Human Rights Mainstreaming in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

13 June 2014

Mr. President of the Human Rights Council,
former Presidents
Excellencies,
distinguished representatives,
ladies and gentlemen,

It is a privilege to be here with four current and former Presidents of the Human Rights Council at this important side event on mainstreaming human rights in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Human Rights Council plays an important role in mainstreaming human rights throughout the work of the United Nations and its collaboration with member States. The Human Rights Council can send a strong message that human rights must underline all the elements of the Post-2015 Development Agenda which is currently being drafted by the Open Working Group of member States in New York. In fact, member States will be debating their zero draft of Sustainable Development Goals in New York next week - so the topic of this side event could not be timelier.

Looking back over the past decade – from the 2000 Millennium Summit, through the 2005 World Summit, the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting on the MDGs, up to the Rio+20 Summit – member States have repeatedly reinforced their commitment to ensure development that realizes human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, and the right to development. The central message, therefore, is very clear: Human rights are relevant to every item on the development agenda. This means that we do not need a stand-alone post-2015 goal on human rights. Rather, human rights standards and principles must be integrated across all new development goals.

To illustrate what this can look like, allow me to share four succinct suggestions which I hope may inspire your discussion today.

First, the new agenda must address both sides of the development challenge: freedom from want and freedom from fear. Why? Because we have witnessed how freedom from want without freedom from fear is unsustainable and vice versa.

Happily, when we look at the new draft goals that are currently being discussed by the Open Working Group, many socio-economic goals already reflect key economic and social rights elements – and, thus, “freedom from want.” For example, the proposed goal on food aims to end hunger and to ensure access to “adequate, safe, affordable and nutritious food for all”; the draft education goal seeks to ensure “free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education for all girls and boys”. Clearly, these targets draw strongly from international human rights norms, as does the inclusion of essential language on poverty eradication.

The current zero draft also address “freedom from fear”, for example through a goal on peaceful societies, rule of law and effective institutions. So far, targets have been proposed to address key human rights concerns such as personal security, fair administration of justice and meaningful public participation – key development sectors that deserve UN support. It is important to stress that progress in these areas can now be measured much better than fifteen years ago. We need to make sure these issues do not get ‘vetoed’ on a technical basis but are retained during the upcoming negotiations.

Secondly, the new framework must be underpinned by the human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination. On this, I commend the Open Working Group’s commitment to two key goals: one on gender equality and another on equality within and between countries. So far, the gender equality goal includes targets to end discrimination and violence against women and girls, including all harmful practices. It also aims to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, all elements of which should be retained. The broader equality goal includes targets “to eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices” and to “reduce inequalities of opportunity and outcome among social groups”. This is a big leap forward from the MDGs but we need to make sure that targets are in line with human rights standards. [Expand on this idea?]

Thirdly, the new agenda must include a strong global partnership which ensures that international policy is coherent with human rights, including the right to development. This means, for example, that we need to address power imbalances in global governance, and reducing inequalities between countries. We must create an enabling environment for development – one that ensures that the international regimes for trade, investment, intellectual property and international cooperation are fair and are consistent with, and respectful of, human rights standards.

Finally, the Post-2015 Agenda must be underpinned by a strong accountability framework, which includes accountability for actors in both the public and the private sector. The lack of accountability for progress has been a key reason that the MDGs have fallen short of their potential. Without strong accountability mechanisms, the Post-2015 Agenda will risk being a list of empty promises.

Thus, a Post-2015 Development Agenda needs to rest on a ‘web of accountability’ –that is, accountability mechanisms at the local, national, regional and global level. This can include a role for political accountability mechanisms such as parliaments, judicial and quasi-judicial independent oversight bodies such as national human rights institutions, and social accountability mechanisms to ensure that civil society can monitor progress on the new goals. In addition to the responsibilities of States, the responsibilities of the private sector need to be reviewed. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide a compelling framework for this purpose.

We must also build a ‘cycle of accountability’ –by systematically sharing the data that different accountability mechanisms already collect. For example, the wealth of information produced by the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review and treaty monitoring processes could be fed systematically into the post-2015 accountability framework, which will likely be attached to the annual High-Level Political Forum in New York. The Forum could also learn useful lessons from the UPR on how to organize a successful peer-review mechanism, and ensure participation from all relevant stakeholders.

Excellencies,

the Post-2015 Development Agenda represents the unique opportunity to redefine the idea of development in the 21st century – from a set of narrowly defined socio-economic indicators to a universal, balanced and people-centred agenda which builds on one of the greatest normative achievements of the past century – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Let us, thus, make sure that the Post-2015 Development Agenda aims for nothing less than development as freedom from fear and freedom from want for all people, without discrimination.

Thank you.