CRINMAIL 1193: Millennium Development Goals
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The MDGs: a broken record
As world leaders descend on New York this week to review progress made towards the "Millennium Development Goals" (MDGs), here at CRIN, we are questioning the contribution they have made to sustainable development and children's rights.
The MDGs are eight international development targets agreed upon by 189 UN Member States in 2000. They set out numerical targets for income poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality, environmental degradation and the Global Partnership for Development. They are due to be achieved by 2015.
Stockholm syndrome
Progress towards the MDGs has been fraught with difficulties and it is generally conceded that they will not be met. And yet, the development world is plugging on regardless to rescue what is an inadequate distraction from pressing States to fulfil their human rights obligations.
At CRIN, we have heard gripes from our members - children's rights advocates from countries across the world, particularly those farthest flung from the decision making centres of New York and Geneva – asking why children in their country are being squeezed into teacher-less classrooms so that the government can tick a box (and reach an MDG), while the quality of education remains unchanged and secondary schools are being closed down ( - they are not part of any MDG).
They wonder why the MDGs do not address the rights of marginalised groups, and have, in some cases, exacerbated discrimination. In some countries, for example, governments have reportedly sought investment from mining companies to fund MDG-related development, resulting in indigenous groups being deprived of their land.
They wonder what will happen next if, by some miracle, the targets are reached.
Change the tune
In their reliance on numbers, the MDGs fail to interrogate the underlying reasons why children's rights are not being fulfilled and fail to recognise important political aspects of development such as inclusion, human rights, empowerment and equality – all of which we believe are pre-requisites for advancing children's status.
While we are aware of the tireless commitment and efforts of many advocates who have sought to apply a children's rights perspective to the MDGs as the best hope of nudging children's rights back to the top of the global agenda, we believe the MDGs have contributed to a damaging tick-box culture of development and that we must once again turn our full attention to pursuing States' human rights obligations.
This CRINMAIL shares some critical reflections on the MDGs.
Further reading
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Commentary
The MDGs: Thrown off balance
Dainius Puras, Member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, has written this piece for CRIN in a personal capacity.
I would like to share some concerns about the priorities the MDGs have thrust to the forefront of the global development agenda.
I believe the MDGs suffer from a chronic balance disorder. This is evident both in their insistence on prioritising some groups of rights over others and on promoting numbers and targets over quality and sustainability.
I raise these concerns because I fear the outcome of such an agenda can be presaged in another development project that went badly wrong: that of the Soviet Union, where I spent the first 30 years of my life.
The MDG Review presents an important opportunity to rethink what we mean by development and to make some strategic corrections before this comes to pass.
While I fully understand that there are other lessons that we need to learn from other regions, for example, excessive neo-liberal policies in some places have also resulted in destructive relations between States and their citizens, I will share views from my personal experience.
Wrong priorities
From the standpoint of the UN Committee, I am well aware of and realistic about the challenges of promoting and protecting children's rights across the world. One of the recommendations we consistently make in our Concluding Observations to States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in order to overcome these challenges is to treat all rights as indivisible and inter-dependent and refrain from prioritising some rights over others.
And yet, we continue to witness a hierarchy of rights set out both in State Party reports and alternative reports from NGOs.
The MDGs are fuelling this trend. The eight key goals set out in the UN Millennium Declaration have driven national policies in many countries to reflect a narrow understanding of development - as if achieving the MDGs were the ultimate goal.
This is to some extent a reflection of the "full belly" hypothesis: the idea that societies first need to realise social and economic rights before they are capable of taking on civil rights and freedoms. But the sad effect of such prioritising is that the "after" may never happen. Paradoxically, the biggest systemic obstacle for successfully achieving the MDGs in many countries is the lack of transparency and critical self-reflection about national policies, including child protection policies, and this is related to the weakness of civil society and social capital. Transparency and a vibrant civil society are crucial foundations for enabling people to claim their rights to social and economic development.
The MDGs' focus on child survival exemplifies this problem. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other UN treaties are unique instruments which promote the equal treatment of all human rights. Article 6 of the CRC, for example, emphasises the indivisibility of the right to survival and the right to development. And yet, the MDGs encourage a focus on improving survival rights for under-fives to the extent that other issues, including the survival and development of older children, are consigned to a "waiting list".
I believe we must proactively address adolescents' issues as well, and a good start would be to take their views seriously into account, particularly given that trends in adolescents' views and what we understand as the problems of "troubled youth", reflect more than individual situations – they are usually an indication of the challenges facing human beings in general, such as the lack of mutual trust and respect.
After all, what would happen next if we were to achieve, with some magical tool, the survival of all children under-five?
I can take a guess based on my own experiences.
