This proposal would place obligations on all States parties to recognise the inalienable right of every person and all peoples to “participate in, contribute to, and benefit from economic, social, cultural, and political development”, while reaffirming principles of equality of opportunity, intersectional non-discrimination, fair distribution, intergenerational equity, self-determination, ecological sustainability, international peace and security, friendly relations among States and the duty to cooperate and international cooperation. The proposal would build on the recognition of the right to development in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development, as well as longstanding demands for a legally binding international instrument capable of addressing structural global inequalities. The Covenant would seek to move the right to development beyond a largely declaratory framework towards an operational legal instrument capable of giving concrete legal expression to the developmental priorities of the Global South, while addressing systemic global inequalities and the structural obstacles that continue to undermine the achievement of inclusive, sustainable and participatory development.
