A/HRC/19/39 IV. Summary of the discussion 13. Following the presentations by the panellists, the President of the Human Rights Council called on Ms. Kunanayakam to speak prior to other interventions from the floor. Ms. Kunanayakam stated that the dialogue should help to lessen the divide between policy and practice. Globalization created interdependence among States, hence the increasing need for international solidarity. The global economic, political and environmental crisis and their effects on developing countries had enhanced the need to cooperate, which was the essence of the right to development. There was a need for firm and time-bound commitments, resources and technical exchange between countries. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi who said that “poverty is the worst form of violence”, Ms. Kunanayakam stated that poverty must end through the creation of an appropriate environment to realize the right to development. The enjoyment of human rights was only possible if States created an enabling environment. International institutions should function in a transparent and accountable manner in close consultation with Member States. Human rights were universal, and the Human Rights Council had the responsibility to promote both economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights. OHCHR had a vital role to play to ensure equal treatment of both types of rights. Ms. Kunanayakam recommended that the Council should identify concrete ways and means to put policy into practice, especially in the removal of obstacles to the implementation of the right to development. 14. Several delegations acknowledged the work of OHCHR in relation to commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. They shared the view that the anniversary was a cause for reflection of what had been achieved and what was still lacking, in both legal and practical aspects. The anniversary was the appropriate time to make an assessment and to rechart the challenge that lay ahead. In the face of the challenges posed by chronic political dynamics, the Declaration on the Right to Development gave a hint of how these challenges could be overcome. The Declaration provided a legal, political and moral instrument that could contribute to the achievement of global, sustainable development goals. Many of the elements in the Declaration were also contained in legally binding instruments, to which States parties were bound. There was a need to draw on the lessons of the 25 years since the Declaration was adopted in formulating actions for the future. 15. Reaffirming their commitments to the right to development, several delegations emphasized that the right to development was an overarching, umbrella right, needed to realize all other rights. The right to development offered the capacity for synthesis, in which civil and political rights on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights on the other, could be implemented. The right to development was the foundation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and was an enabling framework for human rights and development in which international solidarity was essential. This right was also a right of nations, universal and an integral part of human rights. It was the most important right and must be given continued attention. Without codification of this right into a legally binding instrument and on a par with other rights, there would be a hole in its application. 16. A view was expressed in support of the right to development as a uniting rather than a dividing concept. There was a need for theoretical work to define and explain why the right to development was a universal right. Issues regarding the definition of the right to development should be adequately addressed and resolved first before discussing the issue of a binding legal instrument. Concerns remained with regard to the direction of discussions; for example, the discussions and the resolution on the right to development at the General Assembly should not include unrelated elements. 17. A question was raised about the prospects of political acceptability of the right to development. Some delegates supported non-binding standards and recommended that it 6