Déjà vu
Interestingly, most of the problems which are now reflected in the MDGs were solved by the Soviet system decades ago. This system achieved universal immunisation, school enrolment and literacy rates, fairly low infant mortality rates, as well as impressive advancements for women; it became, for example, the only region in the world where more women than men graduated from university.
But all these achievements were made at the expense of civil and political rights.
The message from State authorities to their people was loud and clear: you will enjoy minimum standards of social security, you can expect a stable economic future, and your children can expect the same. But all on the condition that you forget about civil rights and freedoms and switch off your ability to think critically.
(...)
The numbers game
Another problem with the MDGs is their over-reliance on statistics and on quantitative approaches to monitoring the goals we are all striving towards. This leads to more energy being invested in the quantity of services and of people accessing them over the quality of development. In education, for example, the quality of teaching and how children's rights are respected in schools are just as important as school enrolment rates.
If a message is sent out that numbers are valued above all else, incentives are created - because of imperfections of human nature - to bias the process and use artificial ways of reaching those quantitatively defined goals.
This is not meant to say that the need for measurable outcomes are not necessary, but to serve as a reminder that a qualitative approach to assessing the context of children's rights is equally important and can significantly add to the holistic promotion of all aspects of children's rights. Qualitative analysis is especially valuable for independent monitoring of civil rights and freedoms as well as de facto discrimination and as assessing levels of tolerance towards vulnerable groups. These are all critically important issues in our attempts to develop societies which are healthier and more respectful of children's rights.
Keep moving
We need to analyse everyone's stories – whether positive or negative; and we need to keep moving forward. The same is true of the MDGs. As 2015 draws near, we must take on board positive aspects of this process and evaluate shortcomings, so that the next stage reflects a more comprehensive and holistic approach to development.
As Albert Einstein said: "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving".
I think that this applies not only to the lives of human beings, but to communities and societies, including international communities, committed to good ideas. We, those who are committed to human rights and children's rights, need to strike a balance and we need to keep moving – exactly like riding a bicycle.
I believe this means that we need to rethink MDGs and – if not now, then by 2015 forge a new consensus on new development goals based entirely on human rights and children's rights, which reflects their universality and indivisibility.
Last but not least, we need to be proactive, not reactive, in designing strategies for human development. These should address root causes, not consequences, and invest in powerful protective factors hidden in children, parents, families and communities.
Read the full commentary here.
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In other MDG news...
An alternative vision
In a report published this week, International Alert declares that the Millennium Development Goals are a "tired" development paradigm and an inadequate measure of progress and that the time has come to move on.
The report, "Working with the grain to change the grain: moving beyond the Millennium Development Goals," proposes a different way of considering development based on six characteristics:
1. Equal access to political voice, and the legitimate and accountable use of power.
2. Equal participation in a vibrant and sustainable economy.
3. Equal access to justice, and equality before the law.
4. Freedom from insecurity.
5. The ability of people to maintain their mental and physical well-being, to have aspirations and make progress towards them.
6. The self-reinforcing presence of institutions and values that support and enable equitable progress and peace.
Full reportÂ
UN experts: A group of UN human rights experts has called on world leaders attending this week's MDG meeting to ensure the final outcome document is based on human rights principles.
The chairpersons of all the UN human rights treaty bodies declared:
"While fully supporting the efforts of Member States to realise the MDGs by 2015, we would like to emphasise that their realisation should be an important step on the longer, and continuous, road towards the full and effective realisation of all human rights for all."
Full statement
Earlier this month, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a paper explaining how human rights can contribute to development. The publication is based on an analysis of national MDG progress reports. Full report.
Right to education: The Right to Education Project has released a series of policy briefings to coincide with the MDG Summit with recommendations to spark action from heads of State on education rights.
The briefings assert that the MDGs do not live up to the expectations set out in the Millennium Declaration and that they must be guided by the full spectrum of human rights if they are to achieve genuine advances in development. Read the briefings here:
Brief on MDG 1: poverty
Brief on MDG 2: education
Brief on MDG 3: gender
Transparency: In a letter addressed to the two Ambassadors responsible for coordinating the UN High Level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ARTICLE 19, Access Info, the Carter Center, CIVICUS, the International Budget Partnership, Publish What You Fund and Transparency International are calling for a stronger commitment to, and effective implementation of, transparency and the free flow of information in the fight against poverty. Read the recommendations.
Child marriage: In advance of the MDG Summit, The Elders launched an initiative to end child marriage.
Jimmy Carter and Fernando Henrique Cardoso (former presidents of the US and Brazil respectively), writing in The Guardian online, declared:
"We need the authorities to take the law more seriously but change will happen fastest when communities recognise that the economic and social value of educating girls outweighs their bride price. This requires sensitive debate, thoughtful leadership as well as financial assistance to keep girls in school. We must also give greater support at community, national and international level to groups working to end this practice.
