Summary of Outcomes of UN MDG Review Summit Sept 2010

 The Outcome Document of the Review Summit re-affirms the international

community’s commitments and obligations within the MDG Framework
(the global development framework).

 The Outcome document provides for new issues of focus including some
welcome elements of a rights-based approach to the Millennium
Development Goals (ie the right to development, women’s full enjoyment
of all human rights). It also provides a focus on vulnerable populations,
which were largely absent from the original Millennium Declaration in
2000.

 For the first time ever the issue of Disability has been explicitly included
in the MDG framework – there are 3 separate mentions of disability. A
number of States who spoke at the Plenary Session of the UN Review
Summit made specific reference to people with disabilities in relation to
the MDGs. These states included Finland, Austria, Barbados, Japan, and
Bosnia.

New elements of MDG Review Outcome Document that can be the basis for
CBM Advocacy activities at MA and International levels

The MDG Review Outcome document calls for:

 respect for all human rights, including , the rule of law, gender equality
(Para 3)
 gender equality, the empowerment of women, and the eradication of
poverty are essential to economic and social development (Para 12)
 Respecting, promoting and protecting all human rights, including the right
to development (23 j)
 Strengthening statistical capacity to produce reliable disaggregated data
for better programmes and policy evaluation and formulation (23 s)
 A recognition that policies and actions must focus on the poor and those
living in the most vulnerable situations, including persons with
disabilities, so that they benefit from progress towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals. In this respect there is a particular need to
provide more equitable access to economic opportunities and social
services (28)
 A recognition that the respect for and promotion and protection of human
rights is an integral part of effective work towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (53)
 A statement that all countries require adequate, timely, reliable and
disaggregated data, including demographic data, in order to design better
programmes and policies for sustainable development (68)
 A commitment to promote full and productive employment and decent
work for all, including for women, indigenous people, young people,
people with disabilities and rural populations (70 d)
 A commitment to make special efforts to meet the nutritional needs of
women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, as well as
those living in vulnerable situations, through targeted and effective
programming (70 v)
 A commitment to remove barriers, outside and within education
systems, so as to provide equitable educational and learning opportunities
for all children, since knowledge and education are key factors for
sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth and for the
achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals, through continued
political emphasis on education and by promoting, with the support of the
international community, civil society and the private sector, appropriate
and targeted, evidence-based measures such as abolishing school fees,
providing school meals, ensuring that schools have separate sanitation
facilities for boys and girls and in other ways making primary education
for all children available, accessible and affordable (71 c)
 A commitment to strengthen efforts to ensure primary education as a
fundamental element of the response to and preparedness for
humanitarian emergencies, ensuring that affected countries are
supported, at their request, in their efforts to restore their education
systems by the international community (70 j)
 A commitment to ensure access to education and successful schooling
of girls by removing barriers and (72 b)
 A commitment to realizing the values and principles of primary
healthcare including equity, solidarity, social justice, universal access to
services, multi-sectoral action, transparency, accountability community
participation, and empowerment, as the basis for strengthening health
systems, and recall in this regard the Declaration of Alma-Ata (73 a)

Other elements of interest in the Outcome Document: 

There is clear agreement in the document on some of the follow-up required 

(i) an annual review by the UN General Assembly of progress towards the

MDGs
(ii) a review summit to be organised in 2013 to ensure progress on the MDGs,
and (iii) a process of reflection to be initiated by the UN Secretary General
about the required framework for Development, beyond 2015.
Some Concerns about Outcome document :
While the new rights-based language contained within the MDG Review
outcome document is considered very positive, many commentators point to the
fact that there are still no clear Action Plans or accountability mechanisms that
will hold states to the commitments they have made within the reviewed MDG
framework. There is general concern about the likely impact of the global
economic downturn on future flows of development aid to the poorest
countries of the world.

Issues for CBM following the MDG Review Summit:

(i) What will replace the MDG framework in 2015?

There is a growing sense of realism that with five years left to achieve the
MDGs, it will be a real challenge to meet the original goals set within that time-
frame. Discussions have already started about the global development
framework that might replace the MDGs after 2015. It is clear that this question
should start to be debated and considered by CBM and other similar
organisations, rather than leaving it until the 2015 deadline approaches. CBM
should engage in intensive lobbying/advocacy activities in advance of 2015 to
try to influence the next Global Development Framework

(ii) How will CBM help to build bridges between human rights and
development?

CBM needs to be part of the movement to promote a rights-based approach to

development rather than an approach based on charity. Article 32 of the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( UNCRPWD) will be
very important in this regard, and should central to CBM’s Advocacy activities
at MA and international levels. CBM might consider trying to align its Christian
values with those underpinning the human rights agenda, in order to make its
message accessible to a wider number of people.