A/HRC/30/22
to redefine development with a focus on eliminating inequalities in general, and in access to
water and sanitation more specifically. Only when no one was left behind could one truly
speak of development. In that regard, access to justice was essential and must not be an
afterthought. Where people’s human rights were violated, whether through projects pursued
under the umbrella of development, through persisting inequalities or other actions or
omissions, people must be able to seek remedies. 10
39.
The report to the twenty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council of the
Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order
addressed the issue of disarmament for development (A/HRC/27/51). Among other things,
the Independent Expert concluded that disarmament and demilitarization were keys to
development and human security. He recommended that States should regularly report to
the Human Rights Council on their military expenditures and contrast them with
expenditures for education, health care and the administration of justice. States should
ensure that such expenditures were discussed within the framework of the universal
periodic review mechanism of the Human Rights Council and Governments should be
persuaded to devote a greater percentage of their budgets to the promotion of civil, cultural,
economic, political and social rights, and to make concrete proposals to convert from a
military-first to a human security paradigm. He also 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 allocate savings made from reduced military spending to 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
scarcity, which had the potential to fuel future wars. An international effort to develop
efficient desalination industries should be envisaged.
40.
The Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international
financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly
economic, social and cultural rights, in his interim study on illicit financial flows, human
rights and the post-2015 development agenda (A/HRC/28/60) observed that it has been
estimated that the majority of all illicit financial flows were related to cross-border taxrelated transactions. In developing countries, trade and transfer mispricing was the main
vehicle for tax evasion or abuse, and the financial crisis had focused attention in highincome countries on tax evasion and avoidance schemes of transnational corporations. He
recommended that States include a goal to reduce illicit financial flows in the final set of
sustainable development goals, together with measurable targets and indicators to ensure
accountability for implementation. He also recommended establishing an intergovernmental
committee on tax cooperation, under the auspices of the United Nations.
41.
The 2015 report to the Human Rights Council of the Working Group on the issue of
human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (A/HRC/29/28)
focused on how the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights needed to be further
embedded throughout United Nations programmes and processes in order to improve policy
coherence for inclusive and sustainable development. The Working Group noted that a
major challenge was achieving policy coherence between States’ conduct in multilateral
institutions that dealt with business- and development-related issues and their international
10
10
Available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx.
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