A/HRC/29/35 one heterogeneous whole, imbuing that whole with the universal values of human rights. 5 She continues to maintain that solidarity is a positive force in the lives of people and nations and that it should be protected from exploitation and corruption, most importantly at the international level, across national boundaries and cultural diversities. International solidarity should be explicitly linked with human rights if it is to be true to the purposes of the United Nations, and if it is to be the engine that will drive the international community’s collective actions to overcome the common challenges, risks and threats faced by nations and peoples and achieve the transformative changes that are imperative in these troubled times. 13. The proposed draft declaration provides that international solidarity shall be understood as the convergence of interests, purposes and actions between and among peoples, individuals, States and their international organizations to achieve the common goals that require international cooperation and collective action in order to foster peace and security, development and human rights. This requires that States respect the human rights standards set forth in the international human rights treaties that they have ratified, and comply with their existing treaty obligations. It also implies that non-State actors should be guided in their activities by codes of conduct to prevent harm. International solidarity carries with it the precondition of compliance with duties and obligations for actors who come together to act collectively. International solidarity should not therefore be misconstrued as relating in any way to collective action by States that result in the contravention of any of the international human rights treaties to which they are parties. Nor is international solidarity related to any form of collective action undertaken by nonState actors the outcome of which may be, for example, to cause or perpetuate inequality, discrimination and exclusion among or between the individuals, groups and peoples with whom they work. 14. The Independent Expert holds the view that, given the disturbing conflicts and discord ongoing in many parts of the world, it is important to reconsider whether and how solidarity is indeed advancing rights and responsibilities as it influences the shaping of the international community. The time is appropriate, while the proposed draft declaration is still in the form of a proposal, to identify and rethink the attributes of international solidarity in human rights terms, a facet that is often neglected or ignored. There is a need to re-examine the issues that persist around international solidarity, this time taking fully into account the new dynamics that are rapidly changing the present global realities. The challenges that confront the world today cannot be addressed using the previous perspectives, which may no longer be relevant or applicable. The Independent Expert reiterates what she has pointed out a number of times in the past: that international cooperation is a key mechanism for international solidarity, but that international cooperation is not the same as international solidarity. In the report on the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights prepared by the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, a definition of international cooperation is not given but merely implied, with a detailed description of its practice and conceptual ramifications. For example, the report quotes the following text from the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations: “States have the duty to co-operate with one another, irrespective of the differences in their political, economic and social systems, in the various spheres of international relations, in order to maintain international peace and security and to promote international economic stability and progress, the general welfare 5 6 V. Dandan, as cited by S. Puvimanasinghe in “Understanding the right to development” in Realizing the Right to Development (Geneva, United Nations, 2013) p. 205.