Most of all, it is time to recognise that we cannot improve the lives of the poorest and most marginalised women and girls until the impact of child marriage is addressed directly and openly - and we make a commitment to ending it." Full op-ed.
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Inhuman sentencing
Help us now to launch CRIN's campaign against inhuman sentencing of children
CRIN will launch a major global campaign at the UN in New York in mid-October to end inhuman sentencing of child offenders. We are developing detailed individual reports on states which reveal that laws still allow executions, life sentences and corporal punishment as sentences for crimes committed by children. We believe that one of the reasons why this barbaric treatment of children continues is the lack of visibility of the reality of inhuman sentencing. While it is relatively easy to research the legal frameworks which allow inhuman sentencing, it is very difficult to find personal testimonies and individual cases. If this campaign is to make a real impact and achieve quick action to stop inhuman sentencing, we need your help NOW. Please send immediately to info@crin.org - or tell us where to access - any material which gets across the reality of these violations: personal testimonies, photos, recordings, official reports, statistics, media reports.
Full details of CRIN's campaign will be launched on the website on October 13th. CRIN believes that international campaigning alone is unlikely to force governments to move quickly enough to prohibit inhuman sentencing. But we hope that coordination and solidarity – achieving linked campaigns internationally, across regions and nationally – can accelerate change. CRIN's aim is to achieve a strong international and regional context for progress – and to support national campaigns in any other way we can.
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Defence forces
LGBTI rights: In response to growing homophobia and transphobia across Africa, Pambazuka Press is calling for contributions to an African Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex People's Reader.
The African LGBTI Reader, which will be published in June 2011, will bring together a collection of writings and artistic works that engage with the struggle for LGBTI liberation and inform sexual orientation and gender variance. The book seeks to engage primarily with an African audience, and will include experiences from rural communities, post-conflict situations, religious experience and of immigration and displacement. Read more.
Europe: The Council of Europe has outlined a new initiative to help guarantee Roma people's rights in the face of widespread discrimination across Europe.
The CoE's Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, has proposed organising a high level meeting with Member States to clarify CoE and EU standards applicable to Roma migration and secondly, to develop specific actions to improve the economic and social integration of Roma people in Europe involve the Council of Europe, the European Union and national governments. Full story.
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Beating violence
Africa: The big news on corporal punishment in Africa is that Tunisia and Kenya have achieved full prohibition - the first African states to do so! Read details of this and other positive moves towards reform in the second issue of the "Ending corporal punishment" regional newsletter by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment and the African Child Policy Forum.
Elsewhere, six out of 10 children in Paraguay are suffering physical violence and other maltreatment in their home, including beatings, kicks, burns and semi-asphyxiation, according to a new United Nations study.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) study found that corporal punishment and verbal humiliation are considered culturally acceptable forms of education and it called on the government to introduce policies that promote the reporting and punishment of such activities. Full story.
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Getting the house in order
England: Children's rights NGOs have published minimum requirements for an Office of Children's Rights Commissioner for England and two online surveys, one for children and young people and the other for NGOs.
On behalf of the Children's Commissioner NGO Co-ordinating Group, the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) are collecting views and evidence to help make an even stronger case for a powerful and genuinely independent Children's Rights Commissioner for England. The deadline is Friday 1 October 2pm.
They urge you to sign up to the minimum requirements which are based on the 2001 framework supported by 130+ NGOs. You can access the minimum requirements and sign up via CRAE's website.
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Left until last
Turkey: NGOs in Turkey say a new Constitution approved this month fails to incorporate core child rights principles into the Turkish legal system. They had been calling for the inclusion of a separate article on child rights in the new Constitution. However, the amended Article 41 addresses children's rights only in the context of family union. Full story.
Mental health: The majority of development and poverty alleviation programmes do not reach persons with mental or psychosocial disabilities, according to a new report on mental health and development by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The report, "Targeting people with mental health conditions as a vulnerable group", reveals that between 75 per cent and 85 per cent do not have access to any form of mental health treatment. It sets out recommendations for catering to the needs of mental and psychosocial disabilities in development work. Full report.
Jargon of the week
**MDGs**
The acronym "MDGs" haunts many an international development policy paper. But this week, to coincide with the MDG Summit, we asked people outside the world of human rights and development what came to mind when they heard the word "MDG".
Here are some of their responses and other examples that we found:
- Major Distracting Gimmick
- The designer sunglasses collection by Madonna and Dolce and Gabbana
- The code for a Madagascan airline
- Michigan Dairy Goats (!)Â
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