What the Post-2015 High Level Panel Report Means for Women and Girls

by Shannon Kowalski on May 31, 2013

in Child Marriage,News,Post-2015 Development Agenda,Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health,United Nations,Violence Against Women,Youth Health and Rights

The much-anticipated report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP) was released yesterday afternoon. In our first read, the report gets some things right, does not go far enough in some areas, and gets a few things wrong.

Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

We are pleased that the panel recognized the need to “empower women and girls and achieve gender equality” as an illustrative high priority goal. However, we wish it had placed a greater emphasis on promoting and achieving the full realization of women’s and girls’ human rights. After all, empowered women are those who know their human rights and can fully exercise them.

Under this goal, the report recommends four important targets:

  • Prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls;
  • End child marriage;
  • Ensure the equal right of women to own and inherit property, sign a contract, register a business, and open a bank account; and
  • Eliminate discrimination against women in political, economic, and public life.

These targets address some of the key structural barriers to women’s and girls’ human rights and gender equality, respond to a number of women’s demands for the post-2015 framework, and go far beyond those included in the original MDGs. We are particularly pleased to see that the HLP heeded our calls for recommendations to end violence against women and prevent child marriage—two critical issues that were left out of the MDGs altogether. The report would have been stronger had the panel delved deeper in addressing the connections between violence and child marriage and other critical issues for women and girls, such as HIV infection or access to education.

Moreover, the High Level Panel could have gone further in its recommendations under this goal, specifically by recognizing the role women play in the care economy, the unfair burden of work they face as a result, and the impact this has on their ability to participate equally in society. A recommendation on increased access to public care services, including child care and elderly care, and ensuring quality and decent working conditions for care providers would help contribute to a fairer redistribution of unpaid care and domestic work.

A target to guarantee women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive rights would have also added depth to this goal and addressed an important structural barrier to gender equality. Without the ability to control all aspects of their sexuality and decide the number and spacing of their children, women simply cannot participate equally in education, employment, or political, cultural, and social life.

Beyond the specific empowerment and gender equality goal, the panel rightfully notes that that the rights of girls and women are a cross-cutting issue that should be addressed across development goals, and that indicators for achieving goals and targets should be disaggregated by age and gender to ensure that the needs of women and young people are being met. However, the panel fell short of meeting its own recommendation: neither the report narrative nor the illustrative goals and targets framework go far enough in identifying how women’s and girls’ experiences of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination result in greater experiences of poverty and social marginalization; unequal and unfair burdens on women and girls in sustaining the well-being of their societies and economies; or violations of their human rights.

For example, the majority of the world’s poor are women; they are more likely to die as a result of natural disasters, and they have far less access to social protection systems or rights to land and property. Yet women are not explicitly addressed under the goal to end poverty in either the narrative or the proposed targets.

Similarly, while gender parity may have been reached in primary education, girls are still far less likely to complete secondary education, which has far-reaching consequences for their own development and well-being, as well as that of their families and communities. These girls are more likely to be forced into early marriage or experience early pregnancy and childbearing, and are less likely to be able to exercise their economic rights, ensure sustainable livelihoods, or access employment. Yet, the panel offers no gender analysis or specific recommendations focused on ensuring girls can complete secondary and tertiary education or access employment training.

The proposed goals on food security and nutrition; water and sanitation; jobs and sustainable livelihoods; natural resource management; good governance; stable and peaceful societies; and creating a global enabling environment are all weakened by the panel’s failure to acknowledge how these issues impact women and girls differently and by not proposing specific targets to address those gaps.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

We congratulate the High Level Panel for recommending a target to “ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights” under the goal to “Ensure Healthy Lives.” This again builds upon and goes beyond the existing MDGs, which include a target to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

However here too, we worry that the High Level Panel did not get it exactly right. Sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights are well-defined in international agreements, such as the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, but they tend to be a political lightning rod especially when government diplomats are not familiar with the terminology or just why it is so critical that they be addressed. The HLP could have strengthened this recommendation by being more explicit in the narrative about what exactly it means by universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services should include family planning counseling, information, and education and a full range of contraceptive services; education and services for pre-natal care, safe delivery, and post-natal care; prevention and treatment of infertility; safe abortion services and post-abortion care; treatment of reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted infections, and other reproductive health conditions; prevention and treatment of breast cancer, cervical cancer, and other cancers of the reproductive system; and comprehensive sexuality education, among other things, that are delivered through the primary health care system in a way that respects human rights, including the right to bodily integrity and informed consent.

Sexual and reproductive rights, on the other hand, include the right of everyone to decide the number and spacing of their children and have the information and means to do so; the right to the highest attainable standard of sexual and reproductive health; the right to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion, and violence; and the right to control all aspects of one’s sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of discrimination, coercion, and violence. We fear that the lack of clarity may lead some governments to sideline this target or call for its removal when negotiations about content of the post-2015 development agenda begin in earnest.

