A/HRC/37/63 C. Disarmament for development 44. In his 2014 report to the Council, the Independent Expert recommended a gradual reduction of military expenses and a conversion of the military economy into a peacetime economy: not more consumer goods, since there is a limit to what people need and can consume, but improvement and expansion of social services — education, health care, clean water, food security and national parks. In paragraph 71 of the report, he recommended that States should significantly reduce military spending and develop conversion strategies to reorient resources towards social services, the creation of employment in peaceful industries, and greater support to the post-2015 development agenda. States should individually and multilaterally devote savings released from reduced military spending to resourcing the economic and social transition required to respond to the global climate change challenge, as envisaged by the United Nations in establishing the Green Climate Fund pursuant to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Furthermore, a portion of the financial resources released should be devoted to research and development of sustainable energy, including solar energy, and should be used to address the looming problem of water shortage, which has the potential to fuel future wars. An international effort to develop efficient desalination industries should be envisaged. D. Criteria for the exercise of self-determination 45. The General Assembly, in its resolution 2625 (XXV), repeatedly reaffirmed the right of self-determination and stipulated that the establishment of a sovereign and independent State, the free association or integration with an independent State or the emergence into any other political status freely determined by a people constitute modes of implementing the right of self-determination. 46. In his 2014 report to the General Assembly, the Independent Expert focused on the criteria for the exercise of the right of self-determination (see A/69/272, paras. 63–77). The following paragraphs contain certain central ideas taken from that report. 47. The right is not extinguished by the lapse of time because, just as in the case of the rights to life, freedom and identity, it is too important to be waived. All manifestations of self-determination are on the table: from a full guarantee of cultural, linguistic and religious rights, to various models of autonomy, to special status in a federal State, to secession and full independence, to unification of two State entities, to cross-border and regional cooperation. 48. The implementation of self-determination is not exclusively within the national jurisdiction of the State concerned, but is a legitimate concern of the international community. 49. International law evolves through practice and precedents. The independence of the former Soviet republics and the secession of the peoples of the former Yugoslavia created precedents for the implementation of self-determination that must be considered whenever self-determination disputes arise. 50. The aspiration of peoples to fully exercise the right of self-determination did not end with decolonization. There are many indigenous peoples, non-self-governing peoples and populations living under occupation who still strive for self-determination. Their aspirations must be taken seriously for the sake of conflict prevention. The post-colonial world left a legacy of frontiers that do not correspond to ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic criteria. This is a continuing source of tension that may require adjustment in keeping with Article 2 (3) of the Charter. The doctrine of uti possidetis is obsolete and its maintenance in the twenty-first century without the possibility of peaceful adjustments may perpetuate human rights violations. 51. The United Nations could be called upon to assist in the preparation of models of autonomy, federalism and, eventually, referendums. A reliable method of determining public opinion and avoiding manufactured consent must be devised so as to ensure the 14