PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Europaudvalget 2009-10
KOM (2010) 0159 Bilag 1
Offentligt

PUttIng HUmAn RIgHtS At tHE

HEARt Of tHE mILLEnnIUm

DEvELOPmEnt gOALS

FROM

PROMISES TO

DELIVERY

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

amnesty International is a global movement of 2.8 million supporters, members and

activists in more than 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses

of human rights. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the

universal Declaration of human Rights and other international human rights standards.

We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion

and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations.

amnesty International Publications

First published in 2010 by

amnesty International Publications

International Secretariat

Peter Benenson house

1 Easton Street

London WC1X 0DW

united Kingdom

www.amnesty.org

Index: IOR 41/012/2010

Original language: English

Printed by amnesty International,

International Secretariat, united Kingdom

may be reproduced by any method without fee for advocacy,

campaigning and teaching purposes, but not for resale.

The copyright holders request that all such use be registered

with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in

any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications,

or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must

be obtained from the publishers, and a fee may be payable.

Cover photo:

Members of Dey Kraham community in Phnom

Penh, Cambodia, flee the bulldozers. an estimated 250 security

forces and hired demolition workers entered the community

without warning early in the morning on 24 January 2009.

Some 400 families were evicted; most were made homeless.

Back cover photo:

Launch of amnesty International's campaign

to reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone, September 2009.

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in

the world. © amnesty International

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

FROM PROMISES TO

DELIVERY

PUTTING HUMAN RIGHTS AT THE HEART OF

THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

CONTENTS

Chapter 1/ Introduction .................................................................................................1

Chapter 2/ How human rights can strengthen the MDGs....................................................5

Ensuring inclusion .....................................................................................................6

Gaps in measurements and reporting........................................................................7

Setting effective benchmarks for real progress ..............................................................8

Concerns around the global targets...........................................................................9

National targets......................................................................................................9

Participation in decision-making ...............................................................................10

Accountability and remedies .....................................................................................11

National accountability mechanisms.......................................................................12

International accountability mechanisms ................................................................14

Chapter 3/ Why human rights matter in MDG delivery .....................................................15

Human rights and gender equality .............................................................................15

Discrimination, gender-based violence and other barriers..........................................16

Consistency with human rights standards ................................................................18

Human rights and maternal health.............................................................................18

Targets and indicators...........................................................................................19

Sexual and reproductive rights ...............................................................................20

Barriers to maternal health ....................................................................................21

Participation ........................................................................................................22

Consistency with human rights standards ................................................................23

Human rights and slums...........................................................................................24

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Global targets.......................................................................................................24

Insecurity of tenure and exclusion ..........................................................................25

Participation ........................................................................................................27

Consistency with human rights standards ................................................................27

Chapter 4/ Human rights – a framework for progress .......................................................29

Recommendations to governments.............................................................................29

Redress the accountability deficit ..........................................................................29

Ensure consistency with human rights standards .....................................................30

Include the excluded ............................................................................................31

Set targets for progress .........................................................................................31

Ensure participation .............................................................................................31

Recommendations to bilateral and multilateral development agencies and international

financial institutions ................................................................................................32

Mutual obligations in development assistance .........................................................33

Post-2015 framework...............................................................................................34

Table: MDG goals, targets and international law .............................................................36

Endnotes ...................................................................................................................40

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

CHAPTER 1/ INTRODUCTION

“We will spare no effort to free our fellow men,

women and children from the abject and

dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty...

We resolve therefore… [t]o strive for the full

protection and promotion in all our countries of

civil, political, economic, social and cultural

rights for all”

United Nations Millennium Declaration, September 2000, paras 11 and 25

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remain the most prominent global initiative to

address poverty. Drawn from the Millennium Declaration

adopted 10 years ago by all UN

members states, the MDGs represent a commitment, at the highest political level, to

translate the high hopes and ambitions of the Millennium Declaration into real improvements

in the lives of people living in poverty. However, as deadlines draw nearer, there is a very real

danger that the MDG targets will not be met in several areas. Amnesty International believes

that human rights standards – and the duty of governments to fulfil them – must be put at

the heart of MDG efforts in order to fulfil the promises made in the Millennium Declaration.

The MDGs focus on eight areas: (1) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; (2) providing

universal primary education; (3) promoting gender equality and empowering women; (4)

reducing child mortality; (5) improving maternal health; (6) combating HIV/AIDS, malaria

and other diseases; (7) ensuring environmental sustainability; and (8) developing a global

partnership for development.

Seven of the goals are accompanied by global targets for

progress (see Table 1, page 36). The deadline by which most of the targets should be

achieved is 2015. The eighth goal places responsibility on the international community to

assist.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

The MDGs have played a pivotal role in helping to concentrate international attention on

issues of development and poverty reduction. They have also provided a focal point for civil

society which has mobilized nationally and internationally around the MDGs to challenge

poverty and exclusion. Most international development agencies have supported and

prioritized the MDGs. And while the target-driven approach has been questioned by some, it

has been welcomed by others for creating a framework for measuring progress.

However, the extent to which they reflect and help advance the promise of the Millennium

Declaration remains uncertain. Progress has been uneven and the UN has issued a clear

warning that many of the global targets will not be met by 2015 unless efforts are radically

stepped up.

“Our challenge today is to agree on an action agenda to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals. With five years to go to the target date of 2015, the prospect of

falling short of achieving the Goals because of a lack of commitment is very real.

This would be an unacceptable failure from both the moral and the practical

standpoint.”

Keeping the promise: a forward-looking review to promote an agreed action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals

by 2015, Report of the UN Secretary-General, February 2010

The UN Secretary-General has also highlighted the additional challenges posed by climate

change and the food and financial crises.

All efforts to achieve and surpass the MDGs must

reflect the promise of the Millennium Declaration to strive for the protection and promotion

of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for all.

This is essential in order to

make equitable and sustainable progress on the MDGs.

However, states’ obligations under international human rights law are not adequately

reflected in the MDGs. While MDG 7 includes a commitment for states to integrate the

principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes, they did not

include a similar commitment to include human rights principles. Amnesty International

believes that all efforts to achieve the MDGs must take the following into account:

States have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil civil, political, economic, social

and cultural rights. Holding governments to account when they fail to fulfil their obligations

is crucial. Effective and accessible mechanisms must be integrated into MDG efforts, at the

national and international level, so that people can claim their rights and hold governments

to account.

All MDG initiatives must be consistent with human rights standards and obligations,

including the principle that states should not take retrogressive steps, unless absolutely

necessary, which could lead to a reversal of progress made towards the full realization of

rights (such as through adoption of policies or disinvestment, which reduces peoples’ access

to essential social services).

States must also put in place mechanisms to monitor MDG

initiatives to ensure that they do not lead to human rights violations.

Exclusion and discrimination continue to be key factors in driving and deepening

poverty. They are often barriers to people’s access to services, resources and programmes and

undermine efforts to tackle poverty. Freedom from discrimination is a central principle of

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

international human rights law, set out in a range of international treaties.

Laws and

practices must ensure that full and equal enjoyment of rights extends to all, including

members of marginalized or excluded groups.

It is also essential that all MDG initiatives

reflect the commitments made by states to women’s human rights and gender equality. They

should also focus on women’s experience of poverty and address discrimination and other

human rights violations faced by women and girls, which drive and deepen poverty.

States have an immediate obligation to prioritize minimum essential levels of economic,

social and cultural rights – such as housing, food, water, sanitation, education, health and

social security – for all.

They are also required to focus on the most disadvantaged when

planning and implementing programmes and allocating resources nationally and

internationally.

States must incorporate these requirements so that all MDG initiatives

prioritize those individuals and groups most at risk and bring about real improvements in

their lives.

States are required to set benchmarks for measuring progress.

Some states have

adapted the global MDG targets to their national realities, taking into account the resources

available to them. However, others have simply adopted the global MDG targets and so may

have set the bar too low. National targets must be identified to enable better monitoring and

accountability and ensure that efforts under the MDGs are truly directed at progress in all,

rather than just some, countries.

International human rights law guarantees the right to participation, including the rights

to freedom of expression, information and association, of affected communities.

Participation and genuine consultation are prerequisites for effective planning and delivery

and must be guaranteed in all national and international efforts to meet the MDGs.

This report focuses on three main issues – gender equality, maternal health and slums –

which provide clear examples of how the MDGs and the targets set fall short of international

human rights standards. These examples illustrate the gap between the current MDG targets

and existing requirements under international human rights law. The issues and country

examples described are repeated in many other areas and countries. The report ends with a

list of recommendations to states, bilateral and multilateral development agencies,

international financial institutions, and UN agencies, programmes and funds. These focus on

how implementation of the MDGs between now and 2015 can be made consistent with

human rights standards. They also briefly outline some of the essential elements that must

be incorporated into any revised or new global framework to address poverty after 2015.

The MDGs came onto the world stage 10 years ago promising some of the world’s most

impoverished and excluded communities a new dawn in a new millennium. Since then, some

progress has been made, but it is now painfully clear that this has been uneven, and that

without increased efforts, progress will fall far short of the targets set for 2015. The

challenge now is urgent and clear – to make that framework effective for the billions striving

to free themselves from poverty and to claim their rights. Amnesty International believes that

the respect and promotion of all human rights – including economic, social and cultural

rights – are key in order to improve the lives of people living in poverty.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Amnesty International calls on states to put human rights at the centre of efforts to meet the MDGs.

This requires states to:

Improve accountability – states must ensure that national and international mechanisms are in place to

hold them to account if they fail to fulfil their duty to respect, protect and fulfil human rights in pursuing MDG

initiatives. They must also provide effective remedies for human rights violations.

Review consistency with human rights standards – states should review all existing and planned laws,

policies and programmes linked to the MDGs to ensure consistency with international human rights standards.

This review should ensure that the views and experiences of those affected by MDG initiatives are heard and

taken into account.

Include the excluded – states must ensure that their MDG efforts are inclusive, that they are aimed at

ending discrimination, guarantee gender equality and prioritize the most disadvantaged groups.

Set national targets for progress – states should set and implement national targets to realize all

economic, social and cultural rights, in particular minimum essential levels, in the shortest possible time.

Governments should develop time-bound and measurable targets, taking into account existing levels of

progress and the resources available nationally and through international co-operation and assistance.

Ensure participation – states must ensure that people living in poverty are able to participate

meaningfully in MDG planning, implementation and monitoring at all levels. They must ensure equal

participation by women and provide an enabling environment for the work of human rights defenders,

including through guaranteeing people’s rights to information, freedom of expression and association.

Ensure that all international co-operation and assistance in support of the MDGs is consistent with

human rights standards.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

CHAPTER 2/ HOW HUMAN RIGHTS

CAN STRENGTHEN THE MDGS

“The norms and values embedded in the

Millennium Declaration and international human

rights instruments must continue to provide the

foundation for engagement, in particular the key

human rights principles of non-discrimination,

meaningful participation and accountability.”

Keeping the promise: a forward-looking review to promote an agreed action agenda to achieve

the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,

Report of the UN Secretary-General, February

2010, para 99(4)

The Millennium Development Goals are largely silent on human rights, and the targets they

set are in some cases less than what states are already obligated to do under international

law. For example, the MDGs contain no explicit requirement that states identify and address

exclusion and discrimination. The targets and indicators for many of the goals do not

acknowledge the variety of human rights factors that drive and deepen poverty. Integrating

international human rights standards into MDG efforts could lead to more meaningful

progress on the MDGs in the next five years. This would require that governments review all

MDG initiatives and efforts to ensure their consistency with human rights; address

discrimination experienced by women and other groups; set appropriate national targets, both

in terms of levels of progress that should be achieved on particular issues and those

prioritized; fulfil the right to participation; and strengthen mechanisms for accountability.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

ENSURING INCLUSION

International human rights law requires all states to guarantee equality and non-

discrimination. The MDGs, in contrast, contain no explicit requirement for states to

comprehensively identify and redress exclusion and discrimination.

While the Millennium Declaration reiterated states’ commitment to “combat all forms of

violence against women and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination against Women”, gender equality and women’s rights are only partly and very

poorly reflected in the MDGs. Goal 3, to promote gender equality and empower women (see

Chapter 3), has been reduced to a single target – eliminate gender disparity in education –

and two complementary indicators on the percentage of women involved in paid employment

and political representation. This is a long way from states’ obligations under the Convention

on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which require

governments to address discrimination against women and guarantee equality under each of

the goals and targets.

International law also prohibits discrimination on other grounds, such as race, caste,

ethnicity, disability and Indigenous status. These forms of discrimination are closely linked to

poverty, yet the MDGs remain silent on them.

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has highlighted the fact that Indigenous

Peoples “are disproportionately represented among the poor and extremely poor, their levels

of access to adequate health and education services are well below national averages, and

they are especially vulnerable to the consequences of environmental degradation”.

The

Permanent Forum also noted that, “Indigenous and tribal peoples are lagging behind other

parts of the population in the achievement of the goals in most, if not all, the countries in

which they live, and indigenous and tribal women commonly face additional gender-based

disadvantages and discrimination.”

THE YAKYE AXA AND SAWHOYAMAXA

“The destitute living conditions of the members of the Yakye Axa community who have settled

alongside the public road are extreme”, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 17 June 2005

The cases of the Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Peoples in Paraguay illustrate the importance of

enforcing the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their traditional lands and the impact that the lack of protection

of this right can have in driving and deepening poverty in these communities and limiting their access to food,

water, health and their other human rights.

The Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Peoples are living in temporary homes beside a busy highway

with severely limited access to clean water, food and medicines.

The land they inhabited for generations is

now in the hands of private owners. In 2005 and 2006 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that

the lands should be returned to the Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa, and highlighted the central importance of

Indigenous Peoples’ relationship with their lands for the realization of other human rights.

Since the rulings,

it is estimated that 27 members of the Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa communities have died from preventable

causes.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

The deadlines set by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the return of the lands have long passed

and the lands have yet to be returned to the communities. Action to comply with the judgements has yet to

produce any positive outcome for their land claims. In fact, in October 2009, the Paraguayan Senate voted

against the return of Indigenous lands to the Yakye Axa, and the state now seems to be resigned to seeking

alternative lands to offer to the communities rather than taking the decisive action needed to obtain on their

behalf the land they are claiming. In the meantime, both communities suffer the cumulative effects of the

lack of essential services available to them, with deficient education and health provision, and limited access

to water and food.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has also expressed concern that Indigenous

issues are largely absent from MDG processes and reports. It noted that unless the particular

situation of Indigenous Peoples is adequately taken into account, “some Millennium

Development Goals processes may lead to accelerated loss of lands and natural resources for

indigenous peoples, and thus of their means of subsistence and their displacement, as well

as to accelerated assimilation and erosion of their culture.”

