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international processes. It should also seek to build the capacity of those who have
traditionally been excluded from political and development processes, to enable
them to participate in those processes and gain access to social benefits without
discrimination.
57. Preventive solidarity includes a vision of shared technological endeavours
aimed at finding a common solution to common problems and of enabling each
State to fulfil its human rights obligations. The human rights -based approach to
international cooperation contained in the draft declaration includes technological
exchange in collective action to address poverty, hunger, preventable deaths and
other global challenges that are also a part of the 2030 Agenda, a recognition of the
need to build the capacities of both developing countries and traditionally
marginalized groups and a call for structures of global governance that enable the
capacity of all countries to defend human rights at the glob al level (ibid., art. 2).
4.
Trade
58. The next set of targets, 17.10 to 17.12, deals with trade. The targets emphasize
the need for a universal and equitable multilateral trading system, increasing the
exports of developing countries, and the realization of market access for least
developed countries.
59. Human rights advocates have long sought to call attention to the democratic
deficits in the international trade regime and have questioned whether this regime is
ideally designed to enable the realization of human rights. 8 They have noted the
manner in which economic power dictates negotiating strength, both inside and
outside the World Trade Organization, and the challenges created when developing
countries lack the capacity to participate equally in trade negotiations. They have
questioned the primacy of economics in our understanding of development and have
emphasized that gains from trade must be measured in terms of capacity for
individual self-realization, rather than aggregate economic growth.
60. The right to international solidarity again emphasizes that international action
with respect to trade must apply a human-rights based approach. That is the only
way to ensure that benefits from trade are distributed in a manner consistent with
human rights principles and that leads to poverty alleviation and development that is
truly sustainable. In an era that has seen a backlash against gl obalization spreading
around the world, the draft declaration provides an alternative vision of positive
engagement in the global community.
5.
Systemic issues
61. The final set of targets under Goal 17 is directed at systemic issues, including
policy coordination and coherence, respect for policy space, multi -stakeholder
partnerships and data, monitoring and accountability.
62. Maintaining policy coherence for sustainable development should have the
goal of ensuring that economic and political mechanisms and institutions are in line
with human rights standards. The international community should act, directed by
the considerations and principles set out throughout the present section, to ensure
coherence between the international legal regimes for trade, finance, investment and
governance and the norms and standards for labour, the environment, human rights,
equality and sustainability.
63. In the 2030 Agenda, the General Assembly recognized the need for
international financial institutions to support the policy space of each country, in
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See, for example, E/CN.4/2005/41, sect. II.C, and E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/17.
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