A/HRC/45/15
I. Activities of the Special Rapporteur
1.
The present report, submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to Council
resolution 33/14, outlines the activities of the Special Rapporteur on the right to development.
Since the beginning of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur has focused on developing a
specific methodology for the conduct of country visits to assess the implementation of the
right to development. He has sent requests to visit more than 20 countries and is pleased that
most of those requests have received a positive response. From 23 September to 2 October
2019, the Special Rapporteur conducted a country visit to Switzerland to assess the country’s
efforts to integrate the right to development into its policies. It was the second country visit
since the mandate was established. The Special Rapporteur also examined how the
Government promotes and guarantees effective popular participation and accountability
during the development process. The country visit report is being issued as an addendum to
the present report. A country visit to Kyrgyzstan was planned for May 2020, but had to be
postponed due to the travel restrictions resulting from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
pandemic.
2.
In its resolution 33/14, the Human Rights Council requested the Special Rapporteur
to contribute to the work of the Working Group on the Right to Development. The Special
Rapporteur was planning to participate in the twenty-first session of the Working Group
originally scheduled to be held in May 2020; the session has been postponed to November
2020.
3.
In September 2018, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 39/9, in which it
requested the Special Rapporteur to participate in relevant international dialogues and policy
forums relating to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with
a view to enhancing the integration of the right to development into those forums and
dialogues. To that end, the Special Rapporteur participated, on 7 October 2019, in a one-day
meeting, organized by the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, on the possibilities
of utilizing non-repatriated illicit funds, including through monetarization and the
establishment of investment funds. The Special Rapporteur updated the Advisory Committee
on his work and made a number of recommendations, related to the topic of the meeting,
ensuing from the guidelines on the practical implementation of the right to development that
he presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2019 (A/HRC/42/38, sect. III).
4.
On 11 and 12 November 2019, the Special Rapporteur participated in a consultation,
organized by the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), on the realization of the right to development to enhance
the ASEAN Community. The Special Rapporteur delivered a keynote address and
participated as a speaker in the panel on understanding the right to development and its
relation to a human rights-based approach to development and the Sustainable Development
Goals in the context of ASEAN regionalism. The objectives of the event were: to strengthen
the implementation of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration; to receive feedback on the
normative content of and progress in the realization of the right to development contained in
articles 35–37 of the Declaration; to identify steps that could be taken by the ASEAN
Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and sectoral bodies to narrow development
gaps among ASEAN member States; and to monitor and measure achievements in, and
challenges to, the implementation of the right to development.
5.
On 12 February 2020, the Special Rapporteur delivered a keynote speech at an openended discussion on the right to development and possible ways in achieving its practical
implementation, organized by the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations
Office and other international organizations in Geneva in its capacity as Chair of the Geneva
chapter of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries.
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