The proportional nature of the targets also raises concerns that states can demonstrate

progress while failing to focus on the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. For

example, groups working on the rights of people with disabilities have emphasized that

although “20 per cent of the world’s poorest people are disabled… disability is not

mentioned in any of the 8 MDG goals, the 18 targets, or the 48 indicators. People with

disabilities are also largely absent from international and national strategies and action plans

for poverty reduction… lack of specific attention to marginalised groups in the targets and

indicators creates a real danger that efforts to achieve the MDGs will push some of the

world’s poorest people to the periphery.”

The MDGs’ exclusive focus on poverty reduction in developing countries also neglects pockets

of poverty in developed countries, which are closely related to discrimination and

marginalization. For example, Roma communities in many European countries continue to

live in conditions that stand in stark contrast to majority populations. Many live in grossly

inadequate housing and their access to services such as water, sanitation, education and

health care is often inadequate or non-existent.

The failure to address discrimination is reflected not only in the actual goals and targets, but

also in the MDG planning, monitoring and reporting framework.

GAPS IN MEASUREMENTS AND REPORTING

A survey of 50 MDG country reports by the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues

showed that ethnic and linguistic minorities were mentioned in only 19 reports and only in

relation to certain goals. Even when they were mentioned, information on issues affecting

minorities or analysis of measures directed at minority groups were not provided under each

of the MDGs.

States are asked to disaggregate the MDG indicators on the basis of sex and urban/rural

communities, as far as possible.

However, there is no similar requirement to provide

disaggregated data for groups who face discrimination or are disadvantaged within a

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

particular country context, for example, Indigenous Peoples or minority communities.

Reviews of national MDG reports by the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on

Indigenous Issues revealed that very few actually provide disaggregated data.

Some countries have developed frameworks for monitoring progress which include a specific

focus on marginalized groups. For example, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human

Rights reported that Thailand included disaggregated national indicators that take into

account regional and ethnic disparities. Ecuador has also developed additional indicators to

better reflect the rights of women, Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendents.

However, all

states need to ensure that all efforts to plan, implement and monitor the MDGs include an

explicit focus on ending discrimination and removing the barriers facing disadvantaged

groups in gaining access to services.

OBLIGATIONS OF STATES RELATING TO ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND

CULTURAL RIGHTS

Under international law, states have an obligation to fulfil progressively economic, social and cultural rights

(progressive realization).

States are under a duty to take steps that are deliberate and concrete and targeted

as clearly as possible towards fulfilling these rights as expeditiously and effectively as possible.

This is an

immediate obligation and the rate and level of progress that each state is expected to make should take into

account the maximum resources available both from national sources and the international community. States

able to assist are required to engage in international co-operation and assistance to respect, protect and fulfil

economic, social and cultural rights. This also requires the adoption of national strategies and plans of

actions setting out how the state will achieve this end and developing corresponding indicators and

benchmarks.

States also have an immediate obligation to prioritize the realization of minimum essential levels of each

economic, social and cultural right for everyone.

They are required to

respect

human rights by refraining

from interfering directly or indirectly with people’s enjoyment of human rights; to

protect

human rights by

preventing, investigating, punishing and ensuring remedies where third parties infringe rights and to

fulfil

human rights by taking legislative, administrative, judicial, budgetary and other steps towards the full

realization of human rights. The obligations to respect and protect human rights are immediate and not

subject to progressive realization as are obligations to ensure non-discrimination and equality.

The MDGs do not reflect these obligations. It is vital that they do so.

SETTING EFFECTIVE BENCHMARKS FOR REAL PROGRESS

The MDGs establish global targets, but there are two main areas of concern around these

targets. First, the global targets themselves were not developed based on an assessment of

countries’ levels of progress or the resources available to them domestically and through

international co-operation and assistance. They also did not prioritize the fulfilment of

minimum essential level of economic, social and cultural rights for all people in all countries.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Second, the MDG framework does not require states to adapt these global targets to their

national context, although some states have chosen to do so voluntarily. As a consequence,

the MDGs may set the bar too low for some countries and use a far lower benchmark for

progress than that required under international human rights law.

CONCERNS AROUND THE GLOBAL TARGETS

Time-bound targets can be an important tool. By using common standards and permitting

international measurement, the MDGs allow for comparison of progress across countries at

similar levels of development. They have also been useful in raising the bar for progress in

some countries. However, these targets do not take into account individual countries’ levels

of progress or the resources available to them domestically and through international co-

operation and assistance. As a result, rather than being realistic targets, they could be

considered arbitrary benchmarks in many contexts. A clear example of this is target 11,

under Goal 7, for the improvement of the lives of 100 million slum dwellers. This target

merely endorsed the

Cities Without Slums Action Plan

and adopted a target that a

partnership of various donor and other international agencies had set for their own work.

was not based on an assessment of what states should reasonably aim to achieve globally in

light of their obligations and the resources available. This target and the corresponding

indicator also does not reflect states’ duty to take immediate steps to provide a minimum

degree of security of tenure by providing protection against forced evictions, harassment and

other threats to people living in slums. As a result, the MDGs may have missed an

opportunity to make far greater progress in improving the living conditions of close to a billion

people living in slums.

The MDGs aim to halve the proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day between

1990

and 2015. This goal was based on an analysis of rates of past progress,

rather than

an assessment of progress that could be achieved using the maximum of available resources,

as required by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

The failure to incorporate states’ obligations under international human rights law on

progressive realization and minimum essential levels means that the income poverty target is

insufficient. It is expected that the global target will be achieved on the basis of progress in

China and India as a result of policies that predate the MDGs.

Goal 8 of the MDGs includes general commitments by developed countries to assist

developing countries to meet the other seven MDGs. However, these commitments are not

quantified or time-bound, making it harder to hold developed countries to account.

NATIONAL TARGETS

Some countries have adopted national targets above the MDG level. For example, Latin

American countries decided to expand their MDG commitments on education to include

secondary education.

Kenya, South Africa and Sri Lanka – each of whom recognise water

and sanitation as human rights - adopted national targets for increasing access to water and

sanitation that are stronger than the global MDG targets.

However, many countries simply

used the global targets and some therefore adopted a far lower national benchmark for

progress than is required under international human rights law. The current review of the

MDGs offers states a useful opportunity to set national targets that reflect their obligations

under international human rights law relating to progressive realization of economic, social

and cultural rights. The identification of national targets and immediate steps that states are

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

required to take would enable better monitoring and accountability for progress. While it may

not be possible to revise the global framework for the MDGs until 2015, states can adopt or

revise national targets in line with their obligations to accelerate progress on the MDGs in the

next five years. This would help ensure that efforts under the MDGs are truly directed at

progress in all countries.

Reliance on the global MDG targets alone can also give a distorted picture of progress. For

example, they do not address the affordability and quality of services. In part, the problem is

caused by lack of data. For example, the Millennium Declaration specified a target of

reducing by half the number of people unable to reach or afford safe drinking water.

However, the MDGs limited this goal to access to water as there is insufficient internationally

comparable data on affordability. The indicators assess water to be safe if it is provided from

a source likely to be safe, such as piped water or a protected well.

Piped water of poor

quality that is provided from a polluted source can thereby wrongly be counted as safe.

Several critical economic, social and cultural rights are not included in the MDGs, such as

the right to social security, and the right to health, including prevention and treatment of

neglected diseases that continue to affect the lives of millions, such as river blindness,

sleeping sickness, Chagas’ disease and leprosy. According to the World Health Organization

(WHO), these diseases largely affect poor people living in rural areas in low income

countries.

States should therefore also be encouraged to establish national benchmarks for

key economic, social and cultural rights issues which are not covered under the existing MDG

framework in order to ensure that their national efforts are consistent with their international

human rights obligations and hold the promise of real progress for millions of the world’s

most disadvantaged people.

PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees the right of every

citizen to take part in the conduct of public affairs.

The UN Committee on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights has stressed that the right to participation must be an integral part

of government policies, programmes and strategies.

It has highlighted, for example, the

vital role of participation in ensuring the effective provision of health services for all.

order for active participation to be meaningful, states must also fulfil a number of other

rights and duties, including the rights to freedom of expression and association, and the duty

to ensure the conditions in which human rights defenders can carry out their work.

The current MDG framework does not explicitly recognize the right to participate actively and

meaningfully. As a result, people living in poverty are rarely involved in developing,

implementing or monitoring efforts to meet the MDGs. Where decision-making processes

involve civil society, community-based organizations, social movements and individuals often

tend not to be included.

In some situations, participation can be merely tokenistic.

The Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues review of national MDG

reports by 25 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia/Pacific in 2006 and 2007

found

that, with very few exceptions, Indigenous Peoples’ input had not been included in national

MDG monitoring and reporting. The reviews also identified a lack of mechanisms through

which to ensure the input and participation of Indigenous Peoples themselves in the design,

implementation and monitoring of policies designed to achieve the MDGs.

Its 2010 desk

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

review concluded that: “For future reports, the direct participation of indigenous peoples and

their communities should be encouraged by their respective Governments, beginning from

the planning and preparation process”. It also stressed that: “[…] the free, prior and

informed consent of indigenous peoples should be sought in all development initiatives that

involve them. Indigenous peoples cannot be simply objects of study or targets of development

projects, no matter how well intended, but must be active participants in policy planning,

implementation and review”.

Participation and genuine consultation are prerequisites for effective planning and delivery

and must be guaranteed in all national and international efforts to meet the MDGs.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN INDIA

In 2005 the government of India introduced the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) after a public

campaign.led by the Mazdoor Kisaan Shakti Sangathan highlighted how people living in poverty

in rural areas were disadvantaged by lack of information and how this also contributed to

rampant corruption in famine relief.

The Act covers the central and state governments,

Panchayati Raj institutions, local bodies, as well as recipients of government grants. Public

authorities are under a duty to provide access to information when requested. It includes penalty

provisions for authorities who refuse to release requested information and for those who do not

provide it in a timely manner.

Although the Act continues to have some limitations, it is a significant step towards greater

transparency and accountability in India. Since the Act came into force there have been several

cases where people, enabled by the RTI Act, have been able to combat corruption in public

services and authorities.

It has also enabled people to obtain information about day-to-day

services and programmes that affect their lives from the delivery of ration cards, passports,

income tax returns, to larger policy level decisions like water policy reforms in Delhi, and to

strengthen their ability to participate in processes which affect their lives and to hold relevant

public authorities accountable.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND REMEDIES

International monitoring of states’ efforts to meet the MDGs is limited to a voluntary public

reporting system, under which many countries have submitted reports,

in many cases

assisted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Many reports however lack an in-

depth assessment of progress and are also not updated regularly. There is also another

voluntary process at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), under which states can

choose to make presentations of their progress towards meeting the MDGs to the Annual

Ministerial Review. Only eight countries chose to give presentations in 2008. However, there

is no independent monitoring or evaluation of these reports and no forum for complaints.

National and international accountability mechanisms applying human rights standards can

strengthen MDG efforts by giving people living in poverty, and civil society acting on their

behalf, greater opportunities to hold governments to account.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Amnesty International’s research in Burkina Faso, for example, highlights the importance of

accountability. The government’s policy to provide subsidized health care for pregnant

women has been undermined by the illegal charges demanded by hospitals. Women faced

with such charges did not have anywhere to lodge their complaints. There is a lack of

mechanisms – either within the hospital, via a medical regulatory body, or through the courts

– to ensure accountability.

Such mechanisms would help enhance the delivery of the

government’s policies and programmes and empower women and their families to claim what

they are entitled to under such policies. Processes to increase accountability and provide

effective remedies can also serve as an incentive for governments to engage in co-operative

dialogue with groups often excluded from policy making.

NATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS

Many people, particularly those living in poverty, face considerable barriers in getting access

to the courts. These must be removed so that the courts can fulfil their potential for

defending and promoting rights. National laws should treat human rights, including

economic, social and cultural rights, as legally enforceable. Granting civil society groups the

right to present cases to the courts in the public interest; making provision for judicial

independence; complying with judicial decisions; and ensuring legal aid and waiving court

fees for those on low-incomes – all would improve access to justice.

At the national level, potential accountability mechanisms that can fulfil different monitoring

functions include the judiciary, quasi-judicial bodies such as human rights commissions,

parliaments and regulatory bodies. The judiciary should be able to hold a government to

account. It should monitor the government’s compliance with national and international law

and require government bodies to carry out the necessary reforms to law, policy and practice

to ensure obligations are fulfilled. As the Constitutional Court of South Africa has noted,

litigation fosters participative democracy, requiring government to be accountable to its

citizens between elections over specific aspects of policy. As part of this process,

governments must disclose what they have done to formulate policies, what alternatives they

have considered and the reasons why the option underlying a policy was selected.

Bodies such as national human rights commissions and ombudsperson or public defender

institutions can play a critical role in ensuring access to justice. Such bodies can normally

carry out investigations on behalf of victims, call for necessary law and policy reforms, and

represent claimants before courts. Governments should ensure that such bodies have

sufficient capacity to be accessible to the public and to monitor national MDG plans pro-

actively. They should also ensure that their mandate covers all human rights, including

economic, social and cultural rights. Regulatory bodies relevant to the MDGs – such as those

dealing with water and sanitation, health and education – normally have the mandate and

expertise to monitor the performance of public services and to order improvements, but often

do not explicitly assess compliance with human rights standards. Governments should

integrate human rights standards into the mandate of such bodies and require them to hear

individual complaints and to inform the public of the right to complain.

Parliamentary bodies also play an important role in ensuring oversight and monitoring of MDG

efforts and, in particular, their consistency with the state’s human rights obligations.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

USING THE COURTS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Litigation before the Supreme Court of India by the People’s Union on Civil Liberties led to the recognition and

increased realization of the right to food in India. The Court found that inefficiencies in existing food distribution

schemes, rather than lack of funds, prevented wider coverage.

