UNA-UK has joined over 700 civil society groups from around the world to call for human rights to be at the heart of any successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
This follows reports from civil society attendees at last month's meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, at which a number of states presented the view that development was not a human rights issue. Although human rights language was eventually incorporated in the conference's final 'Agreed Conclusions', there remain real concern that this argument will recur in other UN forums currently debating the post-2015 agenda.
In an open letter, entitled "The actions we need for the future we want - a civil society red flag", NGOs call for more than "business as usual" from member states:
It is unacceptable that at this point in UN history, despite all agreements and commitments affirming their interlinkages, there is still a dangerous disconnection between development and human rights ... We demand that you go beyond these commitments and establish a well articulated and interlinked human rights and development agenda, with all stakeholders held responsible for coherent and transparent policies, programs and services.
The letter was presented yesterday to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President John Ashe at a session on partnerships in the post-2015 framework.
Click here to read the letter in full.
Latest post-2015 deliberations
The Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG), the body established by the Rio+20 conference in 2012 to explore what will succeed the MDGs when they expire in 2015, has just concluded its tenth session.
Having previously selected 19 "focus areas" for consideration, the co-chairs of the OWG have summarised these into eight "clusters" for the next stage of member state deliberations:
- Cluster 1: Poverty eradication, promote equality
- Cluster 2: Gender equality and women's empowerment, education, employment and decent work for all, health and population dynamics
- Cluster 3: Water and sanitation, sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition
- Cluster 4: Economic growth, industrialisation, infrastructure, energy
- Cluster 5: Sustainable cities and human settlements, promote sustainable consumption and production, climate
- Cluster 6: Conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, oceans and seas, ecosystems and biodiversity
- Cluster 7: Means of implementation/global partnership for sustainable development
- Cluster 8: Peaceful and non-violent societies, rule of law and capable institutions
