Human Rights and the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Challenges and Prospects
Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
24-25 November, 2014
1. Event Overview
The conference will provide a forum for academics, practitioners and government
representatives to evaluate the current debate and future shape of the post-2015 agenda
from a human rights perspective. It particularly asks what criteria must a post-2015
agenda meet from a human rights perspective, what are the challenges for the integration
of human rights, and how do we evaluate the emerging proposals for a post-2015
development agenda from a human rights perspective? It is hoped that the conference will
offer a space for better reflection on the role of human rights and help build consensus for
action.
2. Background
There is a consensus on the existence of mutual reinforcement between human rights and
development. Over the past decade the development praxis has paid considerable political
and operational attention to human rights issues. Despite this rise in the prominence of
human rights, there is as yet persistent uncertainty on the precise relationship between
the two agendas both theoretically and practically.1 This notwithstanding, the experience
with the MDGs has highlighted the importance of a human rights perspective. Many of the
weaknesses of the MDGs – equality, accountability, participation – are central to human
rights. Moreover, contemporary challenges arguably accentuate even more the importance
of human rights. Global poverty is concentrated in middle-income countries, lessening the
relevance of traditional development aid and raising the importance of domestic and
global economic and political reforms that increase the voice of the poor, eliminate
discrimination and facilitate greater equity. Added to this is the recognition that the
problems of development are intertwined with the environment, peace and security, areas
which likewise require sensitivity to human rights.
Naturally, the run up to the 2015 agenda has provided an important momentum for a
broad range of stakeholders to present their views on how to better articulate the interface
within a new framework. This is reflected, among others, in the work of the High-Level
Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Agenda, and the country and thematic
consultations facilitated across the world by UN agencies. The former noted that new goals
See, e.g., 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), pp. 755-829; M. Langford, A. Sumner and A. E. Yamin (eds.), The
MDGs and Human Rights: Past, Present and Future (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
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and targets need to be grounded in respect for universal human rights and five
transformational shifts.2 The latter process led the UNDG to note that the ‘consultations
consistently present[ed] human rights as a non-negotiable element’ with a clear ‘call for
the new development agenda to be aligned with human rights standards and
accountability mechanisms’ and a clear expectation of ‘a tangible articulation of human
rights in the new framework’. 3 The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set up a UN Task
Team (UNTT), which identified human rights, equality and sustainability as the three
fundamental principles for the post-2015 agenda, and the High Commissioner on Human
Rights has defined the ten elements to guide a rights-based vision of the Post-2015
agenda.4
In the 2012 Rio Declaration, states have provided the space for a more robust human
rights approach, although within certain confines. The framework should be ‘actionoriented, concise and easy to communicate, limited in number, global in nature and
universally applicable to all countries while taking into account different national realities,
capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities’.5 It
should also ‘be consistent with international law’, incorporate in a balanced way all three
dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental concerns],
and be implemented ‘with the active involvement of all relevant stakeholders’. 6 In light of
this mandate, the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable
Development Goals has commenced a process towards the development of new goals
through the identification of fourteen different themes with potential sub-themes for
targets.7 The Group has expressed a commitment to incorporating a human rights
approach8 but its approach has so far met with criticism.9
3. Human Rights and Post-2015: A Reflexive Assessment
Delivering transformative shifts signalled by the parallel consultations on post-2015 will
require a fundamental rethinking and revision of how development is delivered.
Nevertheless, crucially, they raise fundamental questions in formulating a new framework
for action:
(1) What would constitute a satisfactory post-2015 framework from a human rights
perspective?
(2) How could various and quite different lines of legal rules, standards, and policies in
all areas – such as development, human rights, environment and economic
relations – be linked to each other, and mutually accommodated within one single
framework?
Among which are poverty, sustainable development, peace and security – that are applicable to
both developing and developed states alike. See A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and
Transform Economies through Sustainable Development, the Report of the High-Level Panel of
Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, May, 2013, pp. 2-3.
3 A closer look at the report, however, also reveals a reality in which human rights in the debates
continue to be envisioned selectively. The report, for example states ‘how important it is to tackle
poverty in all its dimensions, including basic human needs like health, education, safe water and
shelter as well as fundamental human rights: personal security, dignity, justice, voice and
empowerment, equality of opportunity, and access to SRHR’. UNDG, The Global Conversation
Begins: Emerging views for a new development agenda, 20 March 2013, available at
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/global-conversation-beginsweb.pdf, pp. 2-3, 50-51.
4 N. Pillay, Human Rights in the Post-2015 Agenda, 6 June 2013, available at
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/MDGs/HCOpenLetterPost2015.pdf
5 Para. 247.
6 The 2012 Rio Declaration, The Future We Want, paras. 246-247.
7 Insert reference
8 Insert reference
9 See press release from
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(3) How do we evaluate the emerging proposals for a post-2015 agenda from a human
rights perspective?
In respond to these central themes, a set of subsidiary questions will also need to be
considered: What is the relationship between human rights and other central themes of
the post-2015 agenda, such as equality and equity (including between states), environment
and peace and security? What are the normative concerns of international human rights
law with the sustainable development goals and processes? Can human rights demands
satisfy measurement demands for robust available data?
