Side event: Universality and the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, 23 June 2015, New York; statement by the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović

Madam moderator, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

As co-sponsor of this event, alongside with the Governments of Mexico, Finland, the Stakeholder Forum and UNEP, let me thank you for your participation. It promises to be an interesting debate and I am looking forward to hearing your views.

 

Today, we stand at the cusp of the final negotiations on the Post 2015 Development Agenda.  The new agenda promises to be truly transformative. One of the reasons why, is that it will be a universal agenda, with goals and targets that are universally applicable for all countries and all people across the world. 

 

The zero draft grounds the new agenda in the purposes and principles of the UN, in the founding documents of the United Nations, including the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  These were amongst the first international agreements to frame the notion of “universality”.  They aimed at securing international cooperation to promote universal peace and universal respect for all human rights for all people, without discrimination.  As it approaches its 70th Anniversary, the UN’s efforts towards developing universal standards and principles through its Member States should be recognized as one of its most important achievements. 

 

The development agenda before us today is an effort to set out a new shared vision for development over the next 15 years that integrates the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development – as well as the human rights dimensions. 

 

It aims to be a universal agenda.  But what does universality mean in the Post-2015 context?

 

Firstly, one of the key principles of the Post 2015 agenda, is the universal commitment to leave no-one behind. Universality means shared concerns for reaching everyone, including the most vulnerable, marginalized and excluded populations. This is reflected in the Goals by absolute targets, such as 100% access to quality healthcare or education, or “getting to zero” to end poverty and hunger for all. In this sense, universality is closely linked to the principle of equality and non-discrimination, as it means ensuring equal rights for all.

 

Against this backdrop, let me share one comment with you on the Zero Draft. It is a very good starting point, with important references to human rights, including the right to development, which we hope are kept. Poverty, hunger, lack of access to education, or access to justice and participation, all of these are human rights matters, not only development concerns. The current draft also emphasises the urgent need to reduce inequalities within and between States, as well as eliminating discrimination in laws, policies in practice, which is critical from a human rights perspective.  However, the zero draft can still improve. For example, paragraph 17 contains a large list of prohibited grounds of discrimination, but it is a closed list - which risks excluding a number of groups at risk of discrimination. In this respect, from a human rights perspective it would be critical to ensure that everyone is included, at a minimum by adding “or other status” to the end of the paragraph, so as not to exclude some popul
ation groups. Let me note that this is also agreed language – which can be found in Rio+20 para. 9.  Making sure that we include everyone will be critical to ensure “no one is left behind” and that the agenda is truly universal.

 

We also need to make sure that the new agenda applies equally to all groups, including those who are marginalized, in vulnerable situations or who face particular discrimination, including for example, persons with disabilities.  There is also a need for a more positive reflection of some groups and their agency in development, particularly for example, migrants.  The current draft risks representing migrants as a problem rather than recognising their positive contributions to development.

 

Secondly, universality means that the new agenda will not be an a la carte menu from which it is possible to pick and choose.  Rather it sets out a holistic and shared vision of development, to which to all Member States will agree to contribute.  The zero draft sets out a vision of “universal goals which transcend the traditional North/South divide and involve the entire world, rich and poor countries alike, in a new global compact for the betterment of humanity” (zero draft para 14, p.3) 

 

The zero draft thus suggests that the goals and targets are “accepted by all countries and applicable to all” (zero draft, para 6) - but at the same time, this does not mean ‘one size fits all’ - the new agenda also takes into account national realities, capacities and levels of development. 

 

For some, this may seem a contradiction in terms.  But in fact, the experience in applying universal human rights standards may offer useful lessons in this regard.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights for example sets out a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations” - but human rights standards also take account of different levels of resources and the levels of development of Member States.  For example, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights calls for these rights to be ‘progressively realized’ in accordance with the ‘maximum available resources’, taking into account duties of international cooperation.  This recognises that States do have different starting points and different levels of development, whilst emphasising the importance of all countries moving towards a set of universal standards.

 

The SDG targets therefore set the global level of ambition and inspire both global and national action on the Post 2015 Development Agenda. Learning from the MDGs experience and Rio principles also reflected in the draft Declaration, they will fully take into account ‘different national realities, capacities and levels of development’ through national tailoring, which could involve adding additional, complementary targets to reflect national realities and local contexts. 

 

From this perspective,  human rights principles and standards can also be useful in the national tailoring process, by for ensuring that stakeholder dialogues are conducted through a clear, transparent, inclusive and participatory process, helping to strengthen local ownership and implementation of SDG commitments.

 

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

 

Universality means applying all the goals and targets to all countries and all people, aiming to secure a more equitable and sustainable world for all.

 

This is an ambitious agenda.  But in the face of many key challenges today – including the persistence of inequalities, discrimination and exclusion - we must be convinced that adopting universality as a guiding principle in the post-development agenda, is the only way forward.

 

Thank you.