International Task Force on the Right to Development
Development for all!
“The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized.” (Article 1.1, Declaration on the Right to Development)
“The human right to development also implies the full realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, which includes, subject to the relevant provisions of both International Covenants on Human Rights, the exercise of their inalienable right to full sovereignty over all their natural wealth and resources.” (Article 1.2)
Throughout decades, RTD has been transforming and diffusing into the international mandates in various capacities. Yet, the global dynamics of power politics, global parity and western centered approach has been unfair to the realisation of the Right to development of major global populations. Voices of the victims of global parity, poverty and obstruction of development are to be heard. The victim perspective of development policies has to be promoted and practiced.
This task force, composed of research experts, advocates and young leaders shall focus on different aspects of the Right to Development. This shall include Research & Publication, Advocacy and Global partnerships.
The Task Force shall work in the above methods and scopes on various timely topics addressing various high level forums and global agendas. Beyond this, the task force shall promote and advise various local and international governing bodies, organisations and entities on inclusive policies for the realisation of the right to development.
Dr. Shirely Yeung
Dr. Shirley Yeung is now the Associate Associate Vice President, UNESCO HK/
Secretary General, World Institute of Sustainable Development Planners (WISDP). She is the Conference Chair for International Conference on Sustainable Development in Higher Education 2016 and UNPRME Colloquium, 2016, Hong Kong and serves as Director of the Centre for Corporate Sustainability and Innovations at Hang Seng Management College, Hong Kong.
In 2016, Dr Yeung was nominated as Local Change Leader of United Nations. She is an IEMA approved Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner, IRCA ISO 9000 Auditor (UK), AQIP Assessor (US) and HKCAAVQ Subject Specialist (Hong Kong). Dr. Yeung has been convener of the 1st Forum on Sustainable Development in Higher Education (UNESCO, APEID) and chair of the 2nd International Conference on Supply Chain for Sustainability, (Hong Kong). Her research interests include quality management system (QMS), sustainable development (SD) / corporate social responsibility (CSR), management and marketing.
Mr. Severin SINDIZERA
Ms. Nariya Khasanova
Dr. Ayra Indiras Pratas
Ms. Srruthi Lekha R
Mr. Severin is an indigenous peoples' community member, who is activist of human rights and indigenous peoples' rights defender. She is the global Coordinator of international indigenous platform called “Indigenous Peoples Global Forum for Sustainable Development”, IPGFforSD. She is a member of an International Steering Committee of Agri-Food Mergers. As Multi-Stakeholder Task Force (MSTF) to represent indigenous peoples, She is actively contributing in the preparation of the High-Level Meeting (HLM) of the UN General Assembly on HIV/AIDS.
Ms. Khasanova is a meticulous and dedicated professional with Master’s Degree in Sustainable Urban Governance and Peace conferred by the United Nations Mandated University for Peace; currently pursuing PhD studies in Political Science at the University of Alberta. She has experience in participating in, supervising, and seeing to completion several community development and research projects, both national and international. These include her roles as a Project Officer with the United Nations Association in Canada, Visiting Scholar specializing in Central Asian Studies at George Washington University, and Research and Translation Intern with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Offices in Uzbekistan and Slovakia. She is currently working as the Labour Relations Policy Analyst at the Government of Alberta, Canada
Dr. Ayra Indrias Patras is Assistant Professor at Forman Christian College
University, Lahore. She has completed her PhD in Gender Studies from University of the Punjab, Lahore in 2020 and her dissertation has documented the lived experiences of poor Christian women in janitorial services in Lahore. Her work investigated the intersections of gender, caste and labor producing multiple disadvantages for women situated at the fringes of society. She is Member of National Lobbying Delegation on Minority Rights advocating for the constitutional rights of religious minorities with parliamentarians and policy makers.
Ms. Srruthi Lekha is the Co-director of Polity Link. She is a member of the Executive Bureau of the NGO CSW Geneva for the term 2021 - 2024. She also works closely with other civil society organisations such as the Women's Federation for World Peace as its UN Representative. She is currently majoring in the field of Development studies and diplomacy from the UN University of Peace. Her focus and experience lies in strategic consultation and research in the field of development, Human rights and equality. This especially focuses on the upliftment of the least developed countries and developing countries through a human rights based approach for development.