Geneva: New Humanity and CINGO stoke the debate “How to advance the Right to Development”

On the morning of  4th  April 2014, at the bar des Délégués in the Palais des Nations, the Forum of Geneva Catholic inspired NGOs present in Geneva held a debate with numerous representatives from the national delegations and UN agencies entitled: “How to advance the Right to Development: our vision”.
Mr. Jorge M. Dias Ferreira, New Humanity’s Main representative at the Palais des Nations, was in attendance.

Opening the proceedings was Dr. Maria Rossi (Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XIII) who read a message containing the vision of development which the various Catholic NGOs present in Geneva intend to promote and which can be summarized in four points:

– Complete development of the human individual
– Development based on the human individual
– The inalienability of human rights
– A national and international environment favourable to the fostering of human rights

Following on, the representatives of the nation states had the opportunity to direct their own questions to the members of the Catholic NGOs present (Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII, Association Points-Coeur, Caritas Internationalis, Dominicans for Justice and Peace, International Institute of Mary Our Help of the Salesians of Don Bosco, International Volunteerism Organization for Women Education and Development, International Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education and, naturally, New Humanity).

Lastly, the event closed with a breakfast which made it possible to activate a series of  informal contacts. The event represented a fundamental opportunity to advance the cause of the right to development, just as  the Catholic-inspired NGOs had wished it to be, ahead of the pressing informal inter-sessional meeting of the intergovernmental working group on the Right to Development of the United Nations Human Rights Council.