A/HRC/35/35
43.
The discussions were enriched by panel presentations and the ensuing debates
among participants. Extensive discussions were also devoted to international cooperation as
a duty of States and addressing the challenges of, inter alia, climate change, cross-border
migration and terrorism. The consultations were structured to encourage participants to
discuss the logic, structure and content of the text of the proposed draft declaration; to
provide concrete inputs regarding the text with a view to clarifying issues that were seen to
stem from it; and to put forward further recommendations for the implementation on the
ground of the right to international solidarity.
44.
The timing of the five regional consultations on the proposed draft declaration on the
right to international solidarity over ten months beginning in the first quarter of 2015 to
early 2016 could not have been more appropriate. The consultations coincided with two
major United Nations international conferences held in the last quarter of 2015 — the
summit to adopt the 2030 Agenda with its Sustainable Development Goals and the twentyfirst session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change to adopt what was to be known as the Paris Agreement — two global
initiatives to address the future of humanity, in which international solidarity would play a
vital role. As such, the thoughts of most participants in the consultations were rife with
issues of international solidarity linked to sustainable development and climate change.
G.
Submission and revision of the proposed draft declaration
45.
The Independent Expert submitted her report on the five regional consultations to
the Human Rights Council at its thirty-second session in June 2016 (A/HRC/32/43). In its
resolution 32/9, the Council welcomed the report and the Independent Expert’s work in
convening the regional consultations. It also requested the Independent Expert to convene a
meeting with experts from the five geographical regions to assist in finalizing the draft
declaration on the right of peoples and individuals to international solidarity, and requested
OHCHR to assist her in conducting a legal review of the draft declaration prior to its
submission to the Council in 2017.
46.
The Independent Expert, with the assistance of OHCHR, consolidated the inputs
gathered from the regional consultations and proceeded to revise the text of the proposed
draft declaration. The process of revising the original text of the proposed draft declaration
took into account the most salient issues arising from the regional consultations, as well as
those from the other activities mentioned above, including the personal work experience
and studies of the Independent Expert.
H.
Expert group meeting on the revised draft declaration on the right to
international solidarity
47.
On 14 and 15 February 2017, the Independent Expert convened a meeting of legal
experts in Geneva to review the revised version of the draft declaration on the right to
international solidarity as a last step in its finalization. The six experts represented a
diversity of regions, perspectives and areas of expertise, each having a strong legal
background, particular knowledge of international solidarity and familiarity with the
process that informed the crafting of the draft declaration.
48.
The expert group meeting sought to ensure that the draft declaration was in harmony
with existing international law and standards, to review and clarify the definition of the
right to international solidarity, and to provide other concrete inputs on the proposed text in
order to prepare it for submission to the Council. The final revisions to the document have
now been completed.
IV. Comments on the revisions of the draft declaration
49.
The Independent Expert has revised the draft declaration from its previous version
as the “proposed draft declaration” through a process that included the five regional
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