It required that minimum food ration guarantees for

families living under the poverty line and other nutrition-related programmes be treated as legal entitlements and

implemented in full. The Court also found that midday school meals programmes in force in many states in India

were of varying quality and applied unevenly.

It required the provision of a prepared mid day meal with a minimum

content of 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days. It directed that a

copy of the order be translated in regional languages and in English and prominently displayed in all government

school buildings, distribution centres and Panchayats (local councils).

While the order was initially ignored by

several states, it strengthened the bargaining power of those working for the right to food.

Popular movements for

fulfilment of the order and the appointment of Commissioners to monitor the implementation of the order helped

increase enforcement of the order. It is estimated that 140 million school children in state and state-aided schools

now benefit from this scheme.

On the basis of enrolment rates in states where the school meals programme was

implemented, it has been shown that enrolment rates among girls in the first year increased by 10 per cent.

conservative estimate of the scale of the impact – assuming implementation in at least half of the country - is that

an additional 350,000 girls a year are enrolling in school as a result of the right to food litigation.

In South Africa, litigation on the right to housing led to the creation of municipal emergency housing funds across

the country and established a precedent that has prevented forced evictions.

One of the most significant cases

reviewed the government’s policy to limit the administration of Nevirapine – a drug used to prevent mother-to-child

transmission of HIV - only to certain pilot sites in the country. The Court noted that the manufacturer had offered the

drug to the government for free for five years and that the scientific evidence, including the advice of the World

Health Organization and the South African Medical Control Council, supported the use of the drug.

In this situation,

where the drug could save the lives of newborn babies, it was not reasonable to withhold the administration of

Nevirapine from women and children outside the pilot sites until the government had fully devised its own

programme and completed its research.

The Court therefore required the government to permit and facilitate the

use of Nevirapine by medical practitioners in public hospitals and clinics where adequate facilities existed for

testing and counselling. It further required the state to take reasonable measures to facilitate and expedite the use

of Nevirapine throughout the public health sector.

Extensive mobilization and demonstrations followed the decision

and in 2003, South Africa’s cabinet adopted an operation plan that had anti-retroviral treatment as one of its core

components.

The court decision therefore helped reverse the position adopted by the government at the time that

questioned the existence of HIV/AIDS.

The cases above represent some of the leading examples of impact of litigation that result in a positive impact on

the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. Some of the favourable factors leading to the adoption of

these cases and the significant extent of their implementation included: the willingness of the judiciary in these

particular cases to consider claims on behalf of disadvantaged groups and to closely examine government policy

measure to identify any unnecessary gaps; South Africa’s Constitution which expressly recognized economic, social

and cultural rights as legally enforceable; follow-up measures by the Indian Supreme Court to monitor enforcement

of the decision; and an active civil society in both situations that were able to provide convincing evidence to the

courts, monitor and lobby for implementation by officials at the local level and to carry out follow-up litigation when

required.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS

International accountability mechanisms play an important role highlighting gaps in national

monitoring and areas where national systems do not comply with human rights standards.

They can also help focus attention at the highest political level on human rights issues in the

context of the MDGs.

These mechanisms include international human rights treaty bodies, made up of committees

of independent experts that periodically review performance and, in some cases, can hear

complaints;

and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process of the UN Human Rights

Council, which involves peer review by states every four years of human rights performance.

The human rights monitoring system has not yet played a prominent role in monitoring MDG

performance. States generally do not report to such bodies on their efforts to achieve the

MDGs, nor has MDG implementation been discussed in any systematic manner as part of the

UPR.

International human rights mechanisms could address complaints from individuals and

groups about human rights violations in the context of the MDGs where access to justice at

the domestic level has been denied them. However, in order to be able to do this, states must

ratify the treaties allowing these mechanisms to receive complaints, such as the Optional

Protocol to the ICESCR

and the Optional Protocol to CEDAW.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has questioned developed

countries on the amount of aid they provide in overseas development assistance. The

Committee has also required that all state Parties take due account of the obligations under

the Covenant when acting as members of inter-governmental organizations, including

international financial institutions.

However, international human rights mechanisms, such

as the UPR and treaty monitoring bodies, do not systematically assess actions taken to

implement the MDGs. In order to facilitate such monitoring, states should report on the

international actions they have taken to meet the MDGs – individually and through inter-

governmental bodies, including international financial institutions – so that they can be held

accountable for fulfilling their human rights obligations to people beyond their borders.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

CHAPTER 3/ WHY HUMAN RIGHTS

MATTER IN MDG DELIVERY

Integrating international human rights standards in all MDG efforts is key to making them

effective in overcoming poverty. The three areas explored in this chapter – gender equality,

maternal health and slums – illustrate how the current framework falls short of human rights

standards and how these are essential for addressing poverty and exclusion.

Amnesty International considers these three issues to be particularly important and

emblematic of the discrepancies between the MDG framework and human rights standards.

The failure to integrate gender equality and women’s human rights in all the MDG targets and

indicators means that states are not required to address gender discrimination – in law,

policy and practice - in their efforts towards

all

the MDGs. Improving maternal health and

reducing high levels of preventable maternal deaths is an area that has seen far too little

progress. The goal which is intended to lead to improvements in the lives of slum dwellers

fails to reflect the scale and scope of the problems faced by people living in slums, and the

range of measures that are required to respect and promote their human rights.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY

GOAL 3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN

Target 3.A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and

in all levels of education no later than 2015.

Indicators:

3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

3.2 Share of women in paid employment in the non-agricultural sector

3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in the national parliament

The Millennium Declaration pledges to “promote gender equality and the empowerment of

women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate

development that is truly sustainable” and “to combat all forms of violence against women

and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against

Women”.

However, the MDGs do not reflect this commitment to realize the full range of

women’s human rights.

Women and girls continue to suffer from gender discrimination, violence and other human

rights violations across all continents and in all societies. Women still experience pervasive

inequality and discrimination in their access to rights, opportunities and resources. It is

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

estimated that, worldwide, 70 per cent of those living in poverty are women.

In many

countries, women and girls continue to face barriers in getting decent work; participating in

public life; and obtaining access to education, health care, and adequate food, water and

sanitation. Women living in poverty may also face multiple discrimination because they

belong to Indigenous communities or minority groups or because of their race, caste,

ethnicity or disability.

Lack of access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health services, condemns

many to unwanted pregnancies, disability and even death. Early or forced marriage often

deprives girls of an education and can greatly increase girls’ risk of dying in pregnancy and

childbirth.

More often than not, household tasks fall to women, so lack of access to clean

water and sanitation means that they spend many hours fetching and carrying water, taking

time away from other activities, including their education.

Women and girls who do not

have access to nearby toilets may also be at increased risk of gender-based violence when

they try to find secluded areas, often after dark.

Despite some progress in providing universal primary education, gender parity in education

has not yet been achieved, five years after the 2005 target date.

According to UNICEF, the

UN Children’s Fund, in 2007 the majority of the estimated 101 million children not

attending primary school were girls.

The gender gap in secondary school enrolment

persists.

It is estimated that nearly two thirds of the 780 million people worldwide who

cannot read are women.

Among the factors hindering girls’ access to education are the lack

of adequate sanitation facilities in schools,

and violence and exploitation by teachers and

other students.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are widely recognized as essential for tackling

poverty and achieving the MDGs.

It is therefore striking that they feature so poorly in the

MDGs as a whole and that the gender-sensitive targets and indicators are both limited and

inadequate.

Goal 3 has been reduced to a single target to eliminate gender disparity in

education, ignoring all other areas where states have commitments to eliminate

discrimination against women. This is complemented by two indicators (the proportion of

women in paid employment in the non-agricultural sector, and the percentage of seats in

national parliaments held by women), and Goal 5 on improving maternal health. This falls

well below the legal obligations of states under international law. States have a duty to

address discrimination against women and to guarantee equality under each of the goals and

targets. In addition, gender-based violence, a pervasive barrier to gender equality which

threatens to undermine progress on all the MDGs, is not reflected in any of the MDG targets.

DISCRIMINATION, GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND OTHER BARRIERS

Women who have an education are better able to protect their own health and that of their

children. They tend to avoid marrying very young, to space their pregnancies, to protect

themselves from unwanted pregnancies and to ensure their children are immunized, receive

adequate nutrition and go to school.

Improving women’s access to education is, therefore,

an important element in preventing maternal and child mortality and meeting the MDGs. In

order to realize girls’ right to education, governments must improve school conditions for

girls. This must include promoting a safe environment, safe transport to and from school,

separate toilet facilities, and the removal of other barriers (including financial barriers) that

often prevent girls from going to school.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

TAJIKISTAN

In Tajikistan, the government is failing to ensure that all girls complete compulsory education. Although

education is mandatory until grade 9 (age 15), more than 27 per cent of girls are dropping out of school from

the age of 13 to 14 years old for a variety of reasons. The prevailing perception of women’s main role as wives

and mothers means that families often do not think it is worth investing in girls’ education. While boys are

usually encouraged by their family to get an education, girls are often kept working at home or in the fields

until they are married. Many families are too poor to be able to pay the indirect costs – such as shoes,

textbooks, food and transport – and will choose to prioritize boys’ education when juggling scarce resources.

The barriers to girls’ education are compounded by the deterioration of Tajikistan’s education system, which

suffers from underpaid and under qualified teachers, outdated curriculums and frequently under-resourced

and poorly maintained premises.

Gender-based violence against women takes many forms, including female infanticide; sexual

violence; emotional abuse; harmful practices such as female genital mutilation; child and

forced marriage; sexual harassment and intimidation at work; acid throwing; trafficking;

forced prostitution; and forced sterilization.

Under international law, states have an

obligation to prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence against women. Central to

achieving this is ensuring that women who are subjected to violence can access justice and

remedies for the harm they have suffered.

In Canada, widespread and entrenched racism, poverty and marginalization put Indigenous

women at heightened risk of violence; they experience significantly higher rates of violence

than women in the population as a whole.

Discrimination has also resulted in deep

inequalities in living conditions and in Indigenous women’s ability to access government

services. For example, they are often denied access to services and support, such as

emergency shelters. They have also been denied adequate protection by police and

government forces; those responsible for violence against Indigenous women are rarely

brought to justice.

Lack of protection for women human rights defenders and the failure to prevent and punish

attacks and harassment against them make it harder for women to participate actively.

Women human rights defenders are often the target of gender-specific forms of harassment,

discrimination and violence, designed to dissuade them and other women from demanding

their rights and participating in public life, especially when they challenge gender

stereotyping and discrimination.

In Afghanistan, women human rights defenders have been

targeted by the Taleban and other anti-government groups, as well as by local warlords and

militias, for reporting abuses, running safe houses, raising awareness of child and forced

marriage, and providing education programmes and family planning services. Some have

been forced to flee the country; others have been killed.

The failure to integrate women’s human rights fully into efforts to meet all the MDG targets

means that the structural inequality and discrimination experienced by women is often not

addressed in states’ MDG policies and programmes.

In addition, the lack of consistency in

disaggregating data on MDG initiatives means that information on gender discrimination and

its intersection with other forms of discrimination are often overlooked.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

While the targets and indicators for Goal 3 capture some important issues, they overlook

other key areas. These include discrimination against women in law, such as civil, penal and

personal status laws governing marriage and family relations; women’s property and

ownership rights; and women’s civil, political and employment rights.

CONSISTENCY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

Steps that governments must take in order to ensure they are fulfilling their obligations under

international human rights law in their efforts to meet MDG Goal 3 include:

Identify and address gender discrimination in law, policy and practice in all their

efforts towards all the MDGs, including by disaggregating data by gender and

monitoring implementation to ensure that all MDG efforts explicitly tackle gender

discrimination and inequality.

Identify and remove the specific barriers faced by women and girls in realizing their

human rights, in all plans, policies and programmes to address poverty.

Abolish laws that discriminate against women, and address traditional practices and

customary laws that undermine women’s rights.

Take all necessary measures to combat gender-based violence in all its forms and to

ensure that women have access to justice and remedies when they have been

subjected to violence.

Respect and promote women’s right to participate equally and fully in all levels of

decision-making and in public life, and ensure that the rights of women human

rights defenders are fully respected and promoted.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND MATERNAL HEALTH

GOAL 5: IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

Target 5.A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

Target 5.B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Indicators:

5.1 Maternal mortality ratio

5.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

5.3 Contraceptive prevalence rate

5.4 Adolescent birth rate

5.5 Antenatal care coverage

5.6 Unmet need for family planning

Although a recent study

claims that there has been some progress in improving maternal

health, it remains the case that this is the goal where it is least likely that the 2015 targets

will be met.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

It is estimated that, globally, a woman dies every minute from pregnancy or childbirth-related

causes. In addition, an estimated 10-15 million women a year experience serious

complications that leave them with injuries or permanent disabilities.

Women who

experience complications during pregnancy and childbirth often suffer long-term physical,

psychological, social and economic consequences. Unplanned or unwanted pregnancies and

the lack of available safe, voluntary and effective family planning and contraception also

contribute to high levels of unsafe abortions that result in maternal deaths and morbidity.

Inadequate monitoring of maternal deaths and “near-misses” contributes to under-reporting

of these deaths and of their direct and indirect causes.

According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), as many as 99 per cent of the women who

die each year of pregnancy-related complications live in developing countries.

Complications relating to pregnancy are said to be the single largest cause of death among

girls aged between 15 and 19 and women in developing countries.

The direct causes of

most maternal deaths are: severe bleeding, infections, hypertensive disorders (such as

eclampsia), prolonged or obstructed labour, and complications from unsafe abortions. An

estimated 68,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions.

Pregnancy at a young age significantly increases the health risks, both during pregnancy and

childbirth. Girls under the age of 15 are five times more likely, and those aged between 15

and 20 twice as likely, to die from pregnancy-related causes than women in their twenties.

Girls aged between 15 and 19 are also thought to account for one in four unsafe abortions,

an estimated 5 million each year.

Levels of maternal mortality and morbidity differ between and within countries. The

disparities in the levels of risk faced by women are linked to a variety of factors, including

multiple discrimination, poverty and neglect. In Peru, for example, levels of preventable

maternal deaths are highest among women from rural and Indigenous communities.

In the

USA, the likelihood of a woman dying from complications relating to childbirth is five times

greater than in Greece, four times greater than in Germany and three times greater than in

Spain.

100

African American women in the USA are nearly four times more likely to die of

pregnancy-related complications than white women.

