A/HRC/36/35
standard of living and livelihoods. He hoped that the Working Group would look to
enhance coherent and effective international cooperation in the light of those challenges.
48.
Ms. Piovesan spoke about the advancement of a human rights-based approach to
development and a right to development approach for the attainment of the Sustainable
Development Goals and highlighted three key components of the right to development and
their impact and influence on the 2030 Agenda: social justice and participation;
accountability and transparency; and international cooperation. Contemporary challenges of
the right to development included the development of indicators to measure the
implementation of the right to development; the adoption of an international treaty for the
protection of the right to development; ratification of the Optional Protocol to the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the reform of
international financial institutions; promoting international cooperation; stimulating action
by private actors; and consolidating best practices. The implementation of the right to
development involved challenges of a legal, cultural, political and economic nature and in
such an increasingly complex arena, it was crucial to move ahead in the affirmation of the
right to development and global justice and to compose a new architecture to respond to
those challenges.
49.
Mr. de Schutter talked about improving the regulation of transnational corporations
and the key role it could play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly
in terms of poverty reduction and promoting prosperity, the theme of the High-Level
Political Forum in 2017. He noted that, while increased levels of foreign direct investment
flows to developing countries could make a contribution to the fulfilment of human rights,
in general, and to the right to development, in particular, whether or not foreign direct
investment would have such a positive impact overall depended on the nature of the
strategies deployed to attract investment. It was therefore key to ensure that the
environment in which businesses operated supported, rather than undermined, the right to
development, as increasing foreign direct investment could only be a means to an end, not
an end in itself. A reading of Sustainable Development Goal 17 informed by the right to
development required the creation of an international environment in which countries faced
fewer incentives to resort to beggar-thy-neighbour policies in order to attract foreign
investors. Improved international assistance and cooperation for the regulation of investors
had a major role to play. He referred to the state of play of business and human rights
within the United Nations and indicated that the Guiding Principles on business and human
rights appeared to set the bar below the current state of international law in the area of
extraterritorial obligations, in particular the duty of States to control the corporations they
were in a position to influence. The Working Group could most effectively contribute to the
High-level Political Forum by advocating for access to effective judicial remedies for
victims and ensuring the primacy of human rights over investors’ rights and suggesting that
investment frameworks and promotion regimes explicitly take into account the duties of
States to comply with international human rights.
50.
Ms. Silva spoke about the three-pronged approach advocated by United Nations
Development Programme that was aimed at ensuring that no one was left behind when it
came to living with dignity and inclusion. MAPS, which stands for Mainstreaming,
Acceleration and Policy Support, was adopted to provide Member States with coherent and
integrated support for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. There was a need for policy,
programmatic and advocacy support on the Sustainable Development Goals and to
internalize them into national development plans, measurement and reporting. A fourpronged policy strategy was needed at the national level, including the use of universal
policies, pursuing measures for groups with specific needs, resilient human development
and empowering those left out. The support of the Working Group could be useful in
identifying practical examples, good practices and means of support to ensure that the right
to development remained rooted in efforts to support the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
51.
Mr. Kozul-Wright stated that the right to development had added a very strong
normative dimension to the development agenda. While the right to development might be
considered as faith based, the Sustainable Development Goals added a transformative,
universal and inclusive dimension to the development agenda. Post-war economics was
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