A/HRC/39/18 GDP, 55 many times higher than the average percentage of development assistance by developed countries, which barely reaches 0.3 per cent of their GDP. 56 The duty to cooperate for effective disarmament has been reinforced by treaties relating to means of warfare, including the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects and the Protocols thereto,57 the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the recent Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. To realize the right to development, the resources released from the banning of these weapons and from the maintenance of their stockpiles should be reoriented towards social services, the creation of employment in peaceful industries, and greater support to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (see A/HRC/27/51, para. 71). Through Sustainable Development Goals target 16.4, States committed to reducing significantly the illicit arms flow. The Arms Trade Treaty helps tackle illicit arms flows, which contribute to international humanitarian law and human rights violations 58 and, consequently, affect the exercise of the right to development,59 especially in developing countries. 60. The duty to cooperate to remove obstacles to development has been understood to corroborate the duty to ensure respect for international humanitarian law instruments, 60 including in the context of belligerent occupation. Hence, all States and the international community as a whole should cooperate to end violations of international humanitarian law that affect the right to development of the people occupied and to end procrastinated occupation itself. 61. Finally, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea enshrines the principle of “common heritage of mankind” (art. 136). 61 The Convention contains provisions that can contribute to addressing inequalities among States, including the provision of equitable sharing of financial and other economic benefits derived from activities in the deep seabed, or the Area (art. 140), 62 and transfer of technology and scientific knowledge relating to activities in the Area to developing countries and to the International Seabed Authority and to an Enterprise to be established by it (art. 144). Similar provisions on the equitable sharing of benefits of common resources can also be found in the Convention on Biological Diversity (arts. 1 and 15 (7)). IV. Conclusions and recommendations 62. International law, including human rights treaties and the Declaration on the Right to Development, provides a normative framework to address inequalities among countries, as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Applicable principles of international law include self-determination and the principle of international cooperation. A joint reading of these principles with provisions of the Declaration on the Right to Development, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant international treaties, as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides guidance for assessing and addressing inequality among countries. 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 14 https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS. https://data.oecd.org/oda/net-oda.htm. Protocol on Non-Detectable Fragments (Protocol I); Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Protocol II); Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III); Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (Protocol IV); Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War (Protocol V). A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, annex, arts. 6 (3) and 7 (3), as adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 67/234 B of 2 April 2013. Declaration on the Right to Development, para. 7. Article 1 common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. See also arts. 137–149. The concept was coined as a proposal to address inequalities among countries. See A/C.1/PV.1515, para. 91, and A/C.1/PV.1516. See also art. 150 (i).