A/HRC/30/56 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on 8 October 2014. In addition to those activities Ms. Fanon Mendès-France and Ms. Shepherd had participated in the official launch of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015– 2024) at the General Assembly on 10 December 2014. IV. Summary of deliberations Thematic analysis: development and people of African descent 12. The Working Group devoted its sixteenth session to the third pillar of the theme of the International Decade for People of African Descent, development. 13. Lawrence Juma, Professor and Deputy Dean, Faculty of Law, Rhodes University, South Africa, delivered the keynote presentation on the topic “Right to development and people of African descent: prospects and challenges”. He began by stating that the International Decade for People of African Descent presented an opportunity to take stock of efforts that had been made up till then in the uplifting of the conditions of people of African descent and to make recommendations for the future. Mr. Juma delved into the nature of the right to development, asserting that the contentious nature of that right, owing to unresolved implementation challenges, should not obscure the overall benefits of it. Mr. Juma then outlined what development and the right to development should mean for people of African descent, drawing on experiences from Africa, the Americas and Europe. He proposed that the implementation of the right to development and a rights-based approach might provide some avenue for redressing the development needs of marginalized communities. He concluded by identifying areas that would maximize the benefits of a rights-based approach to development, such as increasing participation, normative interventions, the use of special measures and international collaboration. 14. An interactive discussion followed the presentation in which members of the Working Group and participants in the session engaged with Mr. Juma, who responded to questions and comments by further expanding on issues such as the justiciability of the right to development, providing further avenues for participatory processes in realizing the right to development and awareness-raising. The Permanent Representative of Brazil thanked the Working Group and the keynote speaker for the presentation, and stated that genuine equality in development was fundamental for the eradication of racism. She added that the International Decade for People of African Descent provided an important opportunity to raise more awareness of the rights of people of African descent. 15. The first panel discussion of the session centred on the legal framework, the right to development and people of African descent. Shyami Puvimanasinghe, Human Rights Officer, Right to Development Section of OHCHR, presented a historical overview of the concept of the right to development and the international legal framework with a focus on the Declaration on the Right to Development. She also presented the new development paradigm based on the sustainable development agenda and its goals, the climate summit and development, and financing for development. She emphasized the need for international solidarity to realize the right to development for all people. 16. Ms. Fanon Mendès-France made a presentation, entitled “Law and development”. Drawing from examples from around the world, she described the challenges in the realization of the right to development by people of African descent, including the denial of the right to human dignity. Despite the developments observed in standard-setting throughout the past decades, people of African descent continued to be discriminated against, inter alia, in various social sectors and in the criminal justice sector. Development 4