A/HRC/36/23 A. Support to the Working Group on the Right to Development and other relevant mandates 8. OHCHR provided support to the Working Group on the Right to Development for the organization of its eighteenth session, 2 held from 3 to 7 April 2017 (A/HRC/36/35). It also supported the Chair-Rapporteur during the intersessional period in holding informal consultations and presenting the report of the Working Group to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. At the request of the Council, 3 the Office facilitated the participation of experts to engage with the Working Group in the interactive dialogue mentioned below. 9. At its eighteenth session, the Working Group considered the report of the SecretaryGeneral and the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to development. The Working Group discussed the elaboration of a comprehensive and coherent set of standards for the implementation of the right to development and took note of a document submitted by the Non-Aligned Movement containing a proposal on a set of standards (A/HRC/WG.2/18/G/1). The Working Group also considered a document containing draft right to development criteria and operational subcriteria and agreed to finalize them as expeditiously as possible, preferably no later than at its nineteenth session. It agreed to undertake informal consultations to be convened by the Chair-Rapporteur, as and when required, with a view to advancing the finalization of these documents. At the same session, the Working Group held an interactive dialogue with experts on the implementation and realization of the right to development, including the implications of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and possible engagement with the high-level political forum on sustainable development.4 10. OHCHR also supported relevant special procedure mandates, including the Special Rapporteur on the right to development. The present mandate holder took up his functions in May 2017. B. Activities for the promotion and realization of the right to development 11. The year 2016 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. To mark the occasion OHCHR organized and supported numerous events and activities drawing attention to the importance of the right to development, 5 including in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. Examples of major activities are summarized below. 12. In June 2016, the Office organized a panel discussion at the thirty-third session of the Human Rights Council, as requested by the Council in its resolution 31/4. The objective of the panel discussion was to increase awareness, including among relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes and other stakeholders, of the intrinsic value and distinct role of the right to development as an inalienable and independent human right by virtue of which all human rights can be fully realized (A/HRC/33/21). In his opening statement, the High Commissioner underscored the importance of the 2030 Agenda and its role in addressing the systemic obstructions and multiple challenges facing the right to development. He noted that, at the international level, the failure to adequately regulate globalization could affect the pursuit of inclusive development, which compromised basic human rights in relation to food, water and sanitation, health, equity and democratic decision-making. He called for a renewed spirit of multilateral action for 2 3 4 5 See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/18thSession.aspx. Resolution 33/14. Expert presentations are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/18thSession.aspx. More information on these and other activities is available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/DevelopmentIndex.aspx. 3