A/HRC/23/36 I. Activities undertaken by the mandate holder 1. The current report is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 17/13. 2. Since her previous annual report (A/HRC/20/25), the Special Rapporteur has submitted a report to the General Assembly (A/67/278), in which she analyses the obstacles to access to justice for persons living in poverty. 3. At the twenty-first session of the Human Rights Council, in accordance with resolution 15/19, the Special Rapporteur presented the final draft of the guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights (A/HRC/21/39), adopted by consensus on 27 September 2012 in resolution 21/11. In December 2012, in the biannual resolution on human rights and extreme poverty (A/RES/67/164), the General Assembly took note of the guiding principles with appreciation. Since then, the Special Rapporteur has met with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (November 2012) and with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (February 2013) during which she encouraged Committee members to refer to the guiding principles in future discussions with State parties. 4. During the current reporting cycle, the Special Rapporteur also visited Namibia (October 2012) and Mongolia (December 2012). She takes this opportunity to thank both Governments for the active support they provided during the missions. 5. Additionally, during the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur participated in numerous events and held working meetings with Governments, United Nations agencies, the World Bank, donor agencies, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and representatives of people living in poverty. Information about these meetings can be found on the mandate’s website. 1 II. Introduction 6. The issue of participation is at the core of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate: through its resolutions 8/11 and 17/13, the Human Rights Council requested her to, inter alia, make recommendations on how persons living in extreme poverty can participate in the definition of measures affecting them. The Special Rapporteur has emphasized the importance of participation in all her reports, including the conceptual framework outlined at the start of her mandate (A/63/274). 7. In order to respond to the Human Rights Council’s request, the present report examines the key human rights principles and standards that determine the content of the right to participation with regard to the poorest and most marginalized members of society. After examining these norms and standards, the report presents a human rights-based framework for meaningful, empowering participation and elucidates the necessary actions and enabling factors to support and enable such participation for people living in poverty. 8. While the issue of participation of people living in poverty is a common theme in the literature on development and humanitarian aid, there has been little discussion of this topic from a human rights perspective. Therefore, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the decision of the Human Rights Council to bring the discussion to human rights forums. 1 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/SRExtremePovertyIndex.aspx 3