UN WOMEN – Post 2015 Development Agenda

UN Women Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

In its position paper, UN Women advocates for a stand-alone goal in the post-2015 development agenda to achieve gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment, one that is grounded in human rights and tackles unequal power relations. Along with the stand-alone goal, UN Women is calling for integration of gender equality concerns throughout the other priority areas and goals of the post-2015 development agenda, with clear targets and indicators.

While there has been much progress towards women’s rights over the decades, many gaps remain.

For women’s rights to become a universal reality, UN Women believes that it is critical to address the structural causes of gender inequality, such as violence against women, unpaid care work, limited control over assets and property, and unequal participation in private and public decision-making. The stand-alone goal must establish minimum standards and push change forward in the three critical areas that are holding women back.

First, it should address violence against women. One in three women is likely to experience physical and sexual violence at some point in her lifetime. The most pervasive human rights abuse in the world today, violence against women and girls is a manifestation of gender-based discrimination and a universal phenomenon which has tremendous costs for societies.

Second, the goal should include the need to expand women’s choices and capabilities. Women and men need equal opportunities, resources and responsibilities. Equal access to land, credit, natural resources, education, health services (including sexual and reproductive health), decent work and equal pay needs to be addressed urgently. Policies, such as child care and parental leave as well as improved access to infrastructure (such as water and energy), are essential to reduce women’s unpaid work so that everyone can enjoy equality at work and at home.

Third, the goal should address the need to ensure that women have a voice within households, and in public and private decision-making spheres. For meaningful and inclusive democracy, women’s voices should be heard in decision-making and in all spheres, such as public and private institutions, national and local parliaments, media, civil society, in the management of firms, families and communities.

These elements are already included in existing international commitments. The elaboration and substantiation of a new-generation development goal on achieving gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment should be based on existing norms and standards for gender equality such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as on outcomes of major conferences and resolutions of bodies such as the General Assembly and the Commission on the Status of Women.

The post-2015 development agenda offers a real opportunity to drive lasting change for women’s rights and equality, and to bring transformative change in women’s and men’s lives. As the 2015 target date for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, a wide range of activities are being undertaken by UN Member States, the UN system, civil society organizations, academia, research institutions and others on identifying the shape and priorities of a post-2015 development agenda.

The MDGs encapsulate eight globally agreed concrete goals, with time-bound targets and indicators for measuring progress in the areas of: poverty alleviation, education, gender equality and empowerment of women, child and maternal health, reducing HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases, environmental sustainability, and building a Global Partnership for Development.

At the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly to review progress towards the MDGs, Governments called not only for accelerated progress towards achieving the MDGs, but also for new thinking on ways to advance the UN development agenda beyond 2015.

This is the origin of the discussions now underway on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. There is wide consensus that the United Nations is the most inclusive and comprehensive platform for putting a global development agenda together and for bringing to the table the views of all Governments and a range of other stakeholders, from civil society, the private sector, academia and research institutes, to philanthropic foundations and international institutions.

In addition, the Rio+20 Conference established a 30-member Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In September 2014, the Group submitted its report (A/68/970) to the UN General Assembly, which adopted a resolution deciding that the report would be the main basis for integrating the SDGs in the post-2015 development agenda.

The Rio outcome document also called for the establishment of an Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on a Sustainable Development Financing Strategy, which submitted its report (A/69/315) on options for an effective sustainable development financing strategy to the 69th session of the General Assembly in September 2014.

The Secretary-General will submit a synthesis report to the General Assembly on the available inputs to the post-2015 development agenda by the end of 2014.

On 25 September 2013, a full-day special event towards achieving the MDGs took place. Member States adopted a short outcome document, which highlights priority measures towards achieving the MDGs and provides a road-map for the post-2015 development agenda. The UN Secretary-General also submitted his report on “Accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015.”

The role of the UN system

UN System Task Team: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda (also known as the UN System Task Team) in September 2011 to coordinate system-wide preparations for a post-2015 UN development agenda. Co-chaired by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Task Team today brings together more than 60 UN agencies, Secretariat departments and other international organizations. UN Women is part of this Task Team.

The Rio outcome document called on the UN system to provide technical assistance to the OWG. The Technical Support Team (established by the UN Task Team) produces issues briefs on the thematic areas covered by the OWG. The UN Task Team also established working groups on monitoring and target-setting, global partnership, and financing for sustainable development.

The UN Development Group (UNDG) through its MDG Taskforce has facilitated national dialogues in more than 80 countries and convened eleven multi-stakeholder global thematic consultations on the following issues: inequalities; health; education; governance; conflict and fragility; growth and employment; environmental sustainability; hunger, nutrition and food security; population dynamics; energy; and water.

On 10 September 2013, the UNDG launched the “A Million Voices: The World We Want” report, which summarized the findings of public consultations and surveys that engaged more than 1.3 million people in all 194 UN Member States.

A follow-up report looks in more depth at the factors within each country that will support or impede implementation.

We cannot afford to miss this opportunity.