A/HRC/24/37 I. Introduction 1. The open-ended Working Group on the Right to Development was established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1998/72 and the Economic and Social Council in its decision 1998/269 with a mandate to: monitor and review progress made in the promotion and implementation of the right to development, as elaborated in the Declaration on the Right to Development, at the national and international levels, providing recommendations thereon and further analysing obstacles to its full enjoyment, focusing each year on specific commitments in the Declaration; review reports and any other information submitted by States, United Nations agencies, other relevant international organizations and non-governmental organizations on the relationship between their activities and the right to development; and present for the consideration of the former Commission on Human Rights (subsequently the Human Rights Council) a sessional report on its deliberations, including advice to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) with regard to the implementation of the right to development, and suggesting possible programmes of technical assistance at the request of interested countries with the aim of promoting the implementation of the right to development. 2. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 9/3, decided to renew the mandate of the Working Group until it completes the tasks entrusted to it by the Council in its resolution 4/4, and that the Working Group would convene annual sessions of five working days and submit its reports to the Council. Furthermore, the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 21/32, decided to consider the extension of the meeting time of the working group, as appropriate. 3. By resolutions 4/4 and 9/3, the Human Rights Council endorsed the request addressed to the High-Level Task Force on the implementation of the right to development by the Working Group on the Right to Development at its eighth and ninth sessions, respectively, to “[consolidate] its findings and present a revised list of right-to-development criteria along with corresponding operational sub-criteria and outline suggestions for further work, including aspects of international cooperation not covered until then for the consideration of the Working Group”. 4. By its resolution 9/3, the Human Rights Council decided that the 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” and that, upon its completion, “the Working Group will take appropriate steps for ensuring respect for and practical application of these standards, which could take various forms, including guidelines on the implementation of the right to development, and evolve into a basis for consideration of an international legal standard of a binding nature, through a collaborative process of engagement”. 5. By resolution 12/23, the Human Rights Council endorsed the recommendations of the Working Group at its tenth session, that, inter alia, the task force focus on consolidating its findings and presenting a revised list of right-to-development criteria along with corresponding operational subcriteria and outline suggestions for further work, including aspects of international cooperation not covered until then; and that the revised criteria and subcriteria should address the essential features of the right to development, as defined in the Declaration on the Right to Development, in a comprehensive and coherent way, including priority concerns of the international community beyond those enumerated in Millennium Development Goal 8, and serve the purposes set out in all relevant provisions of Human Rights Council resolution 9/3. 3