Adolescents and Youth

The HLP acknowledges that the world’s 1.8 billion adolescents and youth are “shaping social and economic development, challenging social norms and values, and building the foundation of the world’s future” and are critical agents of change. But, again, the HLP failed to follow through with strong recommendations.

Unemployment and access to jobs is represented as the primary priority for youth, along with education and training. These are important, but young people themselves have outlined many other priorities. The panel acknowledged that the lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents is a problem, but failed to propose measures that would address this gap. Consistent with the lack of gender analysis throughout the report, the panel failed to reference the specific barriers faced by adolescent girls in accessing health care, education, or employment. Critically, there is no recommendation on the rights of adolescents and youth to participate in decision-making that affects their lives.

Human Rights

We appreciate the panel’s emphasis in the narrative on the need for a transformative agenda that leaves no one behind and ensures that all people can enjoy their human rights, as called for by IWHC and other partners. We are pleased that the report recommends goals and targets for the protection and fulfillment of critical human rights, including freedom of speech, association, and peaceful protest; access to independent media and information; public participation in political processes and civil engagement at all levels; access to justice; and the right to food. The emphasis on civil and political rights in the report is a welcome expansion of the existing MDGs and will be important for ensuring transparency and accountability in the post-2015 era. We also congratulate the panel for including a target on covering the poor and vulnerable with social protection floors, although this could have gone further by linking it to governments’ legal obligation to provide minimum essential levels of economic, social, and cultural rights to everyone, without retrogression.

However, overall in the area of human rights yet again the report’s rhetoric is not consistently evident in its core recommendations. The panel missed an important opportunity to concretely frame its recommendations in terms of fundamental human rights: not just political and civil rights, but the full range of economic, social, and cultural rights that governments have already committed to, such as the right to education or the right to the highest attainable standard of health. It also failed to promote human rights-based approaches through the implementation of the post-2015 framework and link the strong the human rights accountability mechanisms that already exist at the regional and global levels with governments’ development obligations. Considering the prominence given to the private sector’s role as a partner in implementing the post-2015 agenda, a particularly glaring gap is the lack of an acknowledgement of governments’ obligations to protect human rights through the proper oversight and regulation of private actors, especially business and private financial entities, to guarantee that they respect human rights and the environment, including in their cross-border activities.

Inequalities

The panel recognized the need to remedy fundamental inequalities and injustices, but it could have gone further by including recommendations that address inequalities from an intersectional approach and acknowledging the specific barriers to equality for specific groups, including people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, people with disabilities, and older people. The panel could also have strengthened its recommendations by including specific targets on addressing inequalities throughout the framework. For example, narrowing the gap in income between rich and poor could have been a target under the end poverty goal; or eliminating discriminatory laws and policies could have been a target under the goal of achieving stable and peaceful societies.

Overall, the report does point to the need for a fundamental shift in the way the world approaches development and makes some important recommendations that we can build upon as the discussion on the post-2015 development agenda continues. The stronger focus on human rights, the importance of good governance and strong institutions, the emphasis on peace and security, and the balanced approach to social, economic, and sustainable development are all a significant and welcome departure from the existing MDGs. The recommended goal on empowering women and girls and achieving gender equality is also much stronger because it addresses the structural challenges women and girls face to equality, rather than just addressing the symptoms of inequality. However, in the months and years ahead, we believe that governments can and must do better. Integrating a gender perspective throughout the framework, deepening the analysis of and response to inequalities of all types, addressing the specific and varied needs of women and young people in all of their diversity, and strengthening the human rights-based approach to development will be important to ensure a better and safer world for women and girls.

 

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Shaping the World We Want in 2015 and Beyond

by Shannon Kowalski on May 20, 2013

in Post-2015 Development Agenda

The High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda held its final meeting this week in New York before its much-anticipated report will be presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.  In a final effort to influence the panel’s recommendations, IWHC worked with partners on two statements outlining what we believe the global development agenda must include to be a success: deep and measurable commitments to gender equality and women’s rights, human rights for all, and justice.

The Millennium Development Goals, set to expire in 2015, helped to focus development investments on critical human needs, resulting in the massive scale-up of efforts that have improved the lives of many, such as maternal health care, vaccinations, HIV treatment, and access to education.  However, the MDGSs failed to address the reasons why large numbers of people live in poverty, experience inequality, or suffer from hunger or preventable illness and deaths, in the first place.  Without addressing the root causes of these injustices, efforts to eliminate them will not succeed.

For these reasons, it is essential that the post-2015 development agenda address unjust and unequal distributions of power, money, and resources; stigma, discrimination, and social marginalization, and the failures of governance and accountability at both the national and global levels that leave certain groups of people behind, particularly women and young people.

The most pervasive of all inequalities is gender inequality. Women and girls, no matter where they live, are subject to various forms of discrimination and social barriers that limit their ability to exercise their human rights, engage on an equal basis in society, exercise leadership, and benefit from development.  Yet, the equality and participation of women and girls in all of their diversity are key drivers of development and social change, both of which are critical for achieving the “world we want.”