101

TARGETS AND INDICATORS

The scope, targets and indicators for Goal 5 also fail to acknowledge the variety of underlying

factors that contribute to preventable maternal deaths and injuries. They do not, for example,

adequately address human rights issues such as early or forced marriage; violence against

women and girls; how discrimination and poverty prevent women obtaining sexual and

reproductive health care services; or how women are prevented from making decisions about

their own health and lives. These issues must be systematically and comprehensively

addressed if significant progress is to be made in reducing maternal mortality.

The indicators for the two targets under Goal 5 reflect the need to ensure that women have

access to skilled attendants during childbirth and antenatal care; to improve access to

contraception and family planning; and to protect teenagers from premature and unwanted

pregnancies. However, they only partially reflect the outcomes that need to be monitored in

order to ensure progress. Inadequate data on maternal deaths and injuries, especially in

countries with the highest rates of maternal deaths and morbidity, means that the mortality

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

ratio (target 5.A) risks being misleading. The fact that there is no requirement to disaggregate

the data also means that apparent progress may conceal a failure to improve maternal

mortality among disadvantaged and marginalized groups – such as women living in remote

rural areas, women living in slums, Indigenous women and teenagers. Similarly, the indicator

on skilled birth attendants is welcome, but does not address whether obstetric services are of

sufficient quality, available, accessible and equitably distributed.

.102

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Goal 5 gives much-needed visibility to maternal health. However, restricting efforts towards

MDG 5 to simply increasing access to services, neglects states’ pre-existing commitment to

ensure gender equality and promote the full range of women’s rights, including sexual and

reproductive rights. These rights are set out in a number of key instruments including the

Platform for Action, adopted at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing

(1995); the Cairo Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and

Development (1994); and CEDAW, to which 186 states are parties.

103

The realization of sexual and reproductive rights requires respect for the right of individuals

to decide freely on matters relating to their sexuality and reproductive life. This encompasses

the rights to decide whether and when to be sexually active; to freely choose one’s partner; to

consensual marriage; to decide freely the number, spacing and timing of one’s children; and

to be free from unsafe abortion and gender-based violence, including sexual violence, and

harmful practices.

104

Women’s realization of their sexual and reproductive rights also requires

other rights to be fulfilled such as the rights to an education; to food; to the highest

attainable standard of health and the underlying determinants of health; and to equal

protection before the law.

Goal 5 essentially fails to take into account two key dimensions essential for progress. It does

not address the need to ensure that essential health care services are of sufficient quality,

culturally appropriate and available and accessible to all, including the most vulnerable and

marginalized women, and that there is no discrimination in the provision of such services.

Secondly, it ignores the underlying factors that contribute to women and girls dying in

pregnancy and childbirth or suffering the consequences of unwanted pregnancy.

NICARAGUA – DENIED THE RIGHT TO LIFE AND HEALTH

Since July 2008 abortion in all circumstances has been criminalized in Nicaragua. The revised Penal Code

criminalizes all forms of abortion and imposes prison terms on women and girls who seek or obtain an

abortion, regardless of the circumstances. The Penal Code also imposes lengthy prison sentences on health

professionals who cause any harm to a foetus, regardless of intent, even if it occurs in the course of providing

life-saving treatment to a woman or girl. The Penal Code is in conflict with the Nicaraguan Obstetric Rules

and Protocols issued by the Ministry of Health which mandate therapeutic abortions as clinical responses to

specific cases, leaving health professionals in an impossible position.

The law leaves an entire nation of women and girls whose pregnancies develop complications at risk of

dangerous or fatal consequences. Some groups of women and girls are particularly affected: specifically,

pregnant women and girls who need treatment for life-threatening illnesses, who develop complications, who

need medical treatment after a miscarriage or abortion, or who are survivors of rape or incest. In Nicaragua,

the overwhelming majority of girls who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest are aged between 10 and 14

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

and their health and life are put at risk by unsafe abortions or by having to give birth at an early age. Rape

victims who do seek an unsafe illegal abortion face prison terms if the abortion is discovered, as do those who

assisted them.

Four UN treaty bodies (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination

of Discrimination against Women, the Committee against Torture, and the Human Rights Committee) have

found the law to be in breach of Nicaragua’s treaty obligations.

105

Nicaragua has committed itself to reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent by 2015. The government has

introduced a number of programmes to prevent maternal mortality and increased health sector funding.

However, the criminalization of abortion runs contrary to these efforts. Yet, despite the risks that the law poses

to the life and health of women and girls, the entry for Nicaragua in the UN MDG Monitor (which tracks

countries’ progress on the MDGs) states that Nicaragua has “achieved” Goal 3 (according to national

government reporting), while its progress on Goal 5 is “off track”.

106

BARRIERS TO MATERNAL HEALTH

Governments have a responsibility to ensure equal access to quality health care services for

all, without discrimination. However, the disparities in the health care pregnant women

receive reflect the continuing violations of women’s right to non-discrimination.

In Peru, for example, women from Indigenous, rural and poor communities face particular

barriers in obtaining maternal health care services as a result of entrenched discrimination.

Some do not have identity documents and so cannot get the free health provision to which

people from marginalized and poorer communities are entitled. Other barriers include the

lack of clear and accessible information on the maternal and child health services; the fact

that health facilities are located far from their homes; prohibitive transport costs;

discriminatory attitudes within health facilities; the failure to provide for culturally

appropriate birthing methods; and communication difficulties – many Indigenous women do

not speak Spanish and few health professionals speak Quechua.

107

Since 2006, the Peruvian government has taken some steps towards addressing these

barriers. For example, they have promoted culturally adapted birthing methods; increased the

number of maternal waiting houses and health insurance cover for rural populations; and

introduced a system of targeted budget allocation centred on results. However, women living

in remote areas and Indigenous communities continue to face difficulties in getting access to

the care they need. Among the reasons hindering progress are inadequate implementation

and monitoring of policies and initiatives and a lack of clarity around responsibility and

accountability.

108

Unless Peru takes all the necessary measures to address the specific

barriers faced by Indigenous women in accessing health care, any progress it makes on Goal

5 will fail to benefit the most disadvantaged groups and so mask ongoing and systemic

discrimination.

In Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso, governments have acknowledged the need to improve

maternal health and are taking positive steps to tackle it. However, they have not sufficiently

addressed key human rights issues that contribute to high rates of preventable maternal

deaths – such as gender discrimination; early marriage and pregnancy; the denial of women’s

sexual and reproductive rights; and women’s low socio-economic status (in the household

and in society at large) and lack of decision-making power.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

In Sierra Leone, women face many barriers in obtaining necessary health care services,

including long distances to health care facilities and ineffective referral services.

109

Burkina Faso, financial barriers to health care contribute to high levels of preventable

maternal deaths and injury.

110

The government of Burkina Faso responded favourably to the

concerns raised by Amnesty International in relation to the high levels of maternal deaths in

the country, and has said that it is in favour of removing the financial barriers to health care

faced by pregnant women. Sierra Leone has recently introduced free health care for pregnant

women and children under five. Both these developments are to be welcomed, and if

adequately implemented could have a very positive impact on women’s access to essential

care. However, the underlying violations of women’s sexual and reproductive rights must also

be systematically addressed for long-term, sustained improvements in maternal health.

Barriers to care reflect disparities among different population groups and affect maternal

health in developed, as well as developing countries. In the USA, more than two women die

every day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Approximately half of these

deaths could be prevented if maternal health care were available, accessible and of good

quality for all women without discrimination in the USA. For those who can afford it, the USA

offers some of the best health care in the world. For many, however, that care is beyond

reach. Despite the huge sums of money spent on maternal care, women, particularly those on

low incomes, continue to face a range of barriers in obtaining the services they need. Doctors

may be unwilling or unable to provide maternal health care to women on low incomes

because of the high costs and low fees involved, or because of cumbersome reimbursement

procedures for government-funded health insurance. An individual’s ability to access health

care depends on whether they have insurance and, if they do, whether it is private or public.

Disparities in access to health cover and outcomes are considerable. In 2008, a staggering

46 million people – one in every six people living in the USA – had no health insurance at

all.

111

This number has since risen, as a result of the economic recession. Although members

of ethnic and racial minorities make up only about 34 per cent of the population,

112

they

constitute approximately half of the uninsured,

113

and as a result are more likely to go into

pregnancy with untreated or unmanaged medical problems that pose added health risks

during pregnancy.

PARTICIPATION

Participation is an integral feature of the right to health. The right to participate extends to

the active and informed participation of individuals and communities in decision-making that

affects them, including decisions in relation to their health. By doing so, implementation of

the right can help to ensure that a health system is responsive to the needs of people it is

meant to serve. This was seen in Nepal where a controlled trial of a community-based

participatory intervention in rural mountainous area showed that women who had participated

in the trial were more likely than those who had not to have had antenatal care, to have given

birth in a health facility, with a trained attendant or a government health worker, and to have

used a clean home delivery kit or a boiled blade to cut the umbilical cord.

114

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

“All individuals and communities are entitled to active and informed participation on issues

relating to their health. In the context of health systems, this includes participation in

identifying overall strategy, policymaking, implementation and accountability. The

importance of community participation is one of the principal themes recurring throughout

the Declaration of Alma-Ata. Crucially, States have a human rights responsibility to establish

institutional arrangements for the active and informed participation of all relevant

stakeholders, including disadvantaged communities.”

Paul Hunt, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental

health, 2008

115

CONSISTENCY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

In order to ensure they are fulfilling their obligations under international human rights law in

their efforts to meet MDG Goal 5, governments must:

Respect the right to health by refraining from actions that interfere with women’s rights.

For example, states should not restrict women’s access to health care services on the ground

that women do not have the consent of husbands, partners, parents or health authorities.

116

Protect women’s right to health by preventing third parties from interfering with the

enjoyment of that right. For example, states should ensure that harmful social or traditional

practices do not interfere with access to sexual and reproductive health care.

117

Adopt appropriate measures, whether legislative or otherwise, to achieve full realization

of the right to health. This must include removing barriers to access, including financial

barriers, to ensure that all women can obtain necessary health care services – such as

emergency obstetric care – when they need it.

118

Identify and address gender discrimination in law, policy and practice, including in

relation to women’s sexual and reproductive rights, and tackle human rights issues such as

early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, unsafe abortion and violence against

women, including sexual violence.

Provide adequate accountability mechanisms (judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative and

political) to ensure that there is effective monitoring, oversight and access to remedies for

those whose sexual and reproductive rights are violated. Examples of such mechanisms

include regular maternal death and “near-miss” audits, including community-based case

reviews;

119

complaints mechanisms for those who are denied access to health care; and

oversight by a national human rights institution to ensure consistency with human rights

standards.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Image above:

A group of women take part in birth

control lessons for slum dwellers and street

sleepers, Calcutta, India, 2004.

Image right:

Metal containers in which Roma

families live in Primaverii Street in Miercurea

Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Hargita county, Romania,

January 2009.

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

Amnesty International June 2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Image above:

People from the Yakye Axa

community play football next to the Pozo Colorado-

Concepción highway in Paraguay, November 2008.

The Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous

communities have been living beside the highway

for nearly 20 years without access to basic

services. Despite two rulings in their favour by the

Inter-American Court of Human Rights, they are

still waiting for their land claims to be resolved.

Image left:

Women attending a course on women’s

rights organized by the League of Women Lawyers,

Tajikistan, July 2009. Girls in Tajikistan face a

range of barriers in realizing their right to education.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

FROM PROMISES TO DELIVERY

PuttIng human RIghts at the heaRt Of the mIllennIum DevelOPment gOals

Image right:

Local residents searching for survivors

try to clear away rubble with their bare hands and

basic tools, following a rockslide from the towering

Muqattam cliffs onto Al-Duwayqah in the Manshiet

Nasser informal settlement on the outskirts of

Cairo, Egypt, 6 September 2008. Huge boulders

crushed homes and killed more than 100 people.

Image below:

Market stalls beside the railway line

running through Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, February

2009. Forced evictions in Kenya often result in

the destruction of businesses and livelihoods,

government’s Nairobi River Clean-Up Programme,

a number of markets used by Kibera residents are

at risk of demolition.

driving people deeper into poverty. Under the

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Launch of Amnesty International's campaign

to reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone,

September 2009. Sierra Leone has one of the

highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

FROM PROMISES TO DELIVERY

PuttIng human RIghts at the heaRt Of the mIllennIum DevelOPment gOals

Image above:

Women waiting outside a health

centre in San Juan de Ccharhuacc in Huancavelica

province in rural Peru, September 2008. Maternal

mortality rates in Peru are disproportionately high

among the country’s poor and Indigenous rural

communities.

Image left:

Toilet in the Palestinian village of

Susya in the West Bank in the Occupied

Palestinian Territories under threat of demolition

by the Israeli army, May 2008. Lack of access to

adequate and safe clean water has been a

longstanding problem for Palestinians in the

Occupied Palestinian Territories, principally as a

result of discriminatory Israeli policies and

practices. Some 180,000 to 200,000

Palestinians in rural communities in the West

Bank have no access to running water.

Amnesty International May 2010

Index: XXX XX/XXX/XXXX

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

FROM PROMISES TO DELIVERY

PuttIng human RIghts at the heaRt Of the mIllennIum DevelOPment gOals

Image right:

Women crossing a dry seasonal

waterway that runs through the Yemeni capital

Sana'a, March 2010. Yemen is facing a water

crisis as a result of rapid population growth and

falling rainfall. The government predicts that the

capital's aquifers will run dry within 10 years.

Outside the cities, rural women are responsible for

collecting water for their families from the nearest

well, a laborious job that can involve long walks

and which they often do in the cool of night.

Image below:

A group of Indigenous women and

their supporters who walked more than 3,500km

from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to bring their

demand for justice to Ottawa, 2008.

Indigenous women in Canada face much higher

rates of violence than other women. Widespread

and entrenched racism and marginalization,

along with deep inequalities in living conditions,

put them at increased risk of violence.

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

Amnesty International June 2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

FROM PROMISES TO DELIVERY

PuttIng human RIghts at the heaRt Of the mIllennIum DevelOPment gOals

Image above:

Ramatoulaye with her baby

daughter, beside the Nakambe River, close to

Wonko, Burkina Faso, June 2009.

Ramatoulaye had her first child at the age of 12.

