A/HRC/24/38 educated acquiescence of the indigenous parties before attempting to enforce those obligations. XIV. The realization of economic, social and cultural rights, Final report submitted by Mr. Danilo Türk, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/16, 3 July 1992 (excerpts)14 177. Decades of pleas for increasing levels of participation in the development process, principles about which are included, for instance, in the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development, have clearly yet to bear fruit. 178. According to one commentator: "Though the World Bank claims that 'it seeks to meet the needs of the poorest people', at no stage in what it refers to as 'the project cycle', however, does it actually take time to ask the poor themselves how they perceive their needs; neither does it canvass their views on how they feel these needs might best be met. Indeed, from the identification of a possible Bank project right through to its ex post evaluation, the poor are entirely left out of the decision-making process - almost as if they did not exist". 179. Even the Bank itself has recognized this inadequacy, admitting in 1988 that: "the principles guiding beneficiary participation in Bank-financed projects have been quite abstract and of limited operational impact. Beneficiaries were not assigned a role in the decision-making process, nor was their technological knowledge sought prior to designing project components". Though non-governmental organization participation in World Bank projects has increased in the past three years, by far the greatest share of this "participation" was in project implementation, with substantially smaller emphasis being placed on design, advice, monitoring and evaluation. 180. The declining capacities of the State and the resolute inability of the market or private sector, coupled with measures of adjustment, and an overall global economic decline have led to the evolution of new citizen movements, new coalitions and new political processes, all but ignored in the literature of the international financial agencies and by much of the United Nations system. Within these new movements is where real participation occurs, where much of real development takes place and where the legitimate needs of people are increasingly being demanded. 181. Much debate has taken place recently about the obvious relationship between development, democracy and human rights, implying, of course, the issue of citizen participation in all political processes associated with development. One United Nations agency has provided support in the following terms: “An essential part of any political process to benefit the poor is a high degree of participation. Encouraging the autonomy of citizens is, indeed, an end in itself. And participation is a means to ensure the efficient provision and more equitable distribution of goods and services. If people are involved in decision-making, policies and projects tend to be more realistic, more pragmatic and more sustainable.” 14 http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/%28Symbol%29/E.CN.4.Sub.2.1992.16.En?Opendocument 43