The Integration of Gender and Human Rights into the Post-2015 Development Framework

This report is based on the discussion that took place at the “Post-2015 Expert Group Meeting” held at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) from December 13-14, 2012. This meeting was convened to try to integrate issues of gender and human rights into the development of a post-2015 framework for social and economic development that is applicable to all countries. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were derived from the more comprehensive Millennium Declaration, established a timeframe ending in 2015 for the achievement of the goals and targets laid out. With the deadline quickly approaching, there has been a great deal of activity in defining a post-2015 agenda. Experts in this field, including researchers and advocates, were brought together to develop an overarching framework for social justice, that builds on the Millennium Declaration, while also acknowledging the economic and geopolitical changes that have occurred since the MDGs were introduced. As the debate on the post-2015 agenda has already commenced, this report is an attempt to identify critical components of a post-2015 framework that fill gaps associated with the MDGs and promote economic and social rights and gender equality.

In establishing a post-2015 agenda that promotes social justice, this report seeks to integrate macroeconomics, human rights, and gender into an analytical framework. To achieve this, specific focus is given to five areas of importance to the current post- 2015 discourse: (i) gender equality and the realization of women’s rights; (ii) inequality, both within and between countries; (iii) employment and the right to decent work; (iv) creation of an enabling macroeconomic environment for the realization of economic and social rights; and (v) governance for human rights at global and national levels.