Key messages & voices from the Post-2015 Addressing Inequalities Consultation

Global Thematic Consultation on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Addressing Inequalities
Key Messages and Voices from the Consultation

Co-led by UNICEF and UN Women with support from
the Government of Denmark and the Government of Ghana

About the Consultation

• Held under the auspices of the UN Development Group from
September 2012-January 2013;
• Co-lead by UN Women and UNICEF, supported by the Governments of
Denmark and Ghana;
• Advisory Group comprised of civil society, academics and UN entities;
• 175 written paper submissions (collected through a public call for
papers issued in July 2012);
• 10 e-discussions moderated by experts from civil society and the UN on
key themes that emerged from the paper submissions
(Gender, Gender-based Violence, LGBTI People, Persons with Disabilities, Economic
Inequalities, Indigenous Peoples, Young People, Urban Inequalities, Minorities,
Measurement & Assessment of Inequalities);
• Report draws conclusions from written submissions, online discussions
and inputs from Advisory Group;
• The following slides contain key messages that emerged from the
Consultation.

Post-2015 Global Thematic Consultation on Addressing Inequalities

Key Messages from the Consultation

1. Recalled that equality was
identified as a fundamental
value in the 2000
Millennium Declaration.
2. The obligation to address
inequalities is born from
international human rights
treaties and shared human
values.
3. Translating equality into
practice is crucial to
improving the wellbeing of © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0233/Estey
both today’s and all future
generations.



4. Inequalities are a global challenge –
they persist both within all countries
and between them.
5. Inequalities are not just problems for
those directly affected, but have
deep consequences for everyone in
society. They undermine social
cohesion, present and future
productive capabilities and the
sustainability of economic growth.
Inequalities harm us all.
6. When examining the MDGs
“beneath the averages” it is clear
that many types of inequalities have
worsened. © UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0121/Noorani



7. Market economies and all that they influence
are asymmetric, favoring the interests of
those already at an advantage. Public
provision of basic social needs are required
especially for poorest and most-marginalized
groups.
8. The challenges of unequal access to natural
resources and vulnerabilities to
environmental degradation and climate
change have also become more severe.
9. Inequalities predominantly affect people
suffering multiple human rights violations and
are often closely associated with and
reinforced by specific forms of discrimination
based on, for example:
gender, age, caste, race, ethnic and indigenous identity,
minority status, (dis)ability, HIV status, sexual orientation,
etc. © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0923/Sokolv



10. Inequalities are also deeply entrenched
by structural drivers and barriers in the
economic, social, political, cultural and
environmental domains, which intersect
and reinforce each other.
11. When inequalities overlap they reinforce
each other and create unique forms of
discrimination and exclusion.
Interventions to address the symptoms
(e.g. chronic poverty) will be undermined
if the root causes are not also addressed.
12. Inequalities are commonly “legitimized”
by powerful groups using stereotypes
and prejudice that justify discrimination © UNICEF/INDA2011-00386/Vishwanathan
and maintain exclusion.



13. Gender-based discrimination,
including the denial of the rights of
women and girls, remain the most
widespread drivers of inequalities in
today’s world. Gender-based
violence, taking many forms, is a
major element of this massive and
continuing failure of human rights.
14. Existing inequalities result from
unequal control over assets including
natural resources as well as productive
and financial assets. Fairer distribution
of the rents from natural resources is
needed. © UNICEF/ HQ06-1488/Giacomo Pirozzi


15. Efforts to reduce inequalities will
require strong consensus at all
levels, from the local to the
national to the global. These
efforts will require appropriate
policy and legal frameworks,
actions to protect people from
discrimination and leveling-up
measures.
16. Policy reform must be
accompanied by concerted action
to address negative social
attitudes and build a universal
demand for equality, tolerance and
social justice. © UNICEF/ HQ06-1488/Giacomo Pirozzi


17. Transformative change towards a more equal
and inclusive world, and the eradication of
poverty in all its forms, will depend on coherent
global and national policy action in and across
the economic, social, environmental and
political domains.
18. A development framework will be needed that is
based on the recognition that all people have
rights, and that incorporates and reflects the
human rights principles of universality and non-
discrimination, participation and accountability,
if the structural drivers of inequalities are to be
fully addressed in future.
19. Some countries have made progress in
addressing the structural drivers of inequalities
and reducing their impact, through a range of © UNICEF/NYHQ2012-1130/Markisz
equity-focused and rights-based policy, legal
and programme initiatives which they have kept
in place over time.


20. Macroeconomic policy is also key. Fiscal policies,
particularly tax policies, that seek to improve
collection from sectors and agents that have
benefited disproportionately from aggregate
income growth can provide adequate resources
for redistribution, without necessarily requiring
higher taxes.
21. The framework should be universal in nature, in
order to tackle the global challenge of
inequalities. Goals that aspire to “getting to zero”
- in terms of conditions such as poverty, violence,
preventable deaths, malnutrition and denial of
basic service access - will assist in moving
towards the realization of human rights for all.
22. A self-standing global goal on inequalities, with
a particular focus on gender-based inequalities,
should be included in the post-2015 framework,
© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0846/Isaac
complemented, across all goal areas, by targets
and indicators that focus on the situation of the
most disadvantaged groups.



