A/HRC/32/43 25. The OHCHR Regional Representative for Central America, in her opening remarks, welcomed the initiative, which she noted was aimed at involving local, regional and international actors in the dialogue on human rights and on broader issues such as participation and international cooperation. She highlighted several of the regional and subregional mechanisms in Latin America and the Caribbean that could be considered positive examples of the practice of international solidarity through international cooperation. A. Panel presentations and discussion on human rights and international solidarity 26. The first panel addressed the topics of international solidarity in international law, with perspectives from the Latin American and Caribbean region, and regional human rights cooperation from the perspective of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The presentations highlighted how the region provided fertile ground for support for the proposed draft declaration, owing to several historical and cultural factors. Several crises in the region had served to galvanize States in the region to undertake collective action to help each other surmount challenges and difficulties, and illustrated that the practice of solidarity was not only possible but also effective. Presentations stressed that it was essential, while undertaking technical cooperation and international solidarity, to engage in meaningful consultation with local society and indigenous peoples. The view was expressed that the objective of international solidarity should be to prevent human rights denials and violations. It was also stated that, if human rights were truly at the centre of international initiatives, many of the current crises would not be persisting. 27. The second panel addressed the role of international solidarity in advancing socioeconomic development, solidarity and cooperation in environmental protection and climate change, and stakeholder participation in regional integration processes and international development cooperation. 28. The panellists discussed a number of issues relating to international solidarity in the region. Attention was drawn to the continuing need for debt relief in the Caribbean countries, and to the issue of lack of participation and transparency in setting taxation principles and standards. It was noted that international migration had to be given more prominence in the discourse on social protection. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean had played a major role in promoting public policies that were based on equality, human rights and solidarity in the region, which arguably had the highest level of income inequality in the world. It was stressed that solidarity was needed first and foremost within societies at the country level. In that regard, it was remarkable that all mechanisms of regional integration in Latin America, from the oldest to the most recent, referred to the participation of civil society and other actors. Thus, the “multiple actors” dimension should be considered as a prominent element in the practice of solidarity in the region. It should also be recognized that the South-South cooperation model was the most notable contribution of the Latin American and Caribbean region to international development cooperation. 29. The third panel focused on the structural dimension of the realization of the right to international solidarity and the implementation of the “solidarity diplomacy” of Brazil. It was stressed that the reality of a country’s economic situation played a key role in the capacity of the State to fulfil its international human rights obligations, especially its core obligations that were immediate, and the progressive realization of other rights. That reality was linked to the duty of international cooperation, which in human rights terms was undertaken precisely to assist a State that lacked the resources to comply with its human rights obligations. In that sense, the recognition of a right to international solidarity was 10