She gave birth at home assisted by a traditional

birth attendant. For her later pregnancies she went

to the health centre in Ramsa, 12km from her

village, for prenatal visits and to give birth. She

said that during her fourth pregnancy, in March

2009, “I started to have my first pains. My

husband’s brother drove me with his motorcycle,

my husband followed us on another motorcycle.

Once arrived on the bank of the river, we looked

for the boatman but he was not there because he

also has another job. So I gave birth alone on the

banks of the river. It was very difficult.”

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

HUMAN RIGHTS AND SLUMS

GOAL 7: ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Target 7.D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum

dwellers.

Indicators:

7.10 Proportion of urban population living in slums

A recent report by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) claims that “227

million people in the world have moved out of slum conditions since 2000, meaning

governments have collectively surpassed the Millennium Development target by 2.2

times”.

120

This is the good news.

The bad news, however, is that the number of people living in slums and informal

settlements has actually increased over this period. Data collected by UN-HABITAT indicated

that close to one billion people were living in slums in developed and developing countries by

2005.

121

Latest data released by UN-HABITAT indicates that in the developing world alone,

the number of people living in slums increased from 767 million in the year 2000 to an

estimated 828 million people in 2010.

122

One in three urban residents therefore live in

inadequate housing conditions that do not satisfy the requirements for adequate housing set

out in Article 11(1) of the ICESCR.

123

These include 1) legal security of tenure; 2)

availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure; 3) location; 4) habitability; 5)

affordability; 6) accessibility; and 7) cultural adequacy.

UN-HABITAT’s global monitoring shows the extent to which the housing and living conditions

in slums and informal settlements around the world grossly fail to meet these requirements.

Examples of these failures range from the risks associated with the location of many slums

and informal settlements in areas that are prone to floods, landslides and other natural

disasters, to severely overcrowded, poorly constructed and inadequate housing.

124

GLOBAL TARGETS

States are required under international law to take immediate and progressive steps to realize

the rights to adequate housing and other human rights of people living in slums and informal

settlements. The severity of the problems they experience should command an urgent

response.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

It is estimated that there will be 1.4 billion people living in slums by 2020. In contrast to

other MDG targets, which aim at a half or three-quarters reduction, the international

community has committed to improving the lives of less than 10 per cent of people who live

in slums (which in 2001 stood at over 900 million)

125

. The target is also one of the most

vaguely worded and asks for “significant improvement” without identifying what constitutes

an improvement. The indicator for progress is the proportion of the urban population living in

slums, which makes it possible for states to demonstrate progress even if the total number of

people living in slums has increased over the monitoring period. States have also been given

an additional five years, until 2020, to meet this weak target.

The target is grossly inadequate when considered in the light of the obligations of states

under international human rights law to prioritize the realization of minimum essential levels

of shelter and housing for all; to take deliberate, concrete and targeted steps to achieving the

right to adequate housing; and to prioritize the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups

when allocating resources.

INSECURITY OF TENURE AND EXCLUSION

The MDG framework also ignores the crucial and immediate obligation on states to provide a

minimum degree of legal security of tenure.

126

This is an essential precondition for protecting

people living in slums from the underlying human rights violations that continue to drive and

deepen poverty. It also provides the security people need to improve their own housing and

living conditions and benefit from public services and schemes.

The vast majority of people living in settlements or slums considered “illegal” or “irregular”

by governments have limited or no security of tenure and are extremely vulnerable to forced

evictions. This can be the case even when the inhabitants own or are renting their homes. It

is estimated that between 30 and 50 per cent of urban residents in the developing world do

not have any kind of legal document to show they have security of tenure.

127

The effect of forced evictions can be catastrophic, particularly for people who are already

living in poverty. They result not only in people losing their homes, neighbourhoods and

personal possessions, but also fractures social networks and communities. For example,

Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe, a programme of mass forced evictions and

demolitions of homes and informal businesses, destroyed 32,538 small and micro-

businesses across the country, devastating the livelihoods of 97,614 people (mostly women)

who were targeted indiscriminately.

128

Lack of security of tenure also increases the risk of other human rights violations and may

lead to people living in slums or informal settlements being excluded from essential public

services and from city planning and budgeting processes. In many countries, it limits access

to public water supplies and sanitation systems and is therefore also closely linked to the

targets on safe drinking water and sanitation. The MDG monitoring framework, however, pays

insufficient attention to these links.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

THE BOEUNG KAK LAKE

“We have seen the development plan and of course we get worried because it is clear that we are

affected: According to the plan we have disappeared”.

Representative from Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak area, February 2008.

129

Some 15,000 Phnom Penh residents living in basic housing on the shores of the Boeung Kak Lake face

displacement. Work on turning the lake into a landfill began on 26 August 2008; the residents were not

notified beforehand. Since then, and before any adjudication of their land ownership claims, around 1,000

families have been forcibly evicted by the authorities. The project may lead to the biggest forced eviction in

post-war Cambodia. The affected communities, many of whom are living in poverty, fear that the ongoing

development may drive them out of Phnom Penh to an area where thousands of others have been resettled

following eviction. The area, which is effectively a new slum outside the city perimeter, lacks sanitation,

electricity and other basic services; job opportunities there are desperately scarce.

This is one example among many and stands in sharp contrast to the poverty reduction and development

policies adopted by the Cambodian government as part of its efforts to meet the MDGs.

130

People living in slums or informal settlements may also be excluded from protective

legislation which applies to other residents. In Kenya, for example, landlords failed to provide

sanitation and other services to people who were renting homes in informal settlements,

contravening the Kenyan Public Health Act. However, the local authorities have chosen not to

use the law against landlords or developers who build and rent homes in slums and

settlements.

131

Although slums are located in urban areas, which tend to have better health, education and

other services than rural areas, these services are not equally distributed among the urban

population. When UN-HABITAT began to disaggregate data, it found that people living in

slum areas were not benefiting from the “urban advantage”.

132

They lagged far behind urban

non-slum areas in access to health care, education and employment and had rates of

malnutrition and child mortality that were much closer to, or as high as, those in rural areas.

In Rome, Italy it is virtually impossible for Roma who live in camps to gain access to social

housing, provided by local authorities.

133

The criteria for social housing indirectly

discriminate against Roma, since one of the criteria under the points system is that the

person should have been evicted from private accommodation. Eviction from camps, even

those authorized by the local authorities, does not meet this criterion. This practice is

contrary to Italy’s duty to prioritize the most disadvantaged groups in social housing

programmes.

Despite the central importance of security of tenure in increasing access to a range of

services and reducing the risk of other human rights violations, the indicator on tenure status

(proportion of households with secure tenure) was dropped from the MDG monitoring

framework.

134

The fact that many slums or informal settlements are irregular also affects residents’ access

to services such as policing. As a result people may find themselves denied protection by the

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

police and caught between the violence of criminal gangs and the police.

135

favelas

inner-city neighbourhoods in Brazil and Jamaica the state is largely absent. The failure by the

authorities to offer protection to these communities has allowed criminal gangs and drug

factions to take control and dominate almost every aspect of life. For example, in some

neighbourhoods gangs impose curfews and control transport systems and access to

education, jobs and health care services.

136

People living in slums are also disproportionately victims of violent crime. A survey of women

living in slums in six cities around the world carried out by the Centre on Housing Rights and

Evictions identified violence against women as “rampant” in slums and the “strongest cross-

cutting theme” of their study.

137

Women experienced violence both within the home and

outside, for example as they came back from work or on their way to use public toilets or

communal facilities. Women have also described the difficulties of reporting domestic or

other forms of violence to the police because of negative perceptions of people living in

slums or just because of the absence of police stations in slum areas.

138

PARTICIPATION

The right of people to participate in developing and implementing slum upgrading

programmes has frequently been disregarded in MDG initiatives. In a slum upgrading

programme in Nairobi, for example, residents were not given adequate information or

genuinely consulted. This resulted in significant concerns for the community on issues such

as whether the housing that they were being offered was affordable and would meet their

needs in terms of location and livelihoods. In 2006 the government said that it would

designate slum upgrading areas as “tenure secure zones”. It also pledged to “determine

appropriate secure tenure systems to be introduced in consultations with residents, structure

owners and other stakeholders... and assure rights of occupancy to residents by first and

foremost, eliminating unlawful evictions and providing certainty of residence”.

139

Four years

later, these commitments have yet to be put into effect, leaving people uncertain and

concerned about possible forced evictions during the project’s implementation.

140

CONSISTENCY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

In order to ensure that they fulfil international obligations in their efforts to meet MDG Goal

7.D on slums, governments must:

Respect the right to adequate housing by stopping and preventing forced evictions of

people living in slums. Laws and policies to guarantee secure tenure are essential both to

stop people’s situation becoming worse and also to ensure a minimum level of stability that

allows both government and communities to contribute more effectively to improving housing

and living conditions. Such laws and policies would also ensure that government efforts to

meet the MDGs do not themselves lead to human rights violations by allowing slum clearance

to give rise to forced evictions.

Protect the right to adequate housing, including by ensuring protection against forced

evictions and harassment by landlords and other private actors. This should include

extending protections in rental and housing legislation to people living in slums to enable

them to challenge disproportionate rents and discrimination by private actors.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Fulfil the right to adequate housing, including by developing national housing strategies,

slum upgrading, social housing and other programmes that are designed and implemented in

a participatory manner and ensure that policies and programmes prioritize the most

disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

Ensure non-discrimination in laws, policies and programmes. This would involve, for

example, ensuring that women are not excluded from slum upgrading or other housing

programmes because of their marital status or other factors, or discriminatory inheritance or

property laws.

Ensure that people living in slums have access to accountability mechanisms that have

oversight over laws, policies and programmes. Empowering people living in slums in this way

will help address their exclusion and marginalization and increase their ability to ensure that

rights are fulfilled as part of meeting the MDG commitments.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

CHAPTER 4/ HUMAN RIGHTS – A

FRAMEWORK FOR PROGRESS

International human rights standards provide an important framework for developing policies

and programmes to achieve progress on the MDGs. They ensure a focus on states’

accountability, on the needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people, on combating

discrimination, and on effective participation. The human rights framework reminds policy

makers that the processes by which the goals are implemented are as important as the

results.

However, the MDGs contain no requirement that states integrate human rights standards into

MDG policies and programmes. For example, Goal 8 on a global partnership for development

requires developed countries to support the achievement of the MDGs, including through

their global aid, trade and debt policies. However, it fails to specify that such policies should

be consistent with international human rights standards. Some states have added human

rights to their national MDG plans; for example, Mongolia added a Goal 9 on human rights

and democracy. Such innovations, however, are rare. Most MDG reports fail to refer to human

rights in any way, or address them only in a rhetorical fashion.

141

States and international organizations must ensure that mechanisms are in place that can

assess their MDG initiatives and ensure they are consistent with international human rights

standards. This will help reveal where wider changes in law, policy or practice are required to

support MDG efforts, for example identifying barriers to the achievement of the MDGs such

as discriminatory laws, inadequate systems for protecting women from violence, or

inadequate and ineffective policing in slums. It will also help ensure that efforts to meet the

MDGs do not lead to retrogressive steps or human rights violations that undermine progress

in other areas.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO GOVERNMENTS

REDRESS THE ACCOUNTABILITY DEFICIT

National and international accountability mechanisms are needed to ensure that states

respect, protect and fulfil human rights in their MDG efforts and that there are effective

remedies for any human rights violations.

This requires that governments:

Ensure that people are able to use the law to enforce their rights and access effective

remedies for all violations of human rights, in particular addressing any gaps in the law

relating to the enforceability of economic, social and cultural rights.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Remove any barriers that people living in poverty face in accessing justice and effective

remedies.

Mandate national human rights monitoring bodies as well as quasi-judicial regulatory

bodies to monitor violations of human rights and to act on complaints, and ensure they have

the capacity to do so effectively.

Increase monitoring and oversight by parliamentary bodies of efforts to meet the MDGs,

in particular to ensure their consistency with human rights obligations.

In order to increase review by international human rights mechanisms of their MDG efforts,

states should:

Systematically integrate reporting on national and international implementation of the

MDGs in their reports to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council

and to international human rights treaty monitoring bodies.

In the context of the UPR, make recommendations to other states to promote

consistency between human rights and the MDGs.

Commit to increased scrutiny of implementation of human rights obligations by ratifying

Optional Protocols of human rights treaties that provide access to complaints mechanisms, in

particular those relating to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

ENSURE CONSISTENCY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

Governments should review all existing and planned laws, policies and programmes aimed at

meeting the MDGs to ensure consistency with international human rights standards. The

review should be undertaken in a participatory manner.

This requires that governments:

Designate or create an institution with sufficient expertise to review MDG plans and their

implementation and related legislation for consistency with human rights standards.

Where gaps are identified through the review process, adopt or modify laws, policies and

practices to ensure greater protection for human rights.

Ensure that all government bodies, the legislature and the judiciary are aware of and

have an institutional commitment to comply with international human rights standards.

Ensure the review also focuses on the implementation of recommendations by

international human rights monitoring bodies.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

INCLUDE THE EXCLUDED

States should ensure that their MDG efforts are inclusive, that they are aimed at ending

discrimination and guaranteeing gender equality, and that they prioritize the most

disadvantaged groups.

This requires that governments:

Identify which groups are facing discrimination or particular barriers in realizing their

rights and ensure that MDG efforts are designed and implemented in a way that focuses on

removing these barriers and on improving the lives of the most disadvantaged.

Adopt effective measures to end all forms of discrimination and prioritize the most

marginalized and disadvantaged groups in reforms to law, policy and practice.

Include separate targets within national targets for the realization of economic, social

and cultural rights for particular groups who face discrimination and disadvantage. Monitor

progress towards these objectives and develop appropriate qualitative and quantitative

indicators.

Collect data on the realization of economic, social and cultural rights that is

disaggregated on the basis of gender and for other groups identified as facing discrimination.

This data and analysis should inform the design and evaluation of all programmes relating to

the MDGs.

Review the allocation of resources for the MDGs from national funding and international

assistance in order to ensure that they are consistent with prioritizing disadvantaged groups.

SET TARGETS FOR PROGRESS

States should set and implement national targets to realize all economic, social and cultural

rights – in particular minimum essential levels – in the shortest possible time, supplementing

the MDG targets wherever possible. Governments should take into account existing levels of

progress, the resources available to them nationally and through international co-operation

and assistance, and develop time-bound and measurable targets.

