A/HRC/32/43 I. Introduction 1. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 26/6, decided that the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity should convene a series of regional consultations in order to obtain input from as many Member States as possible on the proposed draft declaration she had previously submitted for the consideration of the Council at its twenty-sixth session, in June 2014 (A/HRC/26/34). The Council also requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to assist her in organizing those gatherings. In that regard, the Council, in the same resolution, further requested the Independent Expert to consolidate and consider the output from all the regional consultations; to submit to it, at its thirty-second session, a report on those consultations; and to submit to the Council and the General Assembly, before the end of her second term, a revised draft declaration. 2. The Independent Expert extends her gratitude to OHCHR for organizing the five regional consultations and for its full engagement during the proceedings in the regions. She presents below a summary of what transpired during the regional consultations. A. Background of the regional consultations 3. One of the conclusions expressed by Rui Baltazar Dos Santos Alves in the working paper on human rights and international solidarity that he submitted to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/43) was that international solidarity as an instrument for the attainment of human rights was a fact of international life that needed further development. In paragraph 37 (c) of the paper, Mr. Baltazar proposed a preliminary work plan, in which he recommended “studying the new international context, the new challenges and the need to define principles, objectives and priorities conducive to clarifying responsibilities in the field of international solidarity and human rights”. That working paper and the subsequent work of the previous Independent Expert, Rudi Muhammad Rizki, were inspired by the historical and philosophical foundations of and, to a certain extent, the link to international law, and by the principle of international solidarity and its value in international relations, which would lay the basis for the right to international solidarity. 4. In her first report to the Council after her appointment as the second mandate holder for human rights and international solidarity, the current Independent Expert mapped out her work plan in three stages. Her work, in brief, would shift the focus from international solidarity as a principle to international solidarity as a right, in order to develop and work towards a draft declaration on the right of peoples and individuals to international solidarity. The process of developing and preparing the proposed draft declaration, leading to its subsequent submission in June 2014 to the Human Rights Council, is described in detail in the previous report of the Independent Expert (A/HRC/26/34). The draft, as it currently stands, is a consolidation of the work done by the present Independent Expert and her predecessor, as well as inputs and suggestions from States, civil society, experts from academia and the United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. 5. The Council consequently decided that the text of the proposed draft declaration should be the focus of a series of the regional consultations, which were eventually conducted in 2015 and early 2016. Regional consultations were held with representatives of Western Europe and Other States, and of Eastern Europe States, in Geneva; African States in Addis Ababa; Latin American and Caribbean States in Panama City; Asia-Pacific States in Suva; and Middle Eastern and North African States in Doha. 3