A/HRC/21/19 all suggestions that could be helpful and instrumental in operationalizing the right to development. The right-to-development criteria and operational sub-criteria, once considered, revised and endorsed by the Working Group, should be used, as appropriate, in the elaboration of a comprehensive and coherent set of standards for the implementation of the right to development. The Working Group should avoid entering into a debate on the scope, definition and dimensions of the right to development: it should work towards building an enabling environment at the international level for the sustainable development for all. 17. Algeria emphasized that the spirit of the Declaration on the Right to Development remained topical. Recent social movements, which were the consequences of the financial, food, energy and climate crises, attested to the need to defend the ideas in the Declaration. Although States had primary responsibility for the achievement of the right to development, the Declaration also required international solidarity and cooperation. The right to development was the right of peoples and individuals to the constant improvement of their well-being and to a national and global environment favourable to just, equitable, participatory and human-centred development, respectful of all human rights. The right-todevelopment criteria and sub-criteria developed by the task force did not meet all the needs of developing countries, and failed to translate the whole spirit of the Declaration, which should provide the benchmark for operationalizing the right to development. Algeria expressed the view that the criteria, once adopted, should form the basis for the effective operationalization of the right to development and allow the adoption of a legally binding instrument, the ultimate purpose of which would be the effective realization of the right to development. 18. Switzerland welcomed efforts towards the effective implementation of the right to development, provided they were in accordance with the Declaration on the Right to Development, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two International Covenants on Human Rights. The right to development could bring human rights and development closer together and was yet another means to promote the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights. Switzerland recalled the primary responsibility of States to realize the human rights of persons within their national jurisdictions and to create national and international conditions favourable to the realization of the right to development. The realization of the right to development should focus on promoting a human rights-based approach and policy consistency, coherence and coordination at all levels and strengthening the global partnership for development. Switzerland was not in favour of developing a binding instrument on the right to development. The criteria, corresponding operational sub-criteria and indicators could be used in the elaboration of a comprehensive set of standards which could lead to the adoption of a political commitment in the form of guidelines. More emphasis should be paid to the environmental dimension as key to sustainable development. 19. China stressed that the right to development was an inalienable human right and that its implementation was of great importance for all countries, but especially developing countries. Various factors, such as crises and instability, led to a worsening of the environment for achieving the right to development, and the task of achieving the Millennium Development Goals was more arduous than before. There was a need to strengthen international cooperation, to realize the Millennium Development Goals as well as the objectives of the Declaration on the Right to Development. Financial support, transfer of technology, debt relief and market access could help developing countries to achieve autonomous development. The democratization of international conditions as well as the formulation of sound national policies could help eliminate poverty and protect all human rights. There was a need to eliminate international disputes through dialogue and consultation, to refrain from using sanctions and pressure and to avoid politicizing 7

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