Following the endorsement of the Millennium Declaration at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a common set of development targets agreed by all the world’s leaders, were adopted in 2002. All these global development targets have 2015 as their endpoint. As the target date to achieve the MDGs approaches, UN Member States around the world are in the process of reviewing the MDGs and shaping post-2015 development agenda, a UN led process aimed at determining the global development framework beyond 2015.
The MDGs need to be consistent with human rights principles, in particular the principle of non-discrimination, empowerment and participation. Among other international instruments, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which Nepal is a party protects the right to self-determination, allowing people to determine their own economic, social and cultural rights. The human rights-based approach emphasizes participation of right holders, including those from marginalized background, for the ownership of development and for making the development process sustainable. The UN Millennium Declaration itself acknowledges the vital need for genuine participation of all citizens in UN Member States.
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But despite Nepal being a signatory to many international mechanisms to protect the right of all people to participate in development efforts, lack of participation of marginalized people, which is often the result of discriminatory access, continues to bedevil Nepal. Consequently, the distribution of basic services under the MDGs is discriminatory and fails to meet people’s basic needs. The MDGs aim to monitor the progressive realization of certain human rights. However, lack of participation of marginalized people in planning, policy making, implementation and monitoring of development activities has created hurdles towards the achievement of this goal, thus weakening the prospects of sustainable development in Nepal. The failure to achieve sustainable development in turn has curtailed the prospect of vulnerable groups enjoying fundamental rights, including the right to food, health and education.
Nepal received an MDG Award in 2010 for its outstanding national leadership, commitment and progress towards achievement of the MDG Goal 5—Improvement of Maternal Health. One of the aims of the MDG Award is to honor and celebrate excellent efforts of the government and civil society organizations (CSOs) in advancing the MGDs. Unfortunately, the effort put in by the government and other stakeholders to educate CSOs from the marginalized communities on the Post-2015 development agenda, on advancement of MDGs with their meaningful participation, has been extremely limited. Almost zero participation of marginalized people and their representatives in UN’s MY WORLD online survey where people were asked to “choose your priorities for a better world” (with the results being shared with respective world leaders) is a stark example of this limited participation.
The government of Nepal has failed to broaden its consultations with the most excluded and marginalized people and their representatives on the Post-2015 development agenda. This is despite the fact that wider discussion on the participation of marginalized people and their representative CSOs in reviewing the MDGs and shaping the new development agenda is crucial to addressing inequality and social exclusion, as identified by the UNDP-Nepal as a major challenge to achieve the MDGs.
In order to overcome this challenge, Nepal must own up the reaffirmation of the UN General Assembly’s High-level Plenary Meeting on the MDGs in 2010 that safeguarding human rights of all people is essential to achieving MGDs. One of the essential criteria to review the MDGs and to define the Post-2015 development agenda should be whether the MDGs facilitated the participation of the socially, culturally and economically marginalized people, including religious minorities, in development activities. Furthermore, the process of prioritizing Post-2015 development agenda should review the participation of marginalized peoples in policy-making, including the current Three Year Plan and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
Post-2015 development agenda in Nepal should replicate best international practices. As such, sharing the best practices on meaningful participation of marginalized groups in setting their Post-2015 development agenda will be crucial. India is a good example of how dialogues and inclusive national and regional consultations can be held with the support of the UN agencies and national stakeholders. For example, the Post-2015 National Consultation Team in India has taken the innovative approach of welcoming online comments and questions from general people on the Post-2015 development agenda.
It is crucial to encourage marginalized groups to share their priorities as a part of the development goal post-2015.
As outlined by the UN Secretary-General in his roadmap for Post-2015 development agenda within Member States, inclusive consultations should be extended to marginalized groups, which should be made to share their future development priorities. Enhancing local level consultations is essential to keep local stakeholders updated on Post-2015 development agenda and increase their participation in shaping, implementing and monitoring the Post-2015 framework. Government negotiations for the future development agenda should be based on the outcome of the local and national consultations that are actively participated by marginalized people and their representative CSOs.
The donors and UN agency, and UNDP in particular, should build partnership with wider stakeholders at the national and local levels on the basis of their thematic expertise and be actively engaged in consultations on the urgent Post-2015 development issues and agenda. This should be done with meaningful participation of marginalized groups. Capacity enhancement and greater engagement of media people, in particular the local media personnel, is essential in order to mobilize them to disseminate information on the MDGs and the Post-2015 development agenda.
The process of shaping the Post-2015 development agenda in Nepal should not be limited to a few hand-picked CSOs and consultants. Meaningful participation of marginalized people and their representative CSOs in setting the Post-2015 development agenda will go some way in removing the criticism that MDGs are inadequate measures of development and are forced from top down by donors without inputs from the people on the ground.
Broad consultations at the national and local levels with the meaningful participation of marginalized people is a must to tailor the Post-2015 development targets to local needs and to achieve inclusive, people-centered and sustainable development beyond 2015.
The author worked as Human Rights Officer at OHCHR-Nepal
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