UN experts highlight right to development

A group of United Nations experts on Friday urged governments worldwide to take actions so as to remove obstacles to the right to development.

Extreme poverty and growing inequality had fuelled crises and conflicts with far-reaching consequences, according to a joint statement marking the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development by the UN General Assembly, which falls on Dec. 4.

The experts said that governments worldwide must move from rhetoric to action and urgently honor their political and financial commitments to development.

The experts, including UN Special Rapporteurs on the right of everyone, the right to food, the right to education and other UN rights experts, stressed that without fresh commitment and finance, the ground-breaking Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be met by their target date of 2030.

"The SDGs will remain empty promises without proper political and financial commitment, regulation, management, and related safeguards," they noted.

"The test now is whether governments will go beyond rhetoric and act on promises to leave no one behind," the experts added.

According to the experts, transparency, effective participation and accountability at national and international levels, were crucial to developing real partnerships to make a change. Endit