A/HRC/41/50 III. Conceptual context and comprehensive interpretation of the contribution of development to the enjoyment of all human rights 10. In the Declaration on the Right to Development, development is defined as a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process, which is aimed at the constant improvement of the well-being of the entire population and of all individuals on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of benefits resulting therefrom. 11. There is an increasing need for greater consensus on a stronger and clearer definition of the right to development for all, which is consistent with other human rights, namely the universal rights that are held and enjoyed by individuals and that each individual may demand from his or her own Government. The content of the right to development can be analysed on the basis of the text of the Declaration. In article 1 (1), it is stated that the right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized. Development as a human right, as defined in the Declaration, must also be firmly rooted in equity within a national economy. Is there any further value added to the rights that are already recognized, such as the economic, social and cultural rights involved in human development, by invoking and exercising the right to development? The question would be legitimate if the right to development were defined merely as the sum total of those rights. Looking at the right to development as a process brings out the added value clearly: the right to development is not merely the realization of those rights individually, but their realization together in a manner that takes into account their effects on each other, both at a particular time and over a period of time. Similarly, an improvement in the realization of the right to development implies that the realization of some rights has improved while no other right has been violated or enjoyment of it has not been reduced. 3. According to one international expert, the right to development has to be understood as a composite right wherein all the rights, that is, economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, are realized together. The right to development is embedded in the principle of the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, which implies that if any right is violated, the composite right to development cannot be achieved. 4 It is significant that the Declaration, being a resolution of the General Assembly, does not per se create any legal obligations, unlike human rights instruments. It is, however, a legitimate reference by which to hold Governments at least politically accountable as the international norm crystallizes into law. The realization of the right to development is often described in terms of an improvement of a “vector” of human rights, such that there is improvement of some rights or at least one right, without any other right being violated. So, the interdependence of rights has to be central in programming, monitoring and assessing development. In other words, the level of realization of one right is contingent on the level of realization of other rights. After all, peace, development and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. There is no hierarchy between them: development is not a precondition for the realization of human rights. Human rights are also rights, and it is a State’s duty to respect them.5 12. It is indisputable that realization of the right to development at the national level plays a priority role. Each Government provides resources and the means for a State to 3 4 5 4 Argun K. Sengupta, “Conceptualizing the right to development for the twenty-first century” in Realizing the Right to Development: Essays in Commemoration of 25 Years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.12.XIV.1), p. 70. Alfarargi Saad, “UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development”, paper collection prepared for the South-South Human Rights Forum, Beijing, December 2017. Contribution from Germany. All responses received from States, non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions to the questionnaire on the contribution of development to the enjoyment of human rights are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/AdvisoryCommittee/ Pages/DevelopmentEnjoymentAllHR.aspx.