This requires that governments:

Prioritize meeting the minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights

for all as a stepping stone towards the full realization of these rights.

Ensure effective implementation by developing a clear plan and timeline for meeting

targets, publicizing the targets and the institutions responsible, and allocating adequate

financial and human resources.

ENSURE PARTICIPATION

Those living in poverty must be involved in MDG planning, implementation and monitoring at

all levels; particular attention should be given to equal participation by women.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

This requires that governments:

Ensure that information on MDG efforts, both existing and planned, is available in a

format that is accessible to all.

Provide opportunities for

implementation and monitoring.

people

participate

priority

setting,

planning,

Actively consult those who are most affected by particular programmes and policies.

Respect the rights to freedom of expression, information, assembly and association so

that people are able to participate in efforts to meet the MDGs and to hold governments

accountable.

Protect the rights of human rights defenders and in particular ensure that they are able

to carry out their work without fear of arbitrary detention, undue restrictions on their freedom

of expression, association, and assembly, or other reprisals.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO BILATERAL AND MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES

AND INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Development assistance, both technical and financial, has an important role to play in

tackling poverty and achieving the MDGs. The role of international co-operation and

assistance in achieving universal respect for human rights is provided for in several treaties,

including the UN Charter.

142

Treaty monitoring bodies have also emphasized the role of

international co-operation and assistance in the realization of economic, social and cultural

rights. In addition, there is increased recognition that the obligations of states in relation to

development assistance and co-operation extend to the actions that states take as part of

inter-governmental organizations, including international financial institutions such as the

World Bank and regional development banks.

143

A number of UN bodies have adopted a human rights-based approach to their development co-

operation. The UN Statement of Common Understanding on a human rights-based approach to

development co-operation and programming

144

is intended to be used by UN agencies so that:

1. All programmes of development co-operation, policies and technical assistance should further

the realization of human rights as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and

other international human rights instruments.

Human rights standards contained in, and principles derived from, the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments guide all development co-

operation and programming in all sectors and in all phases of the programming process.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

3. Development co-operation contributes to the development of the capacities of “duty-bearers”

to meet their obligations and of “rights holders” to claim their rights

However, this approach is not consistently applied and is not fully integrated in all policy and

practice.

“Developing countries and donors will ensure that their respective development policies and

programmes are designed and implemented in ways consistent with their agreed international

commitments on gender equality, human rights, disability and environmental sustainability.”

Accra Agenda for Action, 2008

145

The Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD-DAC) has promoted the integration of human rights in development

assistance policy and practice. The DAC’s Action-Oriented Policy Paper on Human Rights

and Development

146

invites donor agencies to use 10 principles to inform the design of

human rights policies and programming. Such principles include the need to ensure that

donor policies and programmes “do no harm”

147

and that they promote non-discrimination.

They also include the need to ensure that the links between human rights obligations and

development priorities are a regular feature of dialogue between donors and partner

governments, so that development assistance supports governments to fulfil their obligations

under international human rights law.

148

MUTUAL OBLIGATIONS IN DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE

Where states require external resources for their efforts to meet the MDGs, they must ensure

that their use of development assistance resources is also consistent with their human rights

obligations. This requires states to seek international assistance where necessary to ensure at

least minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights for all, and to ensure

that they use development assistance resources in a way that promotes non-discrimination

and advances equality – including gender equality – and gives priority to the most

marginalized. It requires states to ensure that their use of development assistance from the

donor community is underpinned by human rights principles and standards – including their

obligations in relation to economic, social and cultural rights. It also requires states to ensure

transparency and accountability in their use of development assistance and that there are

mechanisms for the effective participation of local communities, civil society, parliaments

and other institutions in national processes regarding the use and monitoring of assistance

from the donor community.

Amnesty International calls upon all bilateral and multilateral development agencies and

international financial institutions to ensure that their international co-operation and

assistance in support of the MDGs is consistent with human rights standards by:

Providing development assistance – technical and financial – where such assistance is

necessary to ensure the realization of at least minimum essential levels of economic, social

and cultural rights for all.

Promoting mutual accountability in development assistance by working with partner

governments to ensure that such assistance is guided by human rights principles and

standards. As such, donors and partner countries should use human rights standards to

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

inform and guide policy dialogue and choices, poverty reduction strategies, and the

identification of priorities in aid policy and practice.

Adopting adequate safeguards, monitoring and accountability mechanisms to ensure that

development assistance complies with human rights standards. This requires a number of

measures which include: aligning development agencies’ due diligence and safeguard

policies with human rights standards and reporting on the actual and expected human rights

impact of development assistance to international human rights bodies, including the

Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council.

149

Explicitly recognizing and integrating human rights standards in their development

assistance policies and practice to ensure that such assistance does not result in, or

contribute to, a negative human rights impact (for example, by supporting activities that lead

to forced evictions or that violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples) and to ensure that it is

consistent with human rights standards.

Ensuring an adequate focus on the realization of minimum essential levels of economic,

social and cultural rights for all, prioritizing those who are most marginalized and excluded

and monitoring the extent to which development assistance benefits these groups.

Identifying and addressing discrimination – including gender discrimination – in all

development assistance projects and programmes. Donors should work with partner countries

to identify and address gender discrimination and inequality in their support across all the

MDGs.

Supporting the effective participation of the population (including the most vulnerable

and marginalized), local communities, civil society organizations, parliaments and national

human rights bodies in national development plans and processes regarding the use of

development assistance. This should include participation in setting local and national

development priorities and in monitoring the use of development assistance at the local and

national levels, and holding states to account for their use of aid resources.

Ensuring transparency and access to comprehensive information on the purpose,

provenance, amount and terms of development assistance and how it is used, monitored and

accounted for.

POST-2015 FRAMEWORK

The priority now is to focus on the implementation of the MDGs by 2015. However, it is also

important to start considering the essential components of a global framework from 2015

onwards. Such a framework should:

Be based on, and require consistency with, states’ obligations under human rights law.

Address discrimination on all prohibited grounds, including gender, and inequality

throughout.

Establish timelines for fulfilling minimum essential levels of economic, social and

cultural rights globally and for each country. States should commit to a timeline that reflects

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

their resources and capacity and available international assistance. States in a position to

provide assistance should make clear and time-bound pledges to ensure that there is

adequate international co-operation assistance available for this purpose.

Individual states should make formal commitments to national targets for the realization

of economic, social and cultural rights that surpass the global goals on the basis of their

resources and capacity.

National and international accountability mechanisms should be strengthened, where

necessary, and given an explicit mandate to monitor the realization of these goals.

States should assess what essential elements are required for the establishment of a new

global poverty reduction framework. This should include:

Considering how to carry out a process for designing a poverty reduction framework that

involves the participation of people living in poverty.

Revising international systems for data collection on levels of access to water, sanitation,

health, education, food and social protection to ensure that they fully assess quality,

availability, physical accessibility and affordability. Such data must be disaggregated

according to the most common grounds of discrimination, including gender and ethnicity.

Such revisions should be taken as early as possible to ensure that by 2015 there is sufficient

data to establish ambitious but realistic international targets that reflect human rights

concerns.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

TABLE: MDG GOALS, TARGETS AND

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Based on information in the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights and the

UN Millennium Campaign report,

The Millennium Development Goals and Human Rights,

2008.

150

GOAL 1 ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER

Target 1.A: Halve, between

1990

and

2015,

the

proportion of people whose

income is less then $1 a day

Target 1.B: Achieve full and

productive employment and

decent work for all, including

women and young people

Right to adequate standard

of living

Right to social security

Right to work

ICESCR: Article 6

Convention on the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities

(CRPD): Article 27

Right to food

ICESCR: Article 11

ICESCR: Articles 6,9 and

Target 1.C: Halve, between

1990

and

2015,

the

proportion of people who

suffer from hunger

GOAL 2 ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

Target 2.A: Ensure that, by

2015, children everywhere,

boys and girls alike, will be

able to complete a full course

of primary schooling

Right to education

ICESCR: Articles 13 and 14

Convention on the Rights of

the Child (CRC): Article

28(1)(a)

CEDAW: Article 10

International Convention on

the Elimination of All Forms

of Racial Discrimination

(ICERD): Article 5(e)

CRPD : Articles 7 and 24

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

GOAL 3 PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN

Target 3.A: Eliminate gender

disparity in primary and

secondary

education,

preferably by 2005, and in all

levels of education no later

than 2015

Women’s rights to equality

ICESCR: Articles 13 and 14

CRC: Article 28(1)(a)

CEDAW: Article 10

ICERD: Article 5(e)

CRPD: Articles 6 and 24

GOAL 4 REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY

Target 4.A: Reduce by two

thirds, between 1990 and

2015, the under-five mortality

rate

Right to life

Right to the enjoyment of

the

highest

attainable

standard of health

ICCPR: Article 6

ICESCR: Article 12(2)(a)

CRC: Articles 6, 24(2)(a)

GOAL 5 IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

Target 5.A: Reduce by three

quarters, between 1990 and

2015, the maternal mortality

ratio

Target 5.B: Achieve, by 2015,

universal

access

reproductive health

Right to life

Right to the enjoyment of

the

highest

attainable

standard of health

ICCPR: Article 6

ICESCR: Article 12

CRC: Article 24

CEDAW: Article 12

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

GOAL 6 COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES

Target 6.A: Have halted by

2015 and begun to reverse

the spread of HIV/AIDS

Target 6.B: Achieve, by 2010,

universal access to treatment

for HIV/AIDS for all those who

need it

Target 6.C: Have halted by

2015 and begun to reverse

the incidence of malaria and

other major diseases

Right to the enjoyment of

the

highest

attainable

standard of health

ICESCR: Article 12

CRC: Article 24

CEDAW: Article 12

GOAL 7 ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Target 7.A: Integrate the

principles

sustainable

development into country

policies and programmes and

reverse

the

loss

environmental resources

Target

7.B:

Reduce

biodiversity loss, achieving, by

2010, a significant reduction

in the rate of loss

Target 7.C: Halve, by 2015,

the proportion of people

without sustainable access to

safe drinking water and basic

sanitation

Target 7.D: Have achieved by

2020

significant

improvement in the lives of at

least 100 million slum-

dwellers

Right to water and sanitation

ICESCR: Articles 12 and

11(1)

CRC: Article 24

Right

healthy

environment, a component of

the right to health

ICESCR: Article 12

CRC: Article 24

Right to adequate housing

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

GOAL 8 DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

Target 8.A: Develop further an

open, rule-based, predictable,

non-discriminatory

trading

and financial system

Target 8.B: Address the

special needs of the least

developed countries

Target 8.C: Address the

special needs of landlocked

developing

countries

and

small island developing States

Target

8.D:

Deal

comprehensively with the debt

problems

developing

countries through national

and international measures in

order

make

debt

sustainable in the long term

Target 8.E: In cooperation

with

pharmaceutical

companies, provide access to

affordable essential drugs in

developing countries

Target 8.F: In cooperation

with the private sector, make

available the benefits of new

technologies,

especially

information

and

communications

Right to the enjoyment of

the

highest

attainable

standard of health

ICESCR: Articles 2(1) and

CRC: Articles 4 and 24

International obligations for

ESC rights

UN Charter: Articles 1(3),

55 and 56

ICESCR:

Articles

2(1),

11(1), 15(4), 22 and 23

CRC: Articles 4, 24(4) and

28(3)

CRPD: Article 32

ESC rights

ICESCR

CRPD: Articles 9 and 21

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

ENDNOTES

United Nations Millennium Declaration, Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly, A/RES/55/2, 8

September 2000, available at http://www.un.org/ millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf, last accessed 24

May 2010.

For more information see http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/, last accessed 24 May 2010.

P. Alston, “Ships Passing in the Night: The Current State of the Human Rights and Development

Debate Seen Through the Lens of the Millennium Development Goals”,

Human Rights Quarterly,

Vol.

27, No. 3, 2005, p. 756 (hereinafter P. Alston, Ships Passing in the Night). Office of the High

Commissioner for Human Rights,

Claiming the MDGs: A Human Rights Approach,

Office of the High

Commissioner for Human Rights, 2008, p.1 (hereinafter OHCHR,

Claiming the MDGs).

Keeping the promise: a forward-looking review to promote an agreed action agenda to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals by 2015,

Report of the UN Secretary-General, UN General Assembly, 12

February 2010, UN Doc. A/64/665 (hereinafter

Keeping the promise,

Report of the UN Secretary-

General).

Keeping the promise,

Report of the UN Secretary-General, pp. 2, 9 – 10.

United Nations Millennium Declaration, A/RES/55/2, 8 September 2000, para. 25.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 3: The nature of states

parties’ obligations, 14 December 1990, available at

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/comments.htmhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/co

mments.htm, last accessed 24 May 2010, para. 9 (hereinafter CESCR, General Comment No. 3). The

Committee noted “It thus imposes an obligation to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible

towards that goal. Moreover, any deliberately retrogressive measures in that regard would require the

most careful consideration and would need to be fully justified by reference to the totality of the rights

provided for in the Covenant and in the context of the full use of the maximum available resources”.

Article 2(2), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereinafter ICESCR),

Article 2(1), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter ICCPR), Article 2(1),

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (hereinafter ICERD),

Article 2, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (hereinafter

CEDAW), Article 2 (1), Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter CRC), Article 1(1),

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their

Families (hereinafter ICRMW), and Article 4(1), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

(hereinafter CRPD).

In addition to the provisions on non-discrimination highlighted above, see also Article 26, ICCPR.

See CESCR, General Comment No. 3, para. 10, where the Committee stated “On the basis of the

extensive experience gained by the Committee, as well as by the body that preceded it, over a period of

more than a decade of examining States parties' reports the Committee is of the view that a minimum

core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the

rights is incumbent upon every State party. Thus, for example, a State party in which any significant

number of individuals is deprived of essential foodstuffs, of essential primary health care, of basic

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

shelter and housing, or of the most basic forms of education is, prima facie, failing to discharge its

obligations under the Covenant. If the Covenant were to be read in such a way as not to establish such a

minimum core obligation, it would be largely deprived of its raison d'être. By the same token, it must be

noted that any assessment as to whether a State has discharged its minimum core obligation must also

take account of resource constraints applying within the country concerned. Article 2 (1) obligates each

State party to take the necessary steps "to the maximum of its available resources". In order for a State

party to be able to attribute its failure to meet at least its minimum core obligations to a lack of available

resources it must demonstrate that every effort has been made to use all resources that are at its

disposition in an effort to satisfy, as a matter of priority, those minimum obligations.” (emphasis in

original, please also note that the examples given are indicative, not exhaustive).

