A/HRC/45/40 standards. 50 It also underscores how gender, ethnicity, race, place of residence and socioeconomic status continue to shape the opportunities people have in life. The benefits of globalization remain overwhelmingly concentrated among those already privileged. Many others continue to live in dire need of the fulfilment of their right to a life of dignity, freedom and equal opportunity. Several dimensions across the 2030 Agenda, with crosscutting impacts, are not only behind schedule but even moving in the wrong direction: inequalities are rising, the climate is changing more quickly, biodiversity losses are increasing, and waste production is overwhelming.51 The global economy has undergone its lowest growth in a decade, slipping to 2.3 per cent in 2019 and a prolonged weakness in global economic activity may cause significant setbacks for sustainable development, including the goals to eradicate poverty and create decent jobs for all, while pervasive inequalities and the deepening climate crisis are fuelling growing discontent in many parts of the world.52 54. According to Secretary-General António Guterres, in early 2020 the global economy was facing a significant and widespread slowdown amid prolonged trade disputes and wide-ranging policy uncertainties. Poverty rates were increasing in numerous countries, climate risks were more pressing than ever and inequalities remained broad within and among countries. 53 Despite considerable efforts, he warned that efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 were not on track. Moreover, with under a decade remaining to achieve them, no country was yet convincingly able to meet a set of basic human needs at a globally sustainable level of resource use. 54 55. Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals had been stalling even before the COVID-19 pandemic aggravated an already bleak global economic scenario. The pandemic has exposed glaring weaknesses in public health delivery, and it has highlighted the interdependencies between economic, environmental and social outcomes. The pandemic has also highlighted the frailties and inequalities of our societies and compounded existing inequalities.55 It has led to a sharply contracting global economy and deepening of existing divides, with the poorest and most vulnerable being hit hardest. An early bounce back and global recovery from the COVID-19 crisis is crucial for the world to get back on track to achieve the Goals by 2030. The creativity and magnitude of our response must match the unique nature and scale of this unprecedented crisis, which no country will be able to overcome alone.56 It is also in everyone’s interest to ensure that developing countries have the best chance of managing it. As highlighted by the Secretary-General, countries must build back from the COVID-19 crisis in a way that safeguards a better future for all. V. Moving forward on the right to development 56. Former High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made the following observation: On one side, proponents of the right to development assert its relevance (or even primacy) and, on the other, sceptics (and rejectionists) relegate this right to secondary importance, or even deny its very existence. Unfortunately, while generating plenty of academic interest and stimulating political theatre, that debate has done little to free the right to development from the conceptual mud and political quicksand in which it has been mired all these years. 57 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 World Social Report 2020: Inequality in a Rapidly Changing World (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.20.IV.1). Global Sustainable Development Report: The Future is Now. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.20.II.C.1). Ibid., p. iv. Global Sustainable Development Report: The Future Is Now, pp. xi and xx. UN News, “COVID-19 pandemic exposes global ‘frailties and inequalities’: UN deputy chief”, 3 May 2020. United Nations, Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the Socio-economic Impacts of COVID-19 (March 2020). Realizing the Right to Development: Essays in Commemoration of 25 Years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.12.XIV.1). 13