Making progress towards the Millenium Development Goals requires a human rights approach

‘We will make more progress if we take a human rights approach”, Mary Robinson, The Elders.

As the UN reports that only half of countries are on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mary Robinson, Graça Machel, Gro Brundtland, Ela Bhatt and Martti Ahtisaari support the Every Human Has Rights campaign and call for freedom from poverty as a human right.

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Members of The Elders group of eminent global leaders and activists said today that Governments must place a greater emphasis on protecting human rights if there is to be any hope of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ending poverty.

Speaking in a series of exclusive interviews released as part of the Every Human Has Rights campaign (can be watched here), the members called for stronger commitments and determined action to uphold the rights of children, women and all citizens to be free from poverty. The recent UN report on the progress of the MDGs “Keeping the Promise” suggests that many critical Goals will be missed and that extreme poverty will not be halved by the original target date of 2015.

The “Keeping the Promise” report suggests that whilst anumber of countries have had success in combating factors of extreme poverty including hunger, school enrolment, access to clean water, malaria, tuberculosis, and access to HIV treatment, many major MDGs will not be met.

The report reveals that: just over half of the 117 countries for which there is data available are on track to achieve the MDGs; the number of people living in extreme poverty has actually risen (when excluding changes in China); the child mortality rate is well short of the MDG target of a two thirds reduction (to 33 per thousand live births); and that maternal mortality rates have remained largely unchanged.

Mary Robinson, former President of the Irish Republic and member of The Elders said: “The voice of civil society is absolutely essential if we are going to ensure we can deliver on the MDGs which are not very ambitious. They are necessary and I would like to go further.”

Every Human Has Rights, led by South African based civil society alliance CIVICUS, is therefore calling for civil society to be given a central role in achieving the MDGs and tackling poverty. NGOs, churches, trade unions, youth and other community groups must be able to operate securely and have the freedom to express opinions without fear of harassment if they are to play their part in ending poverty.

Ingrid Srinath, Secretary General of CIVICUS said: “The findings of the UN’s “Keeping the Promise” report are extremely concerning. Progress is patchy and hampered, not only by the fact that donor countries have failed to meet the funding commitments made at Gleneagles in 2005, but also because citizens right of participation remains defied by governments. Civil society space and engagement must be respected and free to operate if together we are to have any chance of meeting the MDGs.  Freedom from poverty is a basic human right, one that calls for Governments and private sector to work harder to protect.”

Every Human Has Rights believes that ending poverty can only be achieved through an approach that understands the interdependence of human rights, gender equality, environmental sustainability and peace and security.

Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) trade union said: “Women have done more than enough of their duties, let us try to balance it with the rights approach”. Bhatt’s experiences of working with the 1,000,000 strong SEWA union in Indiahave demonstrated that when women organise, they increase visibility and gain a collective voice, taking a huge step towards gaining the equal rights and empowerment that help get them out of poverty.  “Every human has equal rights because we are all born equals.”

Graça Machel, renowned international advocate for women's and children's rights,talks about the importance of childrens’ rights to eradicate poverty: “Any society will be judged how healthy it is by the way it treats its children. We have made so many promises to children what we need is to implement.”

Gro Brundtland, former Norwegian Prime Minister and Director-General of the World Health Organisation talks about the vital importance of the universal right to health whilst Martti Ahtisaari former President of Finland, UN peace mediator and Nobel Prize winner talks about the need for peace and security as conditions for ending poverty.