11th International Conference of the
International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions
Session 5: Women’s Empowerment: Economic and Social Rights and Political
Participation – Challenges and Progress
Remarks by Alia Elyassir, UN Women Representative in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, on the MDGs and the post 2015 agenda
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am honoured to be part of this
event and on behalf of my organization, I would like to thank you for
inviting UN Women to address this esteemed assembly.
As we approach 2015 and the endpoint of the Millennium Development
Goals framework, discussion is already well underway within and among
Governments, the UN, academics, policymakers and civil society about
what the MDGs might be replaced with.
Since the MDGs were first agreed, there has been consensus that the
empowerment of women and gender equality are critical for achieving not
only MDG3 on gender equality but to achieving all of the MDGs. We know
that increasing women’s access to quality education and health care, good
jobs, land and other resources contributes to inclusive growth, sustainable
development and long-term prosperity for communities, societies and
countries at large.
The MDGs have galvanized action on many fronts, including gender equality
and women’s empowerment. They provided a focus for joint policy action
and partnerships, and provided a framework for addressing accountability
within and between countries. Significant strides have been made in
reducing poverty, achieving gender parity in primary school enrolment, and
reducing maternal mortality – but there is still a long way to go.
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As our UNICEF colleagues have highlighted, we know that enhancing
women’s economic and social status is strongly correlated with improved
outcomes in children’s education and health. We also know, learning from
the experience of countries like Rwanda, that giving equal voice to women
brings much needed diversity in perspectives and improves decision
making. At the same time, we know that women continue to be
disproportionately affected by global crises of food, finances, climate and
health.
Over the next three years, we will need to push ahead to achieve the
MDGs. A new development framework will not have legitimacy if we don’t
exert our best efforts to achieve the goals that we have now.
This being said, a new framework must take us further and must address
the gaps and limitations of the MDGs. Let me highlight a few of these gaps
that require urgent attention.
The most vulnerable and the most subject to discrimination are the least
likely to enjoy the fruits of the efforts to achieve the MDGs. In some
countries which have made overall progress towards the MDGs, disparities
have actually increased and aggregated achievements often mask very
severe deprivations. And often it is deeply rooted structural inequalities
which impede progress. The MDG least likely to be achieved is related to
improving maternal health - and in many countries high maternal mortality
rates persist among the poorest women, as well as among women in
remote and ethnic minority populations.
The MDGs, as they stand, are worded in a way that seems to imply that the
aim is to reduce rather than eliminate deprivation and discrimination. You
can see this in the wording of MDGs 4 and 5 on maternal health and infant
mortality. Similarly, MDG3 on gender equality aims to promote rather
than achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment. This is
unacceptable from a human rights perspective.
The MDG framework was not adequately aligned with international human
rights standards, including those in the Convention on the Elimination of all
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Forms of Discrimination against Women, which has been the subject of
much discussion during yesterday’s presentations.
The MDG framework misses key areas of discrimination against women.
One key area missing from the framework is the issue of violence against
women, one of the most pervasive human rights violations. As evidenced
by the dedication of a whole day to the subject by this assembly yesterday,
it is a universal phenomenon that occurs in all countries irrespective of the
level of income or whether a country is in peace or conflict. A key area of
opportunity that is missing, is related to women’s role in conflict
prevention, management and peace building; the international recognition
of women’s actual and potential contribution to mediation and peace, does
not fit within the current MDG framework.
The MDGs also do not account for women’s equal rights and access to land
and other productive resources, which continues to hold back their full
participation and contribution to the economy. And, the failure to reflect
women’s political participation, hand-in-hand with economic
empowerment, reduces women to being recipients of social programmes
rather than active agents of change.
Often, these gaps reflect a challenge of data availability and quality. The
selection of Millennium Development goals and targets was guided by what
could be measured - given the availability of data - rather than what should
be measured. And then, this selection in turn, further prioritized
subsequent data collection.
