A/HRC/15/23 37. Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Egypt (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), the European Union, India, Pakistan and the United States of America took the floor. Several delegations expressed the view that sufficient time was required for the Working Group to review thoroughly the work of the task force. The year ahead should be used to reflect carefully on the outcome documents presented by the task force, while Governments and regional groups should present their views on the substance of the criteria and sub-criteria, as well as on the way forward. It was suggested that the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group, with the support of the secretariat, should compile all views on the criteria and sub-criteria and make them available for discussion at the next session of the Working Group. It was also proposed that the Chairperson-Rapporteur present his own proposal, particularly on how to sequence the process in a way that would allow the Working Group to move towards the elaboration of an instrument. 38. Other delegations stressed the importance of proper sequencing of future work as recommended by the task force. The next step would be the circulation of the criteria with a view to holding consultations with regional groups to discuss the criteria further. Attention was drawn to the fact that the preparation of a comprehensive review and compilation could be very time-intensive and might require expert support. If the intention was to continue reflecting on the criteria for another year, it was suggested that the mandate of the task force could be extended in order to benefit from its expertise. Once agreement was reached on the set of criteria, the Working Group would focus on the preparation of a reporting template and subsequently develop further ideas on the reporting process. In this context, there was a proposal to endorse two of the recommendations of the task force, namely the circulation of the criteria for comments and the holding of consultations with regional institutions. 39. Some delegations were of the opinion that the circulation of the criteria and subcriteria should be confined to Governments only, while others were of the view that they should be sent to international organizations, civil society and academia. With regard to the reporting template, several delegations were of the view that the first step should be to reach an agreement on the set of criteria and sub-criteria. Some found the recommendation of the task force in relation to the deficiencies of the Millennium Development Goals from the right to development perspective to be premature. Likewise, it was felt that it would not be appropriate to mainstream the right to development into the work of human rights treaty bodies and the universal periodic review before a reporting template was prepared. 40. The Indigenous Peoples and Nations Coalition, the International Council for Human Rights and the Indian Council for South America favoured their continued involvement in the Working Group process and supported the participation of all actors to ensure a more open and transparent process. It was recommended that the Working Group should engage an expert on indigenous peoples in its work. The observer from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation encouraged States to circulate the criteria and sub-criteria to intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and academia. The observers representing Centre du commerce international pour le développement, Rencontre africaine pour la défense pour des droits de l’homme, Interfaith International and the Al-Hakim Foundation pointed to the need to strengthen the capacities of developing countries in the areas of international trade and development, and emphasized the importance of a participatory approach to decision-making processes with respect to the formulation of development- and trade-related policies. It was added that partnerships with people in the field would help in finding points of convergence. The observer from Nord-Sud XXI stressed the importance of the accessibility of the Working Group and the experts to non-governmental organizations. Some delegations supported the continued participation of and inputs from civil society, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders in the work of the Working Group. 12 GE.10-14167

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents