1. Introduction 3 Understanding women’s economic and social rights 10
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4.4 Thoughts on the post-2015 development frameworkThe Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been widely accepted as the dominant global framework for improving human development, yet they have also been widely criticized for failing to integrate human rights, prioritize the most marginalized, and hold Governments around the world accountable for their progress. This accountability gap – wherein State obligations for economic and social rights are clear under international human rights law, but not meaningfully incorporated and reflected in development goals – is a vital aspect of the global development agenda that must be remedied, particularly from the standpoint of women’s rights and gender equality. On 5 April 2013 the United Nations observed the 1,000-day mark to the 2015 target date for achieving MDGs. As the MDGs enter their final days before expiring in 2015, many human rights organizations,489 development agencies,490 women’s rights groups,491 and environmental groups492 are demanding that human rights be at the at the core of any post-2015 development framework. At the center has been the call to ensure that the post-2015 framework is “anchored in human rights” and that the new framework “moves from a model of charity to one of justice, based on the inherent dignity of people as human rights-holders, domestic governments as primary duty-bearers, and all development actors sharing common but differentiated responsibilities.”493 Advocates have also highlighted that relying on human rights standards and principles to give moral and legal force to development targets is more in line with the principle of accountability than relying on goal-setting alone, and would yield better results in terms of achieving actual development objectives.494 This call had been increasingly echoed by others. For example, on 21 May 2013, 17 Special Procedures mandate-holders of the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a joint statement calling for “[g]rounding development priorities in human rights.”495 It states that “human rights norms and standards provide concrete guidance as to how goals and targets for the post-2015 development agenda should be framed. Governments have already committed to uphold human rights in numerous international treaties. Grounding development priorities in human rights is not only a legal and moral imperative, but can also enhance effectiveness and accountability.”496 The statement also puts forward three key recommendations for a post-2015 agenda, namely: 1) incorporation of equality as a stand-alone and cross-cutting goal, 2) inclusion of a goal on the provision of social protection floors, and 3) putting accountability at the core of the post-2015 development framework.497 On 6 June 2013, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, also wrote an open letter to permanent representatives of UN Member States in New York and Geneva, outlining her key messages for the post-2015 development agenda. In her letter, the High Commissioner proposes ten elements for the post-2015 agenda, which include: a human rights-based approach; freedom from fear as well as freedom from want; equality as a separate goal (rather than economic growth); inclusion of marginalized groups; an end to poverty; a healthy environment as the underlying determinant of internationally guaranteed human rights; international reform, to ensure human rights-based policy coherence at the international level; universal applicability; a strong accountability framework; and greater responsibility to be shown by the private sector, with appropriate government regulation.498 On 25 June 2013, the European Union Council Conclusions on the Overarching Post 2015 Agenda also emphasize that the post-2015 framework “[e]nsure a rights-based approach encompassing all human rights.”499 In addition, civil society organizations have also expressed their views in the form of consensus documents. Most notably, the Vienna+20 CSO Declaration, adopted in Vienna on June 26, 2013,500 addresses human rights in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, calling upon States to “reaffirm the primacy of human rights in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda … [and] to transform the current aid-based model into a new universally applicable framework based on human rights and well-being, gender equality, social and economic justice and respect for planetary boundaries.”501 It also calls upon States to: … respect, protect and fulfil the economic, social, and cultural rights of all peoples, with prioritization of marginalized groups without retrogression and on the basis of non-discrimination and equality, immediately ensuring universal social protection floors, universal health coverage, adequate food and nutrition, water, sanitation, education and housing. For this purpose, any new targets and indicators have to be disaggregated, time-bound and equity-sensitive and consistent with the progressive realization of human rights. They have to protect workers’ rights, guarantee minimum wages and pensions, close gender, ethnic, regional and other wage gaps, and restrain excessive levels of compensation.502 These developments point to a widespread consensus around this idea of employing a human rights approach to development. However, placing human rights at the center of the post-2015 development framework remains a significant challenge. Some have said that “Human rights could be [a] faultline in post-2015 development agenda”503 Some politicians have even suggested that Governments may have “red lines” when it comes to the integration of human rights in the post-2015 framework.504 For women’s economic and social rights, the post-2015 agenda represents both a risk and an opportunity. One risk is that the post-2015 agenda will take a limited view of women’s economic and social rights, and instead of prioritizing the poorest and most marginalized women, will prioritize development objectives which are not rights-based and that amount to ‘low hanging fruit.’ The opportunity, of course, is to further entrench women’s rights and the principle of gender equality into the global development agenda, resulting in important concrete gains for women and girls across the world and greater equality and empowerment in economic and social life.505 UN-Women has prepared a document to help guide global discussions on the integration of women’s rights in the post-2015 agenda, entitled A Transformative Stand-Alone Goal on Achieving Gender Equality, Women’s Rights and Women’s Empowerment: Imperatives and Key Components.506 Stating that the post-2015 development framework “must avoid the shortcomings of the MDG framework which, from a gender perspective, include the failure to address the structural causes of gender inequality (including addressing issues such as violence against women, unpaid care work, limited control over assets and property, and unequal participation in private and public decision-making,” UN-Women suggests three basic components to comprise a new stand-alone goal on gender equality, namely: freedom from violence; capabilities and resources; and voice, leadership and participation.507 Many of the specific targets and indicators suggested go directly to effective monitoring and implementation of a range of women’s economic and social rights. These specific targets and indicators, as specified under each of the goal areas, are summarized in the Table below.
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