RES/17/13 Extreme poverty and human rights

GE.A/HRC/15/41. 1- 14814

Human Rights Council Seventeenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council∗

17/13 Extreme poverty and human rights

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can be achieved only if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his or her economic, social and cultural rights, as well as his or her civil and political rights, and reaffirming in this regard the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

Recalling also all previous resolutions on the issue of human rights and extreme poverty adopted by the General Assembly, including resolution 65/214 of 21 December 2010, and the Commission on Human Rights, as well as relevant Human Rights Council resolutions, including Council resolutions 2/2 of 27 November 2006, 7/27 of 28 March 2008, 8/11 of 18 June 2008, 12/19 of 2 October 2009 and 15/19 of 30 September 2010,

Recalling further that, in its resolution 62/205 of 19 December 2007, the General Assembly proclaimed the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017) in order to support, in an efficient and coordinated manner, the internationally agreed development goals relating to poverty eradication, including the Millennium Development Goals,

Reaffirming, in this regard, the commitments made at relevant United Nations conferences and summits, including those made at the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen in 1995, at the Millennium Summit, at which Heads of State and Government committed themselves to eradicate extreme poverty and to halve, by

∗ The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of the Council on its seventeenth session (A/HRC/17/2), chap. I.

United Nations A/HRC/RES/17/13

General Assembly

Distr.: General 14 July 2011

2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day and of those who suffer from hunger, and at the 2005 World Summit, and welcoming the conclusions of the summit on the Millennium Development Goals held in New York from 20 to 22 September 2010,

Deeply concerned that extreme poverty persists in all countries of the world, regardless of their economic, social and cultural situation, and that its extent and manifestations are particularly severe in developing countries,

Reaffirming that the existence of widespread extreme poverty inhibits the full and effective enjoyment of human rights and that its immediate alleviation and eventual elimination must remain a high priority for the international community,

Recalling its resolutions 5/1, on the institution-building of the Human Rights Council, and 5/2, on the code of conduct for special procedures mandate holders of the Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his or her duties in accordance with those resolutions and their annexes thereto,

1. Welcomes the work of the independent expert on the question of extreme poverty and human rights, including the comprehensive, transparent and inclusive consultations conducted with relevant and interested actors from all regions for her thematic reports as well as the undertaking of country missions;

2. Decides to extend the mandate of the current mandate holder as a special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights for a period of three years in conformity with the terms set forth in Human Rights Council resolution 8/11;

3. Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to give high priority to extreme poverty and human rights and invites it to pursue further work in this area, integrating and cooperating fully with the Special Rapporteur in the various activities, notably the Social Forum and the consultation on the draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights, and to provide the Special Rapporteur with all necessary human and financial resources for the effective fulfilment of his or her mandate;

4. Requests the Special Rapporteur to submit an annual report on the implementation of the present resolution to the General Assembly and to the Human Rights Council, in accordance with their programme of work;

5. Calls upon all Governments to cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur in his or her task, to supply all necessary information requested by him or her and to give serious consideration to responding favourably to the requests of the Special Rapporteur to visit their countries to enable him or her to fulfil his or her mandate effectively;

6. Invites the Special Rapporteur and relevant stakeholders, including representatives of States, development and human rights practitioners and organizations at the local, national, regional and international levels, as well as people living in conditions of extreme poverty, to participate in the two-day consultation on the progress report on the draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights1 that the Office of the High Commissioner will organize, within existing resources, in Geneva on 22 and 23 June 2011;

7. Invites relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, treaty bodies and civil society actors, including non-governmental organizations, as well as the private sector, to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the fulfilment of his or her mandate;

8. Decides to continue its consideration of the issue of human rights and extreme poverty in accordance with its programme of work.

34th meeting 17 June 2011

[Adopted without a vote.]