Human/Women’s Rights Imperatives in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

Why “imperative?”  Increasing recognition that human rights underpins all.  All human rights are interconnected and interdependent  Democracy/Development/Human rights  Kofi Anan: There is no security without development, no development without security, and there can be neither without respect for human rights

The human rights imperatives arises from: UN Charter Conventions and treaties Summits and International Conferences Declaration on the Right to Development

The Human Rights-based Approach Overarching principles  Universally recognized and legally binding standards and principles provide a benchmark  Equality and dignity before the law  Non-discrimination on any basis, including gender  Entitlements (rather than needs) of rights holders  Responsibility of duty bearers (govts. nat’l and trans- nat’l organizations and businesses, other individuals)  Participation and empowerment Using a rights-based framework to achieve MDGs essentially involves identifying and monitoring the duty-bearers and empowering the claim holders

Declaration on the Right to Development (1986) “The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all people are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social and political development”

Components of the Right to Development  Respect for and reliance on Human Rights Principles Non-discrimination and Equity Accountability and Transparency Participation, empowerment Rule of law and good governance  Achievement/enjoyment of economic and social rights are necessary in order to fully enjoy civil and political rights and fundamental freedoms, and vice versa  States have the primary responsibility to ensure conditions favorable to their realization – individually and through international cooperation  MDGs set the targets which should be seen within this overall framework

 MDG reporting mechanism as a tool To ensure that women’s rights, and a gender perspective in general are prioritized  Components of reports will then require specific information that demand focused research and in turn, focused efforts at ensuring a rights perspective  The challenge is how to shift the paradigm from a matter of ‘principles’ to a matter of legal commitment, and to define specific and practical methods of doing so. MDG reports as entry point

Requirements for achieving the MDGs; human/women’s rights lens Non-discrimination and Equity Disaggregated Data is a MUST; by gender, age, region, ethnicity, etc. Progression over time  A specific section may be added to the reports, under a heading such as “Combating Discrimination Against Women.”  Include information on women within vulnerable populations, especially refugees, IDPs and other migrants to the MDG reports, and ensure their consideration in national and international poverty reduction strategies.

Requirements for achieving the MDGs; human/women’s rights lens Participation and empowerment Employment of participatory mechanisms in the development of strategies and plans: periodic sub-regional meetings, broad opinion surveys, and encouraging grass-roots community participation in particular. Develop participatory processes for monitoring and evaluating progress Mobilize civil society organizations, academics and research centres to participate and monitor efforts within a human rights framework

Requirements for achieving the MDGs; human/women’s rights lens Good governance and the rule of law  Assessment of Legislation that prohibits/legitimizes discrimination on any basis Review of existing and new draft laws Include treaty commitments as legal obligations, especially CEDAW and the two covenants  Assessment of procedures, practices and enforcement (or not) of relevant legislation Discuss stated policies and implementation mechanisms Use recent reports from national and international human rights organizations

Requirements for achieving the MDGs; human/women’s rights lens Progressive realization Add a specific budgetary element to the MDG reports with specific information that tracks  Changing budget allocations over time  Allocation of resources to achieve progressive improvement in the achievement of gender equality and equity Include such a budgetary element under each of the specific goals put in a table format Include information on prioritization of women’s rights and perceived necessary trade-offs, making sure that progress made in women’s rights is not rolled back when focus is shifted to another priority in a different year. This information should lead to an evaluative judgment of the State’s meeting of its ‘obligations of conduct’ vis-à-vis efforts to achieve progress on the Right to Development in the MDGs.

Requirements for achieving the MDGs; human/women’s rights lens Accountability  four categories of accountability mechanisms: Judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative and political  MDG reports themselves are an important form of accountability; ensuring public discussion and evaluation  Where laws prohibiting discrimination or promoting women’s equal rights are adequate, include information on litigation, remedy and redress, and other efforts to access judicial and quasi-judicial machinery for purposes of gender equality in the achievement of the MDGS  Using quasi-judicial institutions: national human rights institutions, ombudsmen, or similar bodies of a semi-official or public nature to direct complaints and demands for public accountability  Proper participation of all stakeholders also means that everyone becomes accountable at one level or another, including U.N. agencies, partner/donor countries, IMF/World Bank and IFIs, and civil society organizations