01 March 2023 13:25

On 28 February 2022, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov delivered a video address with an opening speech on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement at the “High-level event on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development,” held within the framework of the high-level segment of the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The said event was organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights together with the Azerbaijani Chairmanship of the NAM, in accordance with resolution 49/8 put forward at the initiative of the Azerbaijani side as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement and adopted at the 49th session of the Human Rights Council.

In his speech, Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, on behalf of the NAM, expressed his gratitude to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for its cooperation in organizing the event. He emphasized that the Declaration, the 35th anniversary of which is being marked, defined “development” as a human right. At the same time, he noted that although the right to development was also unanimously recognized as an independent human right in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted in 1993, attempts to misinterpret its concept and a divisive international discourse are being observed.

He stated that the broad economic and social costs of the unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide and, in this regard, the differing situations among states at the stage of recovery from the pandemic have further set back development prospects and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Furthermore, he noted that the weakening of the role of multilateral institutions, the slow pace of recovery processes from the pandemic, and the negative impacts of climate change make good-faith dialogue on existing inequalities even more necessary.

For this reason, he recalled that the NAM Member States attach importance to this event and that, with reference to paragraph 10 of the Declaration, the international community bears a shared responsibility in realizing the right to development. On behalf of the NAM, he recommended that UN bodies and international financial institutions incorporate the right to development into their activities. In this regard, also referring to the mandate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, he recalled that the High Commissioner’s Office bears responsibility for promoting the right to development within the broader UN system.

At the high-level event, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN and Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group Amina J. Mohammed; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk; Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme Achim Steiner; Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan; and Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also delivered opening speeches.

The event continued with speeches by high-level state representatives.