The UN Inter-Agency Expert Group on Gender Statistics already has a list of
52 priority indicators drawing on CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for
Action. These have been adopted by the UN Statistical Commission which
sets standards for all countries. They include areas such as violence against
women and time use, which are critical to understanding gender inequality
and discrimination. As we have seen from the example presented from the
United Kingdom yesterday, concrete efforts to measure gender inequalities
are possible. We have to take advantage of these developments.
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So what would a post 2015 development framework that has human
rights and gender equality at its centre look like?
First, the new framework would be based on and consistent with human
rights, including the rights of women set out in international instruments
such as CEDAW. This includes ensuring that the goals, targets and
indicators are aligned with these human rights obligations and
commitments.
The new framework would not simply reflect a development partnership,
but rather would be a universal framework applicable to all countries
because human rights and gender equality gaps still exist all over the world.
Gender equality would be widely recognized as a key element to progress
on human rights, development, sustainability and peace, and must
therefore be a central component of this framework.
There would be a separate gender equality goal, which is more
encompassing and inclusive than the current MDG3. At the same time, it is
also important to reflect gender equality concretely in all other goals,
through targets and indicators.
These goals and targets would not be driven by the current availability of
data. Instead, the post-2015 framework should drive new data collection
and analysis. Indicators must be disaggregated by sex and age, and we must
find better ways of tracking achievement towards targets disaggregated by
income, location, ethnicity, race, disability, and other factors, so that we
also assessing progress for the very poorest and most disadvantaged.
It would have to be a transformative framework, seeking to change
structural factors – including unequal power relations, social exclusion and
multiple forms of discrimination, which perpetuate inequalities and
disparities between women and men, rural and urban areas, within and
between countries.
As the NGO Forum presented yesterday, multiple forms of discrimination
are the reality for many people around the world. Our future
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development agenda needs to address the issue of inequality and
discrimination in a much more systematic and profound way to ensure
that efforts are adequately directed towards marginalized and
disadvantaged groups.
The framework would recognize that realizing the rights, wellbeing, and
human development of all people – and not only economic growth - is the
hallmark of successful societies.
The new framework would put in place mechanisms to ensure transparency
and engage people and civil society at all levels to set priorities, monitor
progress, and hold decision-makers accountable.
And finally, the development of the framework, including goals and targets,
would be based on participatory processes which include women’s voices
and aspirations – whether these processes take place among governments,
UN agencies or civil society organizations.
There are a number of processes that have already been set up and are
underway, including:
 a UN System Task Team
 a High-level Panel of Eminent Persons appointed by the SecretaryGeneral
 an intergovernmental process on sustainable development goals
established at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held
at Rio this year,
 a framework for consultations at the country level to be led by
United Nations Country Teams in 70 countries
nine global thematic consultations which will take place
over the next several months.
 and a web platform www.worldwewant2015.org which is open to all
citizens.
UN Women and UNICEF are co-leading the consultation on inequalities. We
are very pleased that there has been such a strong response already to this
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consultation. We have received more than 300 papers, many of which
specifically address gender inequalities.
We have an important opportunity to build on the lessons learnt from the
past. We encourage all stakeholders to participate in the processes that
have been established with a view to ensuring a new development
paradigm that calls for the elimination of discrimination and inequalities
and realizes the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable.
We not only welcome, but strongly encourage the involvement of National
Human Rights Institutions in these processes. You have a critical role to
play in helping to define the post 2015 agenda and ensure that it is rightsbased and gender sensitive. You also have a key role in monitoring
compliance once the framework is in place.
We in UN Women look forward to strengthening our work with you to
ensure the promotion, protection and realization of women’s human rights.
Thank you very much.
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eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,
achieving universal primary education,
promoting gender equality and empowering women
reducing child mortality rates,
improving maternal health,
combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,
ensuring environmental sustainability, and
developing a global partnership for development
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