This is the third time that Ms. Kunanayakam has been nominated by the Non-Aligned Movement for the post, which is an honorary non-remunerated position, and has received the unanimous support of all members of the United Nations for her expertise on the right to development and her remarkable leadership. <\/p>\n
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This, despite insidious attempts last year by Sri Lanka\u2019s Ministry of External Affairs and the Permanent Mission in Geneva to prevent her from presenting the report of the Working Group to the Human Rights Council in Geneva and to the UN General Assembly in New York, through a letter addressed to Navi Pillay and in violation of UN rules and procedures. By acting in this manner, the Ministry of External Affairs was not only seeking to undermine the functioning of the Working Group, but also the credibility of the Non-Aligned Movement, the driving force behind the right to development.<\/p>\n
The Working Group is mandated by the Human Rights Council to ensure the practical implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the General Assembly in 1986. It is not a mechanism set up to judge whether or not a country is implementing the right to development, but to work toward the elaboration of a set of standards for its implementation, which could evolve into an international legally binding instrument.<\/p>\n
The principal architects of the Declaration on the Right to Development were newly independent States organised within the Non-Aligned Movement. The Declaration recognises the need to consolidate political independence through economic independence and to establish an international order, based on respect for sovereign equality and non-interference, supportive of national efforts to promote social well-being for all. The concept of the right to development emerged in the context of global economic and financial crises, and continues its relevance today. The failure of growth-centred development strategies, based on foreign debt, profit and export, had resulted in a dramatic rise in socio-economic inequalities within and between countries, and the conditions created for the dismantling of States in the developing world and their re-colonisation through unilateral interventions, including direct military aggression. <\/p>\n
In her opening speech, Ms Kunanayakam underlined that \u201cthe human person and all peoples are its central subjects \u2013 not objects,\u201d they are \u201cits driving force, its architect, and beneficiary. \u201d There is no single model of development, it \u201ccannot be imposed from the outside.\u201d She pointed out that States have the primary responsibility to create the conditions for its realization by removing national and international obstacles, through international solidarity and cooperation.<\/p>\n
Ms. Kunanayakam will be presenting the Report of the Working Group to the Human Rights Council at its September 2013 session, and soon after to the General Assembly at its 68th session in New York.<\/p>\n