participation, the community can assist and help the exchange of information between
states and groups.54
International solidarity is not only confined to international support, cooperation, aid,
charity or humanitarian assistance; it is a wider conception that incorporates legitimacy
of international economic relations, the peaceful co-existence of all members of the
international community, mutual support and the just and fair carving up of interests
and responsibilities avoiding impediment to the larger welfare of others.55
(A) International Obligation
It is a fundamental principle of international law that states have the obligation to
work together with one another for the purpose of maintaining international peace
and security and to support international economic stability and development without
discrimination. The specialised agencies must be deemed to have the responsibility
to assist the accomplishment of the right to development. The obligation of states in
promoting the human right to development has two aspects. Firstly, it is the obligation
of states that connects with the people’s living within their jurisdiction. The right
to self-determination, as enumerated in Article 1 of both the international covenants
on human rights, requires duties of states to respect rights of peoples under their
jurisdiction to decide clearly their political status and to freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development. Secondly, states in their association with others have
the obligation to collaborate for the universalisation of the right to development.
Similar contemplations are correspondingly relevant in ascertaining the obligation
of the state groupings in accordance with Article 56 of the UN Charter. Thus, state’s
obligations in their individual capacities are not in any circumstances narrowed down
when they take measures jointly at the regional or sub-regional levels.56
While states have conventional duty with regard to human rights and the right to
development, the UN Declaration on the Right to Development gives great significance
to international obligation of states to help each other in assuring development,
dealing with obstacles to development, and in promoting universal respect for all
human rights and fundamental freedoms.57 The duty to cooperate can be easily found
in international human rights treaties. So far as the economic, social and cultural rights
Emergence of the Right to Development, Supra note 16, at 14.
Puvimanasinghe, Supra note 20, at 179-180; D.P. Verma, ‘International Law of Development’ (2010)
7 Soochow Law Journal 41-82.
56
Sengupta, Supra note 23, at 13.
57
A/RES/41/128, Supra note 5, Articles 2, 3, 3(3), 4(2), 5, 7, and 10. The UN General Assembly has also
adopted the Charter of Economic Right and Duties of States, which guaranteed the obligation of every
state to strengthen economic, social and cultural development of its own people and those of developing
states. They may include financial and technical support, assuring better conditions of business, and
the technology transfer to developing states. Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, General
Assembly Official Records, 29th Sess., Agenda Item 48, 2229th Mtg., Suppl. No. 31 (A/9631), General
Assembly Resolution 3281 (XXIX), 50-51 (A/RES/29/3281, 12 December 1974).
54
55
Journal of the National Human Rights Commission, Vol. 22, 2023
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