On 2-3 November 2011, The Center for Economic and Social Rights co-hosted an expertconsultation in Geneva with the MDG Section of the UN Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Themeeting brought together a diverse group of human rights practioners,academics, civil society leaders and development economists to discuss lessonslearnt from the MDG experience and how human rights accountability can bestrengthened in development with an eye to the post-2015 agenda.
The meetingsought to receive feedback on questions such as where the main accountabilitygaps in the MDG framework can be found; justifications, both instrumental and intrinsic,for arguing why greater human rights accountability is needed; and the implicationsof shifting and emerging global players in international development. Discussions also addressedenabling conditions for the effectiveness of various accountability mechanismsand the interplay between them; how an emerging body of tools and methodologiesfor monitoring ESCR can be used to complement accountability frameworks; andhow the post-2015 agenda should be devised, including thinking about its objectives, content,measurability and process.
This valuable dialogue will feed into aforthcoming CESR/OHCHR advocacy publication provisionally entitled ???TheMillennium Development Goals: Who's Accountable???? The future publication seeks to positionhuman rights in policy debates and international negotiations leading towardsthe 2013 Special Event on the MDGs and the 2015 end-date, with a particularfocus on accountability.
As debate gets underway over what sort of international development framework should replace the MDG commitments after 2015, CESR has joined forced with the OHCHR to put the spotlight on human rights accountability as the biggest shortfall in the MDGs process. Progress in achieving the goals has been disappointing by any standard. Yet governments have rarely been held to account for their failure to meet their commitments and to fulfil the economic and social rights of those living in poverty. The MDGs, and any successor to it, must address this accountability deficit.
- Here you can find links to key documents from the meeting: Publication concept note, meeting discussion paper; event agenda. For more information on CESR???s work on the MDGs,human rights and development, please visit CESR's website page on the Millennium Development Goals.