A/HRC/19/45 Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States to ensure follow-up in this regard. 11. On 20 May 2011, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted a statement on the importance and relevance of the right to development (annex III). Following a briefing organized by OHCHR in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation for the chairpersons of United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures mandate holders on 29 June 2011, the chairpersons of nine United Nations human rights treaty bodies issued a joint statement on 1 July 2011, in which they resolved to make a concerted effort to promote a development-informed and interdependence-based reading of all human rights treaties in order to highlight and emphasize the relevance and importance of the right to development in interpreting and applying human rights treaty provisions and in monitoring compliance with these provisions (annex IV). 12. The Economic and Social Council, during the coordination segment of its annual substantive session, devoted a special event to the right to development and global partnership for development, which was held on 12 July 2011 in Geneva. The event, chaired by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, provided an opportunity to exchange views on how the promotion of the right to development and the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 8 could strengthen each other and how the United Nations system could use these synergies in the perspective of 2015 and beyond.6 The High Commissioner delivered a statement at the event.7 13. In accordance with the request made by the Human Rights Council in its decision 16/117, OHCHR organized, on 14 September 2011, in Geneva, a thematic panel discussion, during its eighteenth session, on the theme “The way forward in the realization of the right to development: between policy and practice”. The panel discussion focused on the contribution and potential of the Declaration on the Right to Development to thinking, policy and practice in relation to development; how the right to development can be implemented in the context of contemporary political, social, environmental and financial challenges; and shaping future work on the effective implementation of the right to development.8 The High Commissioner participated in and delivered a statement at the event.9 14. At the initiative of OHCHR, 17 United Nations bodies and system agencies as well as other international organizations endorsed, on 14 September 2011, a statement in support of human rights-based policy coherence in the implementation of the right to development and global partnership for development (annex V). The High Commissioner launched the joint statement at the above-mentioned panel discussion . 15. OHCHR also organized the fourth session of the Social Forum from 3 to 5 October 2011, under the chairmanship of Minelik Alemu Getahun, the Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office in Geneva. In the light of the anniversary and as decided by the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 16/26, the Social Forum discussed the role of civil society in the realization of the right to development.10 As requested in resolution 16/26, the High Commissioner submitted a background report to inform the 6 7 8 9 10 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Aglobalpartnershipfordevelopment.aspx. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11245&LangID=E. See A/HRC/19/39. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11374&LangID=E. See A/HRC/19/70. 5