Date: 20/09/2010
Source: United Nations
Title: UN: Pillay: Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the MDG Review Summit, New York

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is both a pleasure and a privilege to be with you today to discuss the
vital issue of partnerships for poverty reduction, and MDG 8. In an
increasingly turbulent and uncertain world, buffeted by financial, food,
climate and other crises, this topic could not be more timely.

The MDGs embody an unprecedented global compact for poverty reduction, a new
deal under which richer and poorer countries agree to join efforts towards a
small number of achievable, time-bound human development targets. MDG 8 is a
defining element of this bargain, encouraging a fairer deal on aid, trade,
debt relief, technology transfer, access to essential medicines and other
critical elements of an enabling international environment for development.

The question I want to pose today is: how can we ensure that the promise of
MDG 8 is fulfilled?

The MDGs were not, of course, intended to be a complete development
strategy. But the strong emphasis on human rights contained in the Draft
Outcome Document, can fill many critical gaps. The Draft Outcome Document
commits States to hasten progress on aid volumes and quality, financing for
development, trade reforms such as eliminating agricultural subsidies,
implementing the Doha Development Agenda, facilitating full use of public
health flexibilities in the TRIPS agreement, among many others.

I commend member States for their vision and leadership in these respects.
But as we know, many of these pledges are not new. Some of our most
important global partnership commitments, regrettably, remain only paper
promises. The lack of time-bound targets in MDG 8 compounds this problem.
Our challenge now, more than ever, is to ensure that our pledges are clearly
specified, and are translated into deeds.

This, I would argue, is where a human rights approach comes in. The human
rights framework underscores duties and responsibilities of international
cooperation, strengthening accountability between developed and developing
States for their partnership commitments under MDG 8. The 2008 Accra Action
Agenda committed signatory States and development organisations to integrate
human rights in their aid policies, and the OECD's Development Assistance
Committee has issued policy guidance to its members as to how this could be
done.

Building upon previous global Summit commitments, the Draft Outcome Document
recognizes the importance of the Right to Development for achieving the
MDGs. Ground-breaking work has been carried out under the auspices of the
Human Rights Council in recent years, to give flesh to the bones of this
right. In this context, at the request of the Open-Ended Working Group on
the Right to Development, a high level task force supported by my Office
engaged in dialogue and collaboration with multilateral institutions
responsible for some 12 global partnerships within the scope of MDG 8,
exploring the conformity of each with the Right to Development. The results
of this work include an objective set of criteria for the implementation of
the Right to Development, which member States are presently considering.

What does this mean in practice?

Firstly, as the Draft Summit Outcome has recognized, that all member States
are bound to respect internationally recognized human rights in their
development and aid policies. This calls for, at a minimum, ex ante human
rights impact assessments of policy measures. The science of this is not
new: the more significant constraint in many cases is lack of political
will.

Secondly, the Right to Development requires "active, free and meaningful
participation" of all relevant stakeholders in decision-making, in
particular the most excluded groups. Modes of participation obviously depend
upon the context. However, Parliaments and representative bodies need to be
more systematically engaged in decision-making on macro-economic and poverty
reduction policy issues at the national level. Participation is meaningless
without essential civil and political rights guarantees, and timely access
to all relevant information in accessible languages and formats. Increasing
the voices and influence of poorer countries in the governing bodies of
international financial institutions is also critical.

Thirdly, development partnerships should reflect the principle of equality
and non-discrimination, explicitly prioritizing the needs and rights of the
poorest and most marginalized, and mandating positive measures in order to
level the playing field. The Draft Outcome Document contains many
illustrations of this principle, including aiming for equitable (as well as
sustainable and inclusive) economic growth, promoting universal access to
basic social services, prioritizing the rights of women, children and
indigenous peoples in MDG policy, and cooperating to collect disaggregated
data at the national level so that MDG process is inclusive and inequalities
are not further exacerbated.

Fourthly, a human rights approach improves aid quality by gearing it towards
the development of capacities for empowerment and accountability, including
critical investments in State capacities to ensure the delivery of quality
basic services without discrimination. Recent studies carried out by my
Office in Haiti and Liberia show how aid dependency can weaken the
democratic accountability of the State to people, as government becomes more
accountable to donors while the donors are in turn accountable to their own
public.

Such tendencies can be countered by building mechanisms of accountability,
where individuals and communities have an active role to play. Examples
include social accountability mechanisms, such as community scorecards as in
Uganda and Madagascar, and rights-based budget processes, like those
underway in Ecuador and Morocco. Judicial enforcement of social rights can
have significant life-saving impacts, as experience in my own country, South
Africa, has shown.

Correspondingly, donor accountability can be strengthened through increased
transparency in donor policies and aid budgets, and establishing independent
monitoring and review mechanisms. Examples of the latter include the World
Bank's Inspection Panel, as well as the UNDP-supported "Aid Watch"
initiative in Sri Lanka, aimed at empowering communities to monitor aid
flows after the 2004 Tsunami and build their capacities to demand
accountability and transparency in the development process. Through these
kinds of measures, the aid-recipient relationship may progress from one of
charity to mutual responsibility and broad-based national ownership.

The year 2011 will mark the 25th anniversary of the U.N. Declaration on the
Right to Development. The Summit Draft Outcome Document provides clear
authority and guidance on integrating human rights within strengthened
partnerships for the MDGs leading to, and beyond, the year 2015.

Now it is the job of all of us to forge a global human rights constituency,
to ensure that this moment is not lost, and that human rights and the MDGs
are pursued hand-in-hand for sustained and equitable development results.

Thank you.