The Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development: Where Are We with the Realisation of the Right to Development?

On 18 July 2023, the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development, mandated, among other tasks, to oversee the drafting process of a treaty on the right to development by the Human Rights Council, adopted the final Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, the present contribution takes stock of the realisation of the right to development, by exploring the added value of the Draft Covenant in terms of its normative contents particularly compared with its soft law predecessor. It will be submitted that, although in some respects it does not fully reflect the degree of progressiveness one might expect from a framework developed in a contemporary context and continues to rely on the abstract and aspirational articulation of norms found in the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, the Draft International Covenant undoubtedly constitutes a major step forward in the realisation of the right in question, as it articulates the right in legally binding terms applicable to individuals and all peoples, and further specifies both general and specific obligations incumbent upon States Parties.