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

Global Thematic Consultation on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Addressing Inequalities

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

Key Messages and Voices from the Consultation

Post-2015 Global Thematic Consultation on Addressing Inequalities

• 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.

About 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 both today’s and all future generations.

Key Messages from the Consultation

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0233/Estey


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 and maintain exclusion.


© UNICEF/INDA2011-00386/Vishwanathan


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 equity-focused and rights-based policy, legal and programme initiatives which they have kept in place over time.


© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-1130/Markisz


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, complemented, across all goal areas, by targets and indicators that focus on the situation of the most disadvantaged groups.


© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0846/Isaac


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 actions.


© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2170/Pietrasik

Part 2:Voices from the Consultation, Public Dialogue & Leadership Meeting

A selection of key quotes


Quotes from the Consultation & Leadership Meeting

©Alexander Banck-Petersen: www.AlexBP.dk

“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)




“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 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 opportunity where humanism finally prevails.”

-Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Senior Researcher, Head of research unit, Danish Institute for

International Studies(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)

The wellbeing of child[ren] is extremely crucial to whether or not you're going to have a more or less equal society -- and children, therefore have to appear prominently on the political and policy agenda.”

--Assefa Bequele, Founder, Former Executive Director and current Distinguished Fellow, African Child Policy

Forum (Addressing Inequalities Public Dialogue Meeting)


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

Further Information

Photo credits for title slide (clockwise from top left) © UNICEF/NYHQ2012-1130/Markisz; UNICEF/ HQ06-1488/Giacomo Pirozzi;© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0846/Isaac

http://www.worldwewant2015.org/inequalities

http://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/312416

http://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/312416

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