See for example CESCR, General Comment No. 14: The right to the highest attainable standard of

health (Article 12), UN Doc. E/C. 12/2000/4, 11 August 2000, (hereinafter CESCR, General Comment

No. 14), para. 43 (f) and CESCR, General Comment No. 15: The right to water (Articles 11 and 12), UN.

Doc. E/C.12/2002/11, 20 January 2003, (hereinafter CESCR, General Comment No. 15), paras 16 and

37 (b).

See for example CESCR, General Comment No. 15, para 47, where the Committee emphasised that

“The duty to take steps clearly imposes on States parties an obligation to adopt a national strategy or

plan of action to realize the right to water. The strategy must: (a) be based upon human rights law and

principles; (b) cover all aspects of the right to water and the corresponding obligations of States parties;

achievement; (e) formulate adequate policies and corresponding benchmarks and indicators”.

Articles 19 and 25, ICCPR. As discussed in chapters 2 and 3, other human rights monitoring bodies

have emphasised the importance of participation and information for the exercise of peoples’ human

rights.

For instance OHCHR has highlighted that “The MDGs focus explicitly only on three marginalized

groups, namely: children and youth (decent work for youth, education and infant mortality: MDGs 1–4),

women and girls (MDGs 3 and 5 and target 1.B) and slum- dwellers (target 7.D).” See OHCHR,

Claiming

the MDGs,

p. 9.

Article 1, CEDAW.

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues website,

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/mdgs.html#_ftn5, last accessed 24 May 2010. See also

International Fund for Agricultural Development,

Indigenous Peoples,

www.ifad.org/pub/factsheet/ip/e.pdf, last accessed 24 May 2010, which notes that Indigenous Peoples

make up one third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people.

Amnesty International,

‘We’re only asking for what is ours’: Indigenous Peoples in Paraguay - Yakye

Axa and Sawhoyamaxa,

AI Index: AMR 45/005/2009.

Yakye Axa Indigenous Community

Paraguay,

Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 17 June 2005,

Series C, No. 125;

Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community

Paraguay,

Inter-American Court of Human

Rights, 29 March 2006, Series C, No. 146.

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues,

Report on the Fourth Session (16 – 27 May 2005),

Doc. E/C.19/2005/9, p. 3.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Sightsavers International,

The Millennium Development Goals and People with Disabilities,

Sightsavers

Policy Briefing, 2009, p. 1 available at

http://www.sightsavers.org/learn_more/reports_and_research/10990.html, last accessed 24 May 2010.

See for example Amnesty International, “Europe's Roma community still facing massive

discrimination”, available at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/feature-stories/europes-roma-

community-still-facing-massive-discrimination-20090408#czech, last accessed 24 May 2010.

Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Gay McDougall,

Achieving the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) for Minorities: A Review of MDG Country Reports and Poverty Reduction

Strategies,

Human Rights Council, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/4/9/Add.1, 2 March 2007.

Revised Millennium Development Goal monitoring framework, including new targets and indicators, as

recommended by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Millennium Development Goal Indicators,

contained in

Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization,

UN General Assembly,

Sixty-second Session, 2007, UN. Doc. A/62/1, 31 August 2007, Annex II, p. 66.

See Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues,

MDG Reports and Indigenous

Peoples: A Desk Review,

prepared in 2006, 2007 and 2008, available at

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/mdgs.html#_ftn8, last accessed 24 May 2010.

OHCHR,

Claiming the MDGs,

p. 10.

For further information see also Amnesty International,

Human rights for human dignity: A primer on

economic, social and cultural rights,

AI Index POL 34/009/2005.

Article 2 (1), ICESCR.

CESCR, General Comment No. 3, paras 2 and 9.

CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 53.

CESCR, General Comment 3, para. 10, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

Poverty

and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

UN Doc E/C.12/2001/10, 10

May 2001, para. 17.

The World Bank and UN-HABITAT,

Cities Alliance for Cities Without Slums Action Plan for Moving

Slum Upgrading to Scale,

1999, available at http://www.citiesalliance.org/ca/cws-action-plan, last

accessed 24 May 2010, p. 1.

While the Millennium Declaration suggests that progress was to be measured from 2000 to 2015, the

MDGs use 1990 as the base-line year, therefore measuring progress retrospectively and over 25 years,

rather than 15 years. The English version of the Millennium Declaration had stated that the targets were

to be achieved by 2015, without stipulating that 2000 was the baseline year, although this may be

implied from the context. However, the French version clearly stated that progress was to be measured

from the time the Declaration was adopted in 2000 until 2015.

J. Vandemoortele,

MDGs: misunderstood targets?,

UNDP International Poverty Centre, One Pager,

No. 28, January 2007, available at http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager28.pdf, last accessed 24

May 2010.

P. Alston, Ships Passing in the Night, p. 763, citing M. Clemens, C. Kenny & T. Moss,

The Trouble

with the MDGs: Confronting Expectations of Aid and Development Success,

Center for Global

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Development, Working Paper 40, 2004.

OHCHR, UNICEF and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights,

Human Rights and MDGs in Practice:

A Survey of country strategies and reporting,

OHCHR, 2008, p. 14.

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE),

The Significance of human rights in MDG-based

policy making on water and sanitation: An application to Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Sri Lanka and

Laos,

COHRE, 2009, pp. 5, 7-8, 12 and 20-21.

UN Millennium Declaration, A/RES/55/2, 8 September 2000, para. 19.

WHO and UNICEF Fund Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation,

Progress on

Sanitation and Drinking-water: 2010 Update,

WHO and UNICEF, 2010, p. 13.

WHO,

Global Defence Against Neglected Diseases Threat,

WHO, 2002.

Article 25, The Human Rights Committee has clarified that the “conduct of public affairs … is a broad

concept which relates to the exercise of political power, in particular the exercise of legislative, executive

and administrative powers. It covers all aspects of public administration, and the formulation and

implementation of policy at international, national, regional and local levels.” Human Rights Committee,

General Comment 25 on the right to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right of equal

access to public service (Article 25), 12 July 1996, available at:

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/comments.htm, last accessed 24 May 2010, para. 5.

CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 54 and General Comment No. 15, para. 48.

CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 54.

OHCHR, UNICEF and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights,

Human Rights and MDGs in Practice,

p. 20.

COHRE, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Human Rights

Programme, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and UN-HABITAT,

Manual on Right

to Water and Sanitation,

2007, available at http://www.cohre.org/manualrtws, (hereinafter COHRE,

AAAS, SDC and UN-HABITAT,

Manual on Right to Water and Sanitation),

last accessed 24 May 2010,

pp. 78-81.

Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues,

MDG Reports and Indigenous Peoples:

A Desk Review,

prepared in 2006 and 2007, available at

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/mdgs.html#_ftn8, last accessed 24 May 2010.

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues website,

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/mdgs.html#_ftn5, last accessed 24 May 2010.

Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

MDG Reports, CCAs, UNDAFs and

Indigenous Peoples: A Desk Review 2010,

available at

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/publications.html, last accessed 24 May 2010, p. 39 .

H. Mander and A. Joshi,

The Movement for the Right to Information in India,

Mazdoor Kisan Shakti

Sangathan website

available at http://www.mkssindia.org/node/44, last accessed 24 May 2010.

National Campaign for People’s Right to Information,

The Informer,

E-Newsletter, available at

http://www.righttoinformation.info/pdf/newletter1.pdf, last accessed 24 May 2010.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

See the UN Development Group website, http://www.undg.org/index.cfm?P=87, last accessed 24 May

2010.

Amnesty International,

Giving life, risking death: Maternal mortality in Burkina Faso,

AI Index: AFR

60/001/2009, pp. 82 – 89.

Lindiwe Mazibuko & Others v City of Johannesburg & Others,

Case CCT 39/09, [2009] ZACC 28, para.

160-161.

D. Brinks and V. Gauri, “A New Policy Landscape”. in

Courting Social Justice: Judicial Enforcement of

Social and Economic Rights in the Developing World,

Cambridge University Press, 2008, (hereinafter D.

Brinks and V. Gauri,

Courting Social Justice),

p. 348.

D. Brinks and V. Gauri,

Courting Social Justice,

p. 319.

People’s Union for Civil Liberties

Union of India and others,

Civil Writ Petition 196 of 2001, Interim

Order of 28 November 2001, available at http://www.righttofoodindia.org/orders/interimorders.html, last

accessed 24 May 2010.

J. Dreze,

Right to Food: From the Courts to the Streets,

Right to Food Campaign, 2002, p. 4.

H. Mander, Commissioner, Supreme Court of India, Presentation at the ‘International Symposium on

the Enforcement of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Judgements, Bogota, Colombia, 6 May 2010.

D. Brinks and V. Gauri,

Courting Social Justice,

p. 327

D. Brinks and V. Gauri,

Courting Social Justice,

p. 328.

D. Brinks and V. Gauri,

Courting Social Justice,

p. 311.

Minister of Health

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC),

(2002) 5 SA 721 (CC), paras 60-61.

Minister of Health

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC),

(2002) 5 SA 721 (CC), paras 60-61.

Minister of Health

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC),

(2002) 5 SA 721 (CC), paras 60-61.

J. Berger, “Litigating

for Social Justice in Post Apartheid South Africa”

in D. Brinks and V. Gauri,

Courting Social Justice,

p. 84.

In addition, the UN Human Rights Council has established Special Procedures, consisting of

individuals or working groups, who can carry out independent enquiries into thematic or country human

rights situations.

Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by

the UN General Assembly, Resolution A/RES/63/117, 10 December 2008, available at

http://www.un.org/ga/63/resolutions.shtml, last accessed 24 May 2010. The Optional Protocol was

opened for signature on 24 September 2009 and has been signed by 32 States as of 24 May 2010.

Adopted 6 October 1999 and entered into force on 22 December 2000. The Optional Protocol has

been ratified by 99 states as of the end of April 2010.

See for example, Concluding Observations of the CESCR on Germany, UN Doc E/C.12/1/Add.68, 24

September 2001, para. 31 and CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 39. See also M. Sepúlveda,

“Obligations of ‘International Assistance and Cooperation’ in an Optional Protocol to the International

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”,

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights,

Vol. 24,

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

Issue 2, 2006, p. 287.

United Nations Millennium Declaration, A/RES/55/2, 8 September 2000, paras 20, 25 and 30.

See Women, Poverty and Economics, available at

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics/, last accessed 24 May 2010.

International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), UNFPA et al.,

Ending child marriage: A guide for

global policy action,

2007, available at www.unfpa.org/upload/lib.../662_filename_endchildmarriage.pdf,

last accessed on 24 May 2010.

COHRE, AAAS, SDC and UN-HABITAT,

Manual on Right to Water and Sanitation,

p. 7.

See UNDP,

Human Development Report 2006: Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water

crisis,

available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2006/, last accessed 24 May 2010.

United Nations,

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009,

New York, 2009, available at

www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202009%20ENG.pdf

last accessed 24 May 2010

p. 18.

UNICEF,

The state of the world’s children special edition. Celebrating 20 Years of the Convention on

the Rights of the Child,

UNICEF, 2009, p. 18

According to the UN, in 2007 only 53 of the 171 countries for which data was available had achieved

gender parity in both primary and secondary educations see UN,

The Millennium Development Goals

Report 2009,

p. 19.

UNESCO Institute of Statistics,

Adult Literacy Rates and Illiterate Population by Region and Gender,

UNESCO, 2006, cited in UNIFEM,

The Unfinished Agenda. Balance Sheet of progress and Backlogs on

Gender Equality,

available at http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals/, last

accessed 24 May 2010.

UNDP,

Human Development Report 2006: Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis.

Amnesty International,

Safe schools: Every girl’s right

AI Index: ACT 77/001/2008

UNIFEM and UNDP,

Making the MDGs work better for women. Implementing Gender-Responsive

National Development Plans and Programmes,

2009, available at

http://www.unifem.org/attachments/products/MakingTheMDGsWorkBetterForWomen_eng.pdf,

last

accessed 24 May 2010.

UNIFEM,

Making the MDGs Work for All. Gender-Responsive Rights-Based Approaches to the MDGs,

2008, available at http://www.unifem.org/materials/item_detail.php?ProductID=135, last accessed 24

May 2010.

United Nations,

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009,

p.15.

Amnesty International,

Women and Girls in Tajikistan: Facing Violence, Discrimination and Poverty,

Index: EUR 60/001/2009.

UNIFEM,

The tragic reality of violence. Facing the Facts of Violence Against Women and the

Millennium Development Goals,

available at

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/millennium_development_goals/, last accessed 24 May 2010.

UN,

Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4 – 15 September 1995,

UN. Doc.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

A/CONF.177/20/Rev.1, Platform for Action, para.124 (h).

In a 2004 survey by the Canadian government, Indigenous women reported rates of violence,

including domestic and sexual violence that were three and a half times higher than non-Indigenous

women. J. Brzozowski, A. Taylor-Butts and S. Johnson, “Victimisation and offending among the

Aboriginal population in Canada”,

Juristat,

Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2006.

Amnesty International,

No More Stolen Sisters. The need for a comprehensive response to

discrimination and violence against Indigenous women in Canada,

AI Index: AMR 20/012/2009.

For example, in its report Zimbabwe:

Between a rock and a hard place – women human rights

defenders at risk,

AI Index: AFR 46/017/2007, Amnesty International documented the government’s

clampdown on women human rights defenders in Zimbabwe to crush dissent and prevent other women

and men from becoming active.

Amnesty International,

Afghan Women Human Rights Defenders under attack,

AI Index: ASA

11/006/2009.

On the occasion of the 15

anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, the Commission on the

Status of Women stated that “gender equality perspectives are not well reflected in the current

formulation of many of the Millennium Development Goals and their targets and indicators, and are often

not explicitly integrated in strategies and plans to achieve the Goals. There is insufficient coherence

between efforts to implement the Platform for Action and the strategies and actions to achieve the Goals

and this lack of coherence is a contributing factor in the uneven and slow performance towards realizing

many of the Goals”,

Linkages between implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals: Moderator’s Summary,

UN. Doc.

