Permanent Committee for Human Rights hosts insightful discussion with UN experts on the Right to Development
Abu Dhabi, 5th March 2024 – Last Thursday, the UAE Permanent Committee for Human Rights (PCHR), in collaboration with the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, hosted an insightful event exploring the ongoing discussions on the draft Covenant on the Right to Development.
Chaired by Hind Alowais, Director of the PCHR, the event heard from HE Ambassador Zamir Akram, Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on the Right to Development, and Professor Koen De Feyter, Professor at the University of Antwerp and former member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development.
Bringing together ambassadors, the wider diplomatic community, students, the discussion explored the origins and conceptualisation of the draft Covenant, its content and key principles, in the context of human rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Hind Alowais, Director of the PCHR, commented: “One of our priorities is continuing to learn more about the various topics within human rights. In this context, it is paramount to understand the evolution of the topic on the right to development and the close connection between human rights and the development agenda. Last week’s event provided an opportunity to understand the origins of the right to development and specifically how it is being positioned as a human right.”
HE Zamir Akram, Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on the Right to Development commented: “The UN Declaration on the Right to Development represented a landmark moment in defining economic, social, cultural and political development as a universal, inalienable human right. We are yet to have a legally binding Declaration, and so the important next steps will be spearheaded by the UN General Assembly where member states will decide how to move forward on this issue”.
Professor Koen De Feyter, Lecturer at the University of Antwerp and former member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, added: “We can only achieve true human rights protection if we create common understanding among states, international organisations and corporate actors. We need everyone to join forces to realise full development. This is why discussions like last week’s are important”.
The ongoing event series facilitated by the PCHR and Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy provides a platform to exchange best practices in the implementation of human rights – and builds on the UAE’s established tradition of working with international and regional partners to promote and protect universal human rights in accordance with international obligations.