Towards the universality of the right to development
Towards the universality of the right to development

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to a brief analysis of the complex process of universalisation of the right to development proclaimed by the United Nations in the "Declaration on the Right to Development", adopted by the UN General Assembly by resolution 41/128 of 4 December 1986. The right to development belongs to the third generation of human rights, and its universal character has been reaffirmed in numerous human rights documents. Strictly speaking, the right to development was first proclaimed at the regional level in 1981 in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The concept of the right to development continues to be controversial, despite the efforts of the Human Rights Council to reach a consensus that the right to development must be recognised as a universal and inalienable right, an integral part of fundamental human rights. Underdevelopment cannot be invoked to justify the limitation of human rights. States should cooperate to remove obstacles to development. Referring to the position of the Member States of the Non-Alignment Movement, which is strongly in favour of drafting a document of legal value on the right to development, as well as the current state of debate on this issue in the Human Rights Council and other international fora, the article highlights the difficulties in codification of this right, as well as the potential solutions envisaged, in the event that this right would refer to sustainable development, a topic of particular significance in the context of the preparations for the Rio+20 Conference in June 2012. This conference could give a new impetus for intensifying negotiations aimed at reaching a real consensus on the universality of the right to development.

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