During the 73rd session of the General Assembly a side event focusing on the “right to development perspective on South-South cooperation” was sponsored by Mr. Saad Alfarargi, Special Rapporteur on the right to development and the Non-Aligned Movement.
Panelists highlighted that the international community is confronted with ever-increasing global challenges and crises that pose a threat to the economic, social, cultural and political development of current and future generations. In 1986, the Declaration on the Right to Development recognized that such development challenges can only be addressed if States and other relevant stakeholders join forces to find common and sustainable solutions.
“South-South cooperation and right to development are mutually reinforcing,” said Mr. Tarik Iziraren, UNOSSC Deputy Director for Policy and Strategic Partnership. “South-South cooperation is one of the major embodiments of the right to development because the two concepts have so many aspects in common and there is a lot of alignment between them in terms of the rationale of their establishment, their objectives and their principles.”
“The main purpose of South-South cooperation,” said Mr. Iziraren “is to leave no one behind and to make sure that every individual and every country in the South benefits from the right to development through the sharing of the fruits of global economic growth and advances (technological, technical, etc) and to provide a framework for developing countries to express their solidarity and to exchange their experiences, best practices, development solutions to allow them to achieve economic, social, environment and cultural goals.”
South-South cooperation is an empowering modality of cooperation for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in allowing countries to realize their individual and collective self-reliance and the equality of opportunity for development, Mr. Iziraren said. South-South cooperation, as complementary to North-South cooperation, is open to other modalities of cooperation and the involvement of all sustainable development actors.
Other panelists included H.E. Mr. Samuel Moncada, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Non-Aligned Movement Chair; H.E. Mr. Mohamed Fathi Ahmed Edrees, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Group of 77 Chair; Mr. Saad Alfarargi, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to development; and Ms. Bhumika Muchhala, an independent consultant on Global Economic Governance, Sustainable Development and Social Justice.
Panelists stressed the importance of taking stock and identifying some of the good practices, benefits and challenges concerning the advancement of the right to development through South-South cooperation. The Special Rapporteur on the right to development addresses these issues in his 2018 thematic report to the 73rd session of the General Assembly (A/73/271) which will contribute to the preparatory process for the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, to be held in Buenos Aires in March 2019.
