RES/18/26 The right to development

GE.11- 16783

Human Rights Council Eighteenth 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*

18/26 The right to development

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling the Charter of the United Nations and the core human rights instruments,

Reaffirming the Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 41/128 of 4 December 1986,

Reaffirming also Human Rights Council resolutions 4/4 of 30 March 2007 and 9/3 of 17 September 2008, and recalling all Commission on Human Rights, Council and General Assembly resolutions on the right to development,

Recognizing the renewed commitments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by their target date of 2015, as set out in the outcome document adopted at the High- level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals,1

Emphasizing the urgent need to make the right to development a reality for everyone,

Taking note of the commitment declared by a number of United Nations specialized agencies, funds and programmes and other international organizations to make the right to development a reality for all and, in this regard, encouraging all relevant bodies of the United Nations system and other international organizations to mainstream the right to development into their objectives, policies, programmes and operational activities,

Stressing the primary responsibility of States for the creation of national and international conditions favourable to the realization of the right to development,

* The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of

the Council on its eighteenth session (A/HRC/18/2), chap. I. 1 See General Assembly resolution 65/1.

United Nations A/HRC/RES/18/26

General Assembly Distr.: General 17 October 2011 Original: English

Recalling that 2011 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development,

Stressing that, in General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993, the Assembly decided that the responsibility of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights shall be, among others, to promote and protect the realization of the right to development and to enhance support from relevant bodies of the United Nations system for this purpose,

1. Welcomes the holding of the panel entitled “The way forward in the realization of the right to development: between policy and practice” during the eighteenth

session of the Human Rights Council as part of the series of events commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development;

2. Takes note of the note by the Secretariat2 informing the Human Rights Council that the consolidated report of the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to development, in compliance with General Assembly resolution 65/219 of 21 December 2010, would be submitted to the Council at its nineteenth session, and that the twelfth session of the intergovernmental open-ended Working Group on the Right to Development was scheduled for 14 to 18 November 2011;

3. Notes 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, and reaffirms the conclusions and recommendations of the Working Group agreed at its eleventh session;3

4. Also notes the work of the high-level task force on the implementation of the right to development, the mandate of which ended in 2010, including its consolidation of findings and the list of right to development criteria and corresponding operational sub- criteria;4

5. Recalls that the Working Group on the Right to Development will consider at its twelfth session the two compilations of views received from Governments, groups of Governments and regional groups, and from other stakeholders, on the work of the high- level task force,

6. Decides:

(a) 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;

(b) 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;

(c) That the Working Group on the Right to Development 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

2 A/HRC/18/22. 3 A/HRC/15/23, paras. 45-47. 4 See A/HRC/15/WG.2/TF/2 and Add.1 and 2.

development, and evolve into a basis for consideration of an international legal standard of a binding nature through a collaborative process of engagement;

7. 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 General Assembly, Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Council resolutions on the right to development, and agreed conclusions and recommendations of the Working Group;

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

38th meeting

30 September 2011

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 45 to none, with 1 abstention. The voting was as follows:

In favour: Angola, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, Uruguay

Abstaining: United States of America]