Right to Development (RtD)

SC Statement – HRC60 General Debate Item 3, 19 September 2025

South Centre Statement during the 60th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council

General Debate under Item 3

Geneva, 19 September 2025

At the 60th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC60), the South Centre delivered a statement welcoming the crucial update to the technical guidance on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity.

We are encouraged that the guidance moves beyond technical corrections to address the deep-seated root causes of why women and girls still die during childbirth. In our statement, we highlighted several key advancements:

🔹 An Intersectional Approach: The guidance rightfully identifies structural racism and discrimination as fundamental factors, providing a strong basis for targeted interventions.

🔹 A “Human Rights Economy” Framework: It broadens accountability to international financial institutions and corporations, emphasising that the global financial architecture—including sovereign debt, austerity measures, and healthcare privatisation—must be reformed to prioritise human rights.

🔹 Accountability and Reparations: The call for independent accountability mechanisms and a reparation fund for victims correctly reframes preventable maternal deaths from unfortunate accidents to serious injustices requiring systemic solutions.

These principles are intrinsically linked to the realisation of the Right to Development. A global environment that respects this right is essential for funding public health and creating societies where women and girls can thrive.

The challenge now is implementation. We call on all states, international financial institutions, and partners to fully fund and realise this new, rights-based and justice-oriented guidance.

(more…)

HRC60 Side Event, 8 September 2025

Sustainable Development with an Unsustainable Investor – State Dispute Settlement Mechanism?

Side Event to the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council

Co-organized by the South Centre, Permanent Mission of Honduras in Geneva and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development

Date: Monday, 8 September 2025, 2-3 PM

Venue: Concordia 1, Building A, Palais des Nations

Is the current ISDS mechanism undermining human rights & sustainable development?

Join our HRC60 side event to discuss the impacts and explore fairer alternatives.

(more…)

South Centre Annual Report 2024

South Centre Annual Report 2024

The South Centre carries out multiple activities to support developing countries with policy-oriented research, inputs and advice for negotiations and capacity building. The Report summarizes the South Centre’s activities in 2024 and highlights the contexts in which they were conducted as well as the objectives that were pursued with their implementation.

(more…)

SC Inputs to the Expert Mechanism on the RtD Study, February 2025

Inputs to the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development Study on Climate Justice, Sustainability, and the Right to Development

February 2025

The South Centre inputs to the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development Study on Climate Justice, Sustainability, and the Right to Development makes a call for upholding Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDRRC) in ensuring a just transition, protecting the human rights of the most affected populations and reforming Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms that threaten climate action.

(more…)

South Centre Statement to HRC57, September 2024

Statement by the South Centre at the 57th Session of the Human Rights Council on “Realizing the right to development: The case for a United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation” 

September 2024

At the 57th session of the Human Rights Council, South Centre outlined the possible content of protocols to the United Nations Tax Convention for taxing Illicit Financial Flows & Digital Services.

(more…)

South Centre Annual Report 2023

South Centre Annual Report 2023

The South Centre carries out multiple activities to support developing countries with policy-oriented research, inputs and advice for negotiations and capacity building. See a summary of the South Centre’s activities in the Annual Report 2023.

(more…)

SouthViews No. 252, 21 September 2023

The Right to Development: Principles, Realization and Challenges

 By H.E. Mr. Ali Bahreini

The main theme of the 54th session of the Human Rights Council revolves around economic, social, and cultural rights, with a particular focus on the right to development. This article addresses the importance of the right to development, the Iranian perspective on it, and the impact of various challenges on its full and effective realization.

(more…)

SC Statement to HRC54 General Debate Item 3, 21 September 2023

Statement

General Debate – Item 3

54th regular session of the Human Rights Council

South Centre

21 September 2023

The South Centre appreciates the presentation of the thematic reports, and the reports of the Working Groups on the Right to Development and Private Military and Security Companies.

The South Centre will continue supporting developing countries for the achievement of these objectives and the provision of innovative solutions for tackling the unique challenges faced by developing and least developed countries.

(more…)

SC Statement – Interactive Dialogue with SR on RtD, 20 September 2023

Statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development

54th regular session of the Human Rights Council

South Centre

20 September 2023

The South Centre, as an intergovernmental organization of developing countries, welcomes the report prepared by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development on his vision for reinvigorating the right to development.

We thank the Special Rapporteur once again for considering the research undertaken and inputs provided by the South Centre in his report, and would like to reiterate our strong support for his important work and mandate.

(more…)