A/HRC/21/45 the holistic sense, encompassing not only the absence of war but also positive harmony, the absence of structural violence, cultural hegemonism, neo-colonialism, exploitation, discrimination and the eradication of extreme poverty as envisaged in the Millennium Development Goals. At the request of the Human Rights Council, OHCHR organized an expert workshop on the right of peoples to peace, held in Geneva on 15 and 16 December 2009, in which experts and civil society participated. The report on the workshop (A/HRC/14/38) was presented to the Council in June 2010 and led to the adoption of resolution 14/3, in which the Council tasked the Advisory Committee with drafting a declaration on the right to peace, which also entails reducing the gap between rich and poor in all countries, whether developed or developing, through a process of gradual implementation of social justice. Pursuant to Council resolution 17/16 and Advisory Committee recommendation 8/4, the Advisory Committee submitted to the Council its draft declaration on the right to peace (A/HRC/20/31, annex). At its twentieth session, the Council considered the draft, and adopted resolution 20/15 establishing an open-ended working group to continue the codification process, taking duly into account all preparatory work. D. Consultations, questionnaires, future thematic reports 11. Through early consultations conducted by the Independent Expert, and correspondence received from stakeholders, a number of suggestions for thematic studies emerged: (a) the nature of democracy, its diverging meanings domestically and internationally; (b) the notion of equity; (c) the links between self-determination and democracy; (d) the right of participation of unrepresented peoples; (e) the concept of ―participation‖; (f) the relationship between democracy and freedom of opinion and expression and access to information (including unduly classified information), peaceful assembly and association, good governance, and independent judiciary; (g) self-censorship and ―political correctness‖; (h) lobbies and pressure groups; (i) free, genuine and competitive elections (including issues of election fraud and civil unrest, election financing, buying votes); (j) the impact of the financial markets on democracy and equity; (k) the influence of transnational corporations and other private sector actors upon the international order; (l) the impact of the military-industrial complex, military expenditures and war on democracy and equity, and the need to liberate financial resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals; (m) the non-implementation of treaties and agreements; (n) control over natural resources; (o) corruption in government, business and society; and (p) fair trade, free trade agreements, and adverse trade relations. 12. Follow-up reports on the above themes may be submitted to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly as appropriate. II. Normative framework A. Charter of the United Nations as the World Constitution 13. In a very real sense the Charter of the United Nations can be described as the World Constitution. All States are bound by it and should orient their policies and practices according to its purposes and principles. Paramount is the commitment ―to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war‖ through meaningful disarmament and to fulfil the promise to turn swords into ploughshares, and end internal and international warfare. 7