A/HRC/26/41
report, which is itself based in part on the High-Level Panel’s report, it is stated firmly that,
if the kind of sustainable development agenda that the Secretary-General desires is to take
root, there is a need to establish a participatory monitoring framework for tracking progress,
and mutual accountability mechanisms for all stakeholders. In paragraph 81 of the same
report, reference is made to the need to ensure that the international community is equipped
with the right institutions and tools for addressing the challenges of implementing the
sustainable development agenda at the national level. Thus, the idea that everyone involved
in the development process the world over must be fully accountable appears to have a
central, and even critical, place in current United Nations thinking about the ways and
means of advancing the development agenda post-2015.
13.
Against this background, one way of enhancing international cooperation in this
important aspect of the human rights area is to collect and list core violations of the right to
development (many of which already exist as hard law) in a revised and enhanced
Declaration on the Right to Development with an in-built and robust tracking, reporting and
monitoring mechanism, or perhaps even in a new treaty on the right to development (which
the Council has been exploring for some time now). In this respect, article 22 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the increasing number of well-reasoned
decisions in which it has been interpreted and applied to real-life situations in the African
context are a kind of forerunner. For example, the now celebrated Endorois case decided by
the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the fact of the compliance of
Kenya with it to a significant extent serve as a pointer to what the future could hold in this
regard at the global level.10 Other important decisions issued by the African Commission in
the present regard include D. R. Congo v. Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, 11 where it found a
violation of the right to development; Association Pour la Sauvegarde de la Paix au
Burundi v. Tanzania et al;12 and the Southern Cameroons case.13
VI.
Deepening South-South cooperation in the human rights
area
14.
South-South cooperation is already well recognized within the United Nations
system as a way of strengthening its work across the board. According to the United
Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, this form of cooperation is a broad framework
for collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, cultural,
environmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing countries, it can
take place on a bilateral, regional, subregional or interregional basis. Developing countries
share knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to meet their development goals through
concerted efforts … Collaboration in which traditional donor countries and multilateral
organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through the provision of funding, training
10
11
12
13
Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group International on behalf
of the Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya, 27th Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights, 2009–2010, Annex V. See also Minority Voices Newsroom,
www.minorityvoices.org/news.php/fr/1462/Kenya-mrgs-head-of-law-visits-endorois-community-inthe-rift-valley.
Communication 227/99, 33rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights, May 2003.
Communication 157/96, 33rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights, May 2003.
Communication 266/2003, 26th Activity Report 2009, Annex IV.
7
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