The United Nations is marking four decades since Member States adopted the Declaration on the Right to Development, renewing attention on the principle that economic and social progress should be shared fairly and that people should be able to participate in decisions affecting their lives.
Adopted in 1986, the declaration describes development as an inalienable human right rather than simply a measure of economic growth, covering economic, social, cultural and political development and placing the individual at the centre of the process.
According to the World Inequality Report 2026, supported by the UN Development Programme, the poorest half of the world's population owns only two per cent of global wealth, while the wealthiest 0.001 per cent, around 56,000 billionaires, hold three times more wealth than that entire poorer half combined.
The UN human rights office says the right to development is intended to address widening inequality both within and among countries, with core principles including meaningful participation, equitable distribution of benefits, non-discrimination and people's sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources.
In Kenya, the Endorois community, numbering roughly 60,000 people, was excluded from decisions to convert ancestral land around Lake Bogoria into a game reserve, damaging livelihoods and contributing to the deaths of large numbers of cattle, an example the UN cites of exclusion's concrete costs.
Member States are due to meet at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 23 September to mark the anniversary, with world leaders expected to review progress since 1986 and discuss how international cooperation can reduce poverty and widen opportunity.