Impacts of climate change and the global economic crisis are compounding the threats faced by people living in poverty around the world, a United Nations rights expert warned, calling on the international development community to put human rights at the centre of their work.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in developing countries are\u00a0paying a heavy price for global actions beyond their control<\/a>,\u201d said Saad Alfarargi, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the right to development<\/a>, delivering his maiden report to the\u00a0Human Rights Council<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the highest intergovernmental forum in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system on rights issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are witnessing some of the greatest challenges the world has ever seen, without the global commitment to deliver change,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n In a\u00a0news release<\/a>\u00a0issued by the Office of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR<\/a>), the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ expert stressed that even more than 30 years after the adoption of the\u00a0Declaration on the Right to Development<\/a>, many around the planet are still unaware of the existence of right to development, and it remains far from being universally recognized and even further from full implementation.<\/p>\n Mr. Alfarargi also noted increasing politicization of issues related to the right to development that has resulted in little promotion, protection and fulfillment of the right.<\/p>\n Adding to this, the multitude of challenges \u2013 ranging from new global pandemics, corruption, privatization of public services to austerity \u2013 on top of global financial and economic crisis, energy and climate crisis and an increasing number of natural disasters are further complicating the situation.<\/p>\n The worst impact is felt among the world’s poor and those living in Africa, in the world’s least developed countries, and in developing countries that either landlocked or small islands.<\/p>\n A means to remedy the plight, noted the Special Rapporteur is raising the low level of awareness, from grassroots organizations to governments, and to make sure they are all fully engaged in implementing the right.<\/p>\n The building blocks for change are already available, he highlighted.<\/p>\n Any group working for development \u2013 should put the right to development at the centre of their work<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cGlobal agreements are in place to deliver global solutions,\u201d he said, noting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs<\/a>), the\u00a0Paris Agreement<\/a>\u00a0on Climate Change, the\u00a0Addis Ababa Action Agenda<\/a>\u00a0on financing for development and the\u00a0Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAll Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ agencies, development agencies, financial and trade institutions \u2013 in short any group working for development \u2013 should put the right to development at the centre of their work,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is an urgent need to make the right to development a reality for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Alfarargi is the first Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Special Rapporteur on the right to development. He was\u00a0appointed<\/a>\u00a0by the Geneva-based\u00a0Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Human Rights Council<\/a>\u00a0at its 34th session in February-March 2017.<\/p>\n Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ staff, nor are they paid for their work.<\/p>\n