E/CN.4/1999/48 page 10 development facilitated the enjoyment of all human rights, the lack of development could not be invoked to justify the abridgement of internationally recognized human rights (Part I, para. 10). 31. The World Conference on Human Rights also affirmed that extreme poverty and social exclusion constituted a violation of human dignity and that urgent steps were necessary to achieve better knowledge of extreme poverty and its causes, including those related to the problem of development, in order to promote the human rights of the poorest, and to put an end to extreme poverty and social exclusion. To that purpose, it was essential for States to foster participation by the poorest people in the decision-making process by the community in which they live, the promotion of human rights and efforts to combat extreme poverty (ibid., para. 25). 32. The individual’s active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of the benefits of development is the basis for the implementation of the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development. Central to this approach is the realization that all human rights are interdependent and that durable economic and social progress requires civil and political freedoms and vice versa. 33. Implementing the Declaration on the Right to Development means adjusting basic needs strategies to a rights-based approach. According to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the existence of widespread extreme poverty inhibits the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, so that its immediate alleviation and eventual elimination must remain a high priority for the international community (ibid., para. 14). 34. A basic needs strategy incorporates a certain element of charity, whereas a human rights-based approach not only defines beneficiaries and the nature of their needs but recognizes beneficiaries as active subjects and claim-holders and establishes duties or obligations for those against whom a claim can be brought to ensure that needs are met. The concept of claim-holders and duty-bearers introduces an important element of accountability. Increased accountability holds the key to improved effectiveness and transparence of action and as such offers the potential for “added value” flowing from the application of rights-based approach. 35. Addressing the fifty-third session (1997) of the Commission on Human Rights, the Secretary-General stated that “truly sustainable development is possible only when the political, economic and social rights of all people are fully respected. They help to create the social equilibrium which is vital if a society is to evolve in peace. The right to development is the measure of the respect of all other human rights. That should be our aim: a situation in which all individuals are enabled to maximize their potential, and to contribute to the evolution of society as a whole”. 36. Consequently, the human right to development is related to all human rights but cannot be identified merely as the sum total of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Economic growth can be a requirement for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, but development is not restricted to economic growth, because not all forms of growth would be