23. The adaptation of global goals to national
targets and indicators should be the result
of inclusive and highly participatory
processes, where disadvantaged people,
inter alia children and young people,
engage in matters that concern them. A
combination of strengthened national and
sub-national monitoring and evaluation,
data collection and analysis along with
locally-led citizen monitoring is needed.
24. Accountability among decision-makers and
public institutions will be an essential
feature of just and equitable human
progress. Accountability will be central
both to the deisgn and implementation of
the new framework, future policies and © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2170/Pietrasik
actions.


Part 2:Voices from the Consultation,
Public Dialogue & Leadership Meeting
A selection of key quotes

Quotes from the Consultation & Leadership Meeting

“Fighting inequalities matter not only to the
bottom billion, but to all of us. Because
equitable societies with accountable and
transparent political systems promote the
formation of human and social capital, social
cohesion and stability, it spurs investments,
innovation and economic growth. It brings with
it a more stable global economy and, a more
secure world.”

– Christian Friis Bach, Minister of Development Cooperation,
Denmark (Addressing Inequalities Leadership Meeting)

©Alexander Banck-Petersen: www.AlexBP.dk



“Everyone on this planet has the right
to live. If so, then they have the right to
good health, adequate nutrition,
education, adequate housing, safety
and security, water and sanitation as
well as employment, no matter who
they are and where they live.”

– Paul Victor Obeng, Chairman, National
Development Planning Commission, Ghana
(Addressing Inequalities Leadership Meeting)




“To deny groups the opportunity to flourish, on the basis of their
identity (ethnic, religious or other) is to deny the entire human
family the intellectual, social and moral benefits that derive from
such an opportunity.”

– Daniel Perell, United States(Contributor to Addressing Inequalities E-discussion on
Minorities and Inequalities)

“Inequality goes beyond the problem of unequal access to a
building, an institution, a social system. It is also deeply
entrenched within the historical treatment of the group.”
-- Xuan Thuy Nguyen (Contributor to Addressing Inequalities E-discussion on
Persons with Disabilities)



“Addressing inequalities is not a choice - it's a
moral & practical necessity.”

–Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF (Addressing
Inequalities Leadership Meeting)


“Inequality is the biggest threat to the world and
needs to be tackled now.”

–Jayati Ghosh, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
(Addressing Inequalities Leadership Meeting)



“While women constitute over half of
humanity, they are far from enjoying
equal rights, equal opportunities and
equal participation and leadership with
men. And this exclusion, this
discrimination and this violence based
on gender, is one of the biggest
obstacles that we face in advancing
sustainable development.”

– Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN ©Alexander Banck-Petersen: www.AlexBP.dk
Women (Addressing Inequalities Leadership
Meeting)



“Unless young people are mobilized, [sensitized] and empowered to
demand accountability and participate in decision-making, youth will
continue to be marginalized and suffer the consequences of
inequality.”

-Awal Ahmed (Contributor to Addressing Inequalities E-discussion on Young People and
Inequalities)

“The first step is for poor people to learn to trust themselves. Because we’re poor
and because we live in slums, nobody trusts us, nobody believes in us. We don’t
have money, our jobs are illegal, our communities are illegal, our connections to
electricity and water are illegal. We are the city’s big headache. This is the entire
perception of people outside the communities. But we are human beings too and
we have lives in this city. If we are given space to be part of the decisions and plans,
we also can be part of the solution.”
--Ruby Papeleras (Contributor to Addressing Inequalities E-discussion on Urban Inequalities)



“The 21st century may be the The wellbeing of child[ren] is extremely crucial
opportunity where humanism finally to whether or not you're going to have a more
prevails.” or less equal society -- and children, therefore
have to appear prominently on the political and
-Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Senior Researcher, policy agenda.”
Head of research unit, Danish Institute for
International Studies(Addressing Inequalities --Assefa Bequele, Founder, Former Executive Director
Public Dialogue Meeting) and current Distinguished Fellow, African Child Policy
Forum (Addressing Inequalities Public Dialogue
Meeting)

“If we feel that there is no scope for upward mobility – that there is no likelihood of just
returns for one's efforts -- then what is the use of striving?...If what you value has no place in
society, will you have any stake in abiding by the rules and norms of a society, that made these
rules and norms without your being present in any way? It is then that you turn to conflict; or
less noisily to crime, drugs, to illicit forms of activities, alcoholism and depression.”

-- Naila Kabeer, Professor, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (Addressing
Inequalities Public Dialogue Meeting)


Further Information

For further information, visit the Addressing
Inequalities e-space:
www.worldwewant2015.org/inequalities

Key materials from the Addressing Inequalities Public
Dialogue and Leadership Meeting:
http://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/312416
Photo credits for title slide (clockwise from top left)
© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-1130/Markisz; UNICEF/ HQ06-1488/Giacomo Pirozzi;© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0846/Isaac


Key messages & voices from the Post-2015 Addressing Inequalities Consultation

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