IWHC joins UN Women and other women’s organizations in calling for a specific goal to achieve gender equality and the full realization of women’s human rights.  This goal must focus on the kind of structural interventions that lead to lasting change: guaranteeing their sexual and reproductive rights and ensuring universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services; ending all forms of violence against women and girls, including early and forced marriage; and ensuring women’s economic rights and leadership.  Adolescent girls must be given particular attention—if they do not have the capacity to develop to their full potential, then all of these efforts will be in vain.  But one goal is not enough: a commitment to women’s rights and gender equality must be embedded throughout the framework, as described in Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Rights in the Post-2015 Framework.

Underpinning the success of the entire post-2015 agenda will be the promotion and protection of human rights for all.  As described in our joint statement, human rights provide a powerful framework for action and accountability that would move the post-2015 agenda from “a model of charity to one of justice.”  It would require a focus on eliminating all forms of discrimination; meeting the needs of the most marginalized and excluded; and ensuring minimum levels of economic, social, and cultural rights for all, such as health care, food, education, and shelter, without regression in times of crisis.  And critically, a framework built on human rights would empower people to hold governments accountable.

The report from the High Level Panel, which will be released at the end of this month, will be an important contribution into the process of defining what the Post-2015 Development Agenda will look like between now and 2015.  UK Prime Minister David Cameron, one of the panel’s three co-chairs, said on Wednesday that “we need to tackle the causes of poverty, not just the symptoms.” Focusing on women’s and girls’ rights and human rights will do just that.  We can’t afford anything less if the post-2015 development agenda is to drive the kind of transformative change that women and girls are looking for.

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Giving Girls a Chance at a Real Future with Real Choices

by Jennifer Redner on May 17, 2013

in Child Marriage

Every day, approximately 39,000 girls under the age of 18 get married. Often committed under the guise of religious or cultural traditions, girls who are married as children are more likely to be forced into sex, drop out of school, experience early and frequent unintended pregnancies, become exposed to HIV, and are at greater risk of intimate partner violence, poverty, and even death. Unfortunately, the list goes on and on in terms of the real-life nightmares these girls are living, with few prospects for escape. Child brides are robbed of their youth, their education, their health and their futures.

As a key player in shaping global development priorities—priorities that include education, health care, food security, economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls—the United States has an important role in ending early and forced marriage worldwide. We can’t achieve real, sustainable development without protecting and securing the right of all girls to decide if, when and whom they marry. The importance of ending child marriage has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years, and political will to address the issue is hopefully at a tipping point. Now is the time for the U.S. government to translate this rhetoric into more dollars invested strategically in policies and programs to prevent child marriage and support girls who are already married.

With the recent passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Secretary of State John Kerry now has a legislative mandate to produce a multisectoral and multiyear strategy to end child marriage.

The multisectoral aspect of the legislative mandate is important because there is a diversity of root causes of child marriage, including gender inequality, poverty and religious and customary practices. Therefore, the solutions to end child marriage must be equally diverse and cover a range of sectors (such as health, education and economic empowerment) to provide a holistic and comprehensive response that addresses the full needs of married and unmarried girls.

Specifically, ending child marriage requires investing in policies and programs that:

  • Are coordinated across relevant U.S. agencies and bureaus and focused on building girls’ health, social, and economic assets, and promoting gender-equitable and pro-girl social norms;
  • Include partnership with other donors and national governments in specific sub-national districts;
  • Increase work directly with married girls, or girls at-risk for early marriage as a core constituency, offering them information, skills, and support networks, including girl-only spaces;
  • Integrate activities for preventing early marriage and supporting married adolescents into existing programs, including those focused on improving outcomes related to maternal health, HIV/AIDS, economic empowerment, food security, and education.
  • Define and evaluate change at the level of the girl, as well as her family and community, over time;
  • Educate and mobilize parents, religious and traditional leaders, and community members;
  • Enhance the accessibility and quality of schooling for girls;
  • Offer economic support and incentives for girls and their families; and
  • Foster an enabling legal and policy framework.

As co-chair of Girls Not Brides USA, the International Women’s Health Coalition is working to ensure the U.S. government, working across relevant bureaus and agencies, develops and implements a comprehensive strategy to end child marriage. This includes appropriating the necessary funds to fully execute the strategy, as well as monitoring efforts and measuring progress toward meeting our goals.

An estimated 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020. Failure to prioritize the development and implementation of comprehensive policies and programs for married and unmarried girls is ultimately a failure to help girls who need it most to live healthy, safe, educated and empowered lives.

You can help: join the 50 Days of Action for Women and Girls campaign by tweeting with the hashtags #usa4girls and #usa4women and calling upon the U.S. government to do its part to end this egregious violation of human rights.

Our future prospects as a global community depend on whether we choose to take decisive and strategic action now. Girls simply cannot and should not have to wait any longer.

Let’s give girls a choice, and a chance, for a real future.

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