The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent targets that governments have pledged to reach by 2015 in their efforