Are human rights included in the UN Millennium Development Goals?
What are the MDGs?
In 2000, leaders from around the world agreed on 8 development goals to be achieved by 2015. These goals are seen as a framework by which development can be measured. If these goals were to be achieved, world poverty would be halved.
The goals are outlined below:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality Rate
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
More information on Youth and MDGs
How do the MDGs relate to human rights?
Governments risk failing some of the world’s most impoverished and vulnerable groups unless human rights are put at the centre of efforts to eradicate poverty. The MDGs relate to human rights issues but there is a large divide between the current MDGs framework and international human rights standards.
The world’s most prominent global initiative against poverty, the UN Millennium Development Goals, is largely silent on human rights. The human rights basis for the goals is evident: universal primary education, promotion of gender equality, improvements in maternal health, to name just a few. But unlike the legal requirements bound in international human rights instruments, progress toward these goals is largely thought to be a matter of goodwill rather than a legal obligation.
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