To this end, the HRFG, in cooperation with the NCHR and Metrics for Human Rights, will
convene a conference focused on both theoretical and practical aspects of integrating
human rights in the post-2105 agenda, with a particular focus on poverty, environment
and peace and security. Governments, the United Nations (including Special Rapporteurs),
NGOs, and academia will be invited. The approach at the conference will be
multidisciplinary, and the event will include panels with experts on law, philosophy,
political science, and economics. The conference aims to facilitate a constructive dialogue
on the topic between scholars and policy-makers.
It is expected that the conference outcome will be published in the form of a briefing that
will summarise key points of the symposium. This will seek to contribute to the existing
knowledge on human rights dimension of poverty, armed conflict and environment. In
addition, the Report of the meeting, along with non-time sensitive articles presented
and/or generated from the discussion, will be published in a human rights journal or
possibly in an edited book.
4. Structure of the Event
The event will be divided into academic panels/roundtables that focus on development
from a scholarly perspective and into policy-oriented panels. Based on the principal areas
of inquiries identified above, the conference will be structured in following terms [to be
further confirmed]. The specifics of the discussions within each panel will be determined in
consultation with the participants and speakers. At least one speaker per panel will also be
selected on the basis of a ‘Call for Papers’. See Annex 1 for an initial proposal of a
programme.
5. Hosting Organisations
Based on its expertise, focusing on human rights challenges of poverty, armed conflict and
environment from inter-disciplinary perspective, the Human Rights for Future
Generations (HRFG) programme of Oxford’s Martin School is particularly well-placed to
comment and provide a platform for academics and practitioners who are engaged in the
formulation and/or analysis of development policies to discuss and provide guidance to
states on bringing together different strands of a broader conception of development:
economic development, human rights, environment and peace and security. The codirectors of the Programme, Sandra Fredman, Dapo Akande, and Simon Caney have widely
published in the field of international law, poverty and environmental protection.
The Norwegian Centre on Human Rights has a played leading role in discussions on the
MDGs, post-2015 agenda and human rights, particularly through its Socio-Economic Rights
Programme (SERP). It has worked closely with the UN OHCHR on integrating a human
rights approach and produced a number of publications on the topic, including Millennium
Development Goals and Human Rights: Past, Present and Future (Cambridge University
Press, 2013) (Edited by M. Langford, A. Sumner and A. Yamin). The NCHR is also a host of
Metrics for Human Rights, along with the New School, New York. This network hosts an
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annual meeting of scholars and practitioners on human rights and quantitative methods
issues, which has included analysis of the MDGs and post-2015 agenda. It recently
published the special issue: Quantifying Human Rights, in the Nordic Journal of Human
Rights, Vol. 30, No. 3 (2012), pp. 222-400 (Edited by M. Langford and S. Fukuda-Parr).
Draft Programme
DAY 1
Welcome and Orientation
Ian Goldin, Director of the Oxford Martin School;
TBD, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights
Jaakko Kuosmanen, Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future
Generations
1. Post-2015 Development Agenda and State of Play
Chair: Ian Goldin, Director of the Oxford Martin School;
Mac Darrow, Chief, Millennium Development Goals Section, UN OHCHR
Sabina Alkire, Director, Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (tbc)
Jeffrey Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University (tbc)
2. Human Rights and a New Global Agenda
Chair: Simon Caney, Professor at Oxford University
Speakers:
Henry Shue, Professor at Oxford University (tbc)
Malcolm Langford, Chr. Michelsen Institute, former NCHR, University of Oslo and
Metrics for Human Rights
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor at New School & Co-Coordinator, Metrics for Human
Rights
Roberto Bissio, Beyond-2015 and Social Watch, Uruguay
3. Equality, Non-discrimination and Equity
Chair: TBD
Speakers:
Sandra Fredman, Professor, Oxford University
Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty
Ed Anderson, University of East Anglia
Isabel Ortiz, Director, Social Protection Department, ILO
4. Working Group Sessions: Design, Measurement and Politics
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Duties for Northern States? Mainstreaming “Universal Applicability”
Global versus National: A Comprehensive or A La Carte Agenda?
Measuring Human Rights – The State of Big Data
The Politics of Rights in the Post-2015 Agenda
DAY 2
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5: The Right to a Healthy Environment/Climate Justice
Chair: Dominic Roser, Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future
Generations
Speakers:
Simon Caney, Professor, Oxford University
Ricardo Fuentes, Head of Research, Oxfam
Olivier de Schutter, UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
6: Integrating Challenges of Armed Conflict and Insecurity
Chair: Dapo Akande, Professor at Oxford University
Speakers:
Jennifer Welsh, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General for the Responsibility to
Protect and Professor of International Relations and Professor, Oxford University
Sarah Cliffe, Director, World Bank;
Robert Muggah, Research Director and Program Coordinator for Citizen Security
6. Working Group Sessions: A Human Rights Scorecard on Current Proposals
Separate working groups would examine gaps and potential perverse effects for:
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Socio-Economic Rights
Civil Rights
Political Rights
Environmental and Collective Rights
7: Accountability and Globalisation
Chair: Jaakko Kuosmanen, Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future
Generations
Speakers:
Ignacio Saiz, Executive Director, Centre for Economic and Social Rights
Siobhán McInerney-Lankford, Senior Counsel, LEGAM, World Bank
Margot Salomon, Professor at the London School of Economics
8. Closing
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