A/HRC/RES/28/14 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 9 April 2015 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-eighth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council 28/14 . Human rights, democracy and the rule of law The Human Rights Council, Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Reaffirming also the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other relevant international human rights instruments, Recalling the Millennium Declaration and all General Assembly resolutions on democracy and the rule of law, Reaffirming its resolution 19/36 of 23 March 2012 on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights, Taking note of the study of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of 20121 and the outcome of the panel discussion,2 held on 11 June 2013 during the twenty-third session of the Human Rights Council, both on the theme of common challenges facing States in their efforts to secure democracy and the rule of law from a human rights perspective, Reaffirming that democracy is based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives, Reaffirming also that, while democracies share common features, there is no single model of democracy and that democracy does not belong to any country or region, and 1 2 A/HRC/22/29. See A/HRC/24/54. GE.15-07379 (E) 