E/CN.6/2010/CRP.7, 10 March 2010, para. 2.

UNFPA,

Beijing at fifteen: UNFPA and partners charting the way forward,

2010, available at

http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2010/beijing15.pdf, last

accessed 24 May 2010, p. 19.

M. Hogan et al., “Maternal Mortality for 181 countries, 1980-2008: A systematic analysis of progress

towards Millennium Development Goal 5,”

The Lancet,

Vol. 375, Issue 9726, pp. 1609- 1623, 2010.

UNFPA,

No woman should die giving life, Facts and Figures 1,

available at

www.womendeliver.org/assets/UNFPA%20MH%20fact%20sheet.pdf, last accessed 24 May 2010.

UNFPA,

Giving Birth Should not be a Matter of Life and Death.

http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/safemotherhood/docs/maternalhealth_factsheet_en.pdf,

last accessed 24 May 2010.

UNFPA,

No woman should die giving life, Facts and Figure 1.

UNFPA

Contraceptives Save Lives: Women are Dying Every Day,

http://www.unfpa.org/rh/planning/mediakit/docs/new_docs/sheet2-english.pdf, last accessed 24 May

2010.

UNFPA,

No woman should die giving life, Facts and Figures 1.

UNFPA,

No woman should die giving life, Facts and Figures 1.

Defensoria del Pueblo,

Derecho a una Maternidad Segura: Supervisión Nacional de los Servicios de

Ginecología y Obstetrica del MENSA

Peru, November 2008.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

100

WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank,

Maternal Mortality in 2005.

Estimates developed by

WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank; available at http://www.who.int/whosis/mme_2005.pdf, last

accessed 24 May 2010.

101

Statistics pertain to non-Hispanic black women and non-Hispanic white women. M. Heron et al,

Deaths: Final Data for 2006, National Vital Statistics Reports,

Vol.57, No.14, April 2009, p.116, Table

34; available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_14.pdf, last accessed 24 May 2010.

102

WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA,

Guidelines for Monitoring the Availability and Use of Obstetric Services,

1997.

103

The CEDAW Committee has stated that ‘access to health care, including reproductive health is a

basic right under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’,

CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation 24, available at

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.h tm#recom24, last accessed 24

May 2010, para. 1. It has also said that Article 12 of the Convention ‘requires States to eliminate

discrimination against women in their access to health care services, throughout the life cycle,

particularly in the areas of family planning, pregnancy, confinement and during the post-natal period’

and that ‘Measures to eliminate discrimination against women are considered to be inappropriate if a

health care system lacks services to prevent, detect and treat illnesses specific to women’, CEDAW

Committee, General Recommendation 24, paras 2 and 11.

104

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standard of health has clarified that

“In the context of sexual and reproductive health, freedoms include a right to control one’s health and

body. Rape and other forms of sexual violence, including forced pregnancy, non-consensual

contraceptive methods (such as forced sterilisation and forced abortion), female genital

mutilation/cutting and forced marriage, all represent serious breaches of sexual and reproductive

freedoms, and are fundamentally and inherently inconsistent with the right to health”. Report of The

Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of

physical and mental health, Paul Hunt, Commission on Human Rights, 16 February 2004, UN.

Doc.E/CN.4/2004/49.

105

Concluding observations of the CESCR, UN Doc E/C.12/NIC/CO/4, 28 November 2008; Concluding

observations of the Human Rights Committee, UN Doc. CCPR/C/NIC/CO/3, 12 December 2008;

Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture, CAT/C/NIC/C/1, 10 June 2009; Concluding

observations of the CEDAW Committee, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/NIC/CO/6, 2 February 2007.

106

UN, MDG Monitor, available at http://www.mdgmonitor.org/country_progress.cfm?c=NIC&cd=558,

last accessed 24 May 2010.

107

Amnesty International,

Peru: Poor and excluded women – Denial of the right to maternal and child

health,

AI Index: AMR 46/004/2006.

108

Amnesty International,

Peru: Fatal flaws - Barriers to maternal health in Peru,

AI Index: AMR

46/008/2009.

109

Amnesty International,

Out of reach. The cost of maternal health in Sierra Leone,

AI Index: AFR

51/005/2009.

110

Amnesty International,

Giving life risking death – Maternal mortality in Burkina Faso,

AI Index: AFR

60/001/2009.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

111

C. De Navas-Walt et al,

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008,

US Census Bureau, Washington, DC, September 2009; available at

http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p60-236.pdf, last accessed 24 May 2010.

112

US Census Bureau,

National Characteristics: National Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin Estimates,

August 2008; available at

http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2008-srh.html, last accessed 24 May 2010.

113

114

US Census Bureau,

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage, 2008,

p.21, Table 7.

Dr. H. Potts,

Participation and the right to the highest attainable standard of health,

University of

Essex, Human Rights Centre, 2008.

115

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable

standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt, Human Rights Council, UN. Doc A/HRC/7/11, 31

January 2008, para. 41.

116

117

118

119

CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation 24, para. 14.

See CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 21.

Article 12, ICESCR.

WHO,

Beyond the numbers: reviewing maternal deaths and complications to make pregnancy safer,

WHO, 2004, pp. 43-47.

120

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT),

State of the World’s Cities 2010/11:

Bridging the Urban Divide,

UN-HABITAT and Earthscan, 2010, p. 33.

121

UN-HABITAT,

State of the World’s Cities 2006/7,

UN-HABITAT and Earthscan, 2006, pp. 18 – 22.

According to UN-HABITAT a ‘slum’ is an area that combines, to various extents, the following

characteristics: inadequate access to safe water; inadequate access to sanitation and other

infrastructure; poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding and insecure residential status, see

http://www.unhabitat.org/documents/media_centre/whd/GRHSPR5.doc, last accessed 24 May 2010.

122

123

124

UN-HABITAT,

State of the World’s Cities 2010/11,

p. 33.

CESCR, General Comment 4, para. 8.

At least three or four in every 10 non-permanent houses in cities in developing countries are located

in dangerous areas that are prone to floods, landslides and other natural disasters. In 2003,

approximately 20 per cent of the world’s population was living in inadequate dwellings, which were

overcrowded or did not have a sufficient living area. It was also estimated that 18 per cent of all dwelling

units globally are non-permanent structures and 133 million people living in cities in the developing

world live in housing that lack finished materials. Because of the difficulties of collecting data on this

issue and lack of systematic assessment, these numbers may be “highly underestimated”. UN-HABITAT,

State of the World’s Cities 2006/7, UN-HABITAT and Earthscan, 2006, pp. 58, 62, 70,137-139 and

UNFPA,

State

World

Population

2007,

UNFPA,

2007,

available

http://www.unfpa.org/public/publications/pid/408, last accessed 24 May 2010, pp. 59-61

125

126

UN-HABITAT,

State of the World’s Cities 2010/11,

p. 47.

CESCR, General Comment 4, para 8 (a)..

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

127

128

UN-Habitat,

State of the World’s Cities 2006/7,

p. 92.

Amnesty International,

Zimbabwe: Between a rock and a hard place – Women human rights defenders

at risk,

AI Index: AFR 46/017/2007.

129

For further details see Amnesty International,

Cambodia: Bracing for Development,

AI Index: ASA

23/009/2008). See also Open Letter by International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Centre on

Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Regarding the

Forced Eviction of Residents of Boeung Kak Lake in the Phnom Penh Municipality, 4 December 2008,

AI Index ASA 23/015/2008. For an overview of concerns around forced evictions in Cambodia see

Amnesty International,

Rights razed: Forced evictions in Cambodia,

AI Index: ASA 23/002/2008.

130

“From the adoption of the Millennium Declaration in 2000, Cambodia has expressed its full

commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2003, the global MDGs have been

localized in Cambodia and these are called Cambodia Millennium Development Goals (CMDGs). The

CMDGs reflects Cambodia realities based on a strong national consensus.” 2007 Annual Ministerial

Review Of The High Level Segment Of ECOSOC Geneva, 2-4 July 2007, see

http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/pdfs/Cambodia_national_rpt.pdf, last accessed 24 May 2010.

131

Amnesty International,

Kenya: The unseen majority – Nairobi’s two million slum dwellers,

AI Index:

AFR 32/005/2009.

132

UN-Habitat,

State of the World’s Cities 2006/7,

pp. 102-127. For the latest data see UN-HABITAT,

State of the World’s Cities 2010/11: Bridging the Urban Divide,

pp. 52 – 119.

133

Amnesty International,

The wrong answer: Italy’s ‘Nomad Plan’ Violated the housing rights of Roma in

Rome,

AI Index EUR 30/001/2010.

134

135

OHCHR,

Claiming the MDGs,

p. 40.

Amnesty International,

“Let them kill each other”: Public security in Jamaica’s inner cities,

AI Index:

AMR 38/004/2008, and

Brazil: “They come in shooting” – Policing socially excluded communities,

Index: AMR 19/025/2005.

136

See Amnesty International,

Picking up the pieces: Women’s experience of urban violence in Brazil,

Index: AMR 19/0012008,

“Let them kill each other”: Public security in Jamaica’s inner cities,

and

Brazil: “They come in shooting” – Policing socially excluded communities.

137

COHRE,

Women, Slums and Urbanisation: Examining the Causes and Consequences,

COHRE, 2008,

p. 14.

138

See Amnesty International,

Picking up the pieces: Women’s experience of urban violence in Brazil,

and COHRE,

Women, Slums and Urbanisation: Examining the Causes and Consequences,

2008, pp. 79,

103, and 109.

139

Amnesty International,

Kenya: The unseen majority – Nairobi’s two million slum dwellers,

AI Index:

AFR 32/005/2009.

140

141

142

Amnesty International,

Kenya: The unseen majority – Nairobi’s two million slum dwellers,

p. 27.

P. Alston, Ships Passing in the Night, pp. 793-796.

Article 2(1), ICESCR states that: “Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take steps,

individually and

through international assistance and co-operation,

especially economic and technical, to

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the

rights recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of

legislative measures.” (emphasis added). The importance of international assistance and co-operation to

the realization of human rights is also reflected in other international and regional human rights treaties

such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities.

143

CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 39, and CESCR, General Comment No. 15, The right to

water, para. 36.

144

See OHCHR,

Frequently Asked Questions on a Human Rights Based Approach to Development,

UN,

2006.

145

Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, September 2-4 2008, para. 13 (c), Accra Agenda for

Action, Accra, Ghana, available at www.undp.org/mdtf/docs/Accra-Agenda-for-Action.pdf, last accessed

24 May 2010.

146

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),

DAC Action-Oriented Policy Paper

on Human Rights and Development,

OECD, 2007.

147

148

149

OECD,

DAC Action-Oriented Policy Paper on Human Rights and Development,

2007.

OECD,

DAC Action-Oriented Policy Paper on Human Rights and Development,

2007.

Reporting guidelines of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights require reporting on

the

impacts

of development assistance on the realization of economic, social and cultural rights.

Guidelines on treaty-specific documents to be submitted by States Parties under Articles 16 and 17 of

the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

Forty first session, 2008, UN Doc

E/C.12/2008/2, para. 9. In addition, the

DAC Action-Oriented Policy Paper on Human Rights and

Development

indicates that the Principles should be used in DAC Peer Review processes “where human

rights are part of the DAC Peer Review process”. See

DAC Action-Oriented Policy Paper on Human Rights

and Development,

2007, p. 17.

150

Available at

http://www.endpoverty2015.org/files/human%20rights%20and%20mdgs%20brochure.pdf, last accessed

24 May 2010.

Amnesty International June 2010

Index: IOR/41/012/2010

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

WHEtHER In A HIgH-PROfILE

COnfLICt OR A fORgOttEn

CORnER Of tHE gLOBE,

aMnESTY InTERnaTIOnaL

CAmPAIgnS fOR JUStICE, fREEDOm

AnD DIgnIty fOR ALL AnD SEEKS tO

gALvAnIzE PUBLIC SUPPORt

tO BUILD A BEttER WORLD

WhaT Can YOu DO?

Activists around the world have shown that it is possible to resist

the dangerous forces that are undermining human rights. Be part

of this movement. Combat those who peddle fear and hate.



Join Amnesty International and become part of a worldwide

movement campaigning for an end to human rights violations.

Help us make a difference.



Make a donation to support Amnesty International’s work.

Together we can make our voices heard.

I am interested in receiving further information on becoming a member of

Amnesty International

name

address

country

I wish to make a donation to Amnesty International (donations will be taken in UK£, US$ or €)

please debit my

visa

mastercard

I WanT

TO hELP

number

expiry date

signature

Please return this form to the Amnesty International ofﬁce in your country.

for Amnesty International ofﬁces worldwide: www.amnesty.org/en/worldwide-sites

If there is not an Amnesty International ofﬁce in your country, please return this form to:

amnesty International,

International Secretariat, Peter Benenson House,

1 Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW, United Kingdom

www.amnesty.org

amount

PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files

PuTTIng huMan RIghTS aT ThE hEaRT OF ThE

MILLEnnIuM DEVELOPMEnT gOaLS

The Millennium Development goals (MDgs) are the most prominent

global initiative to tackle poverty. Endorsed at the highest political level,

they have helped concentrate international attention on issues of

development and poverty reduction. however, progress has been

uneven and the un has issued a clear warning that many of the global

targets will not be met by 2015 unless efforts are radically stepped up.

amnesty International believes that human rights standards – and the

duty of governments to realize them – must be put at the heart of MDg

efforts in order to fulfil the promises made in the Millennium

Declaration. This report illustrates the gap between MDg goals and

targets and the measures that states are required to take under

international human rights law, and looks specifically at three areas –

gender equality, maternal mortality and slums. It explores how

integrating international human rights standards and principles in

current efforts to meet the MDgs would strengthen measures to address

poverty and help ensure real progress in fulfilling civil, cultural,

economic, political and social rights for all.

To put human rights at the heart of the MDgs, governments must

improve accountability; review national and international MDg efforts

for consistency with human rights standards; include the excluded; set

national benchmarks for progress; and ensure participation of all in

decisions affecting their human rights.

FROM PROMISES TO DELIVERY

Amnesty International

International Secretariat

Peter Benenson House

1 Easton Street

London WC1X 0DW

United Kingdom

www.amnesty.org

Index: IOR 41/012/2010

June 2010