their own economic and social development and that the role of national policies and development strategies cannot be overemphasized;

Reaffirms the primary responsibility of States to create national and international conditions favourable to the realization of the right to development as well as their commitment to cooperate with each other to that end;

Also reaffirms the need for an international environment that is conducive to the realization of the right to development;

Stresses the need to strive for greater acceptance, operationalization and realization of the right to development at the international and national levels, and calls upon States to institute the measures required for the implementation of the right to development as a fundamental human right;

Emphasizes the critical importance of identifying and analysing obstacles impeding the full realization of the right to development at both the national and the international levels;

Affirms that, while globalization offers both opportunities and challenges, the process of globalization remains deficient in achieving the objectives of integrating all countries into a globalized world, and stresses the need for policies and measures at the national and global levels to respond to the challenges and opportunities of globalization if this process is to be made fully inclusive and equitable;

Recognizes that, despite continuous efforts on the part of the international community, the gap between developed and developing countries remains unacceptably wide, that developing countries continue to face difficulties in participating in the globalization process and that many risk being marginalized and effectively excluded from its benefits;

Underlines the fact that the international community is far from meeting the target set in the United Nations Millennium Declaration4 of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015, reaffirms the commitment made to meet that target, and emphasizes the principle of international cooperation, including partnership and commitment, between developed and developing countries towards achieving the goal;

Urges developed countries that have not yet done so to make concrete efforts towards meeting the targets of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product for official development assistance to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.2 per cent of their gross national product to least developed countries, and encourages developing countries to build on the progress achieved in ensuring that official development assistance is used effectively to help to meet development goals and targets;

Recognizes the need to address market access for developing countries, including in agriculture, services and non-agricultural products, in particular those of interest to developing countries;

Calls for the implementation of a desirable pace of meaningful trade liberalization, including in areas under negotiation; implementation of commitments on implementation-related issues and concerns; review of special and differential-treatment provisions, with a view to strengthening them and making them more precise, effective and operational; avoidance of new forms of protectionism; and capacity-building and technical assistance for developing countries as important issues in making progress towards the effective implementation of the right to development;

Recognizes the important link between the international economic, commercial and financial spheres and the realization of the right to development, stresses, in this regard, the need for good governance and broadening the base of decision-making at the international level on issues of development concern and the need to fill organizational gaps, as well as strengthen the United Nations system and other multilateral institutions, and also stresses the need to broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in international economic decision-making and norm-setting;

Also recognizes that good governance and the rule of law at the national level assist all States in the promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to development, and agrees on the value of the ongoing efforts being made by States to identify and strengthen good governance practices, including transparent, responsible, accountable and participatory government, that are responsive and appropriate to their needs and aspirations, including in the context of agreed partnership approaches to development, capacity-building and technical assistance;

Further recognizes the important role and the rights of women and the application of a gender perspective as a cross-cutting issue in the process of realizing the right to development, and notes in particular the positive relationship between women’s education and their equal participation in the civil, cultural, economic, political and social activities of the community and the promotion of the right to development;

Stresses the need for the integration of the rights of children, girls and boys alike, in all policies and programmes, and for ensuring the promotion and protection of those rights, especially in areas relating to health, education and the full development of their capacities;

Also stresses that further and additional measures must be taken at the national and international levels to fight HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, taking into account ongoing efforts and programmes, and reiterates the need for international assistance in this regard;

Recognizes the need for strong partnerships with civil society organizations and the private sector in pursuit of poverty eradication and development, as well as for corporate social responsibility;

Emphasizes the urgent need for taking concrete and effective measures to prevent, combat and criminalize all forms of corruption at all levels, to prevent, detect and deter in a more effective manner international transfers of illicitly acquired assets and to strengthen international cooperation in asset recovery consistent with the principles of the United Nations Convention against Corruption,¹⁵ particularly chapter V thereof, stresses the importance of a genuine political commitment on the part of all Governments through a firm legal framework, and in this context urges States to sign and ratify as soon as possible, and States parties to implement effectively, the Convention;

¹⁵Resolution 58/4, annex.

Also emphasizes the need to strengthen further the activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the promotion and realization of the right to development, including ensuring effective use of the financial and human resources necessary to fulfil its mandate, and calls upon the Secretary-General to provide the Office of the High Commissioner with the necessary resources;

Reaffirms the request to the High Commissioner, in mainstreaming the right to development, to undertake effectively activities aimed at strengthening the global partnership for development between Member States, development agencies and the international development, financial and trade institutions, and to reflect those activities in detail in her report to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session;

Calls upon the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, as well as the specialized agencies, to mainstream the right to development in their operational programmes and objectives, and stresses the need for the international financial and multilateral trading systems to mainstream the right to development in their policies and objectives;

Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of Member States, United Nations organs and bodies, specialized agencies, funds and programmes, international development and financial institutions, in particular the Bretton Woods institutions, and non-governmental organizations;

Also requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session and an interim report to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session on the implementation of the present resolution, including efforts undertaken at the national, regional and international levels in the promotion and realization of the right to development, and invites the chairperson of the Working Group on the Right to Development to present a verbal update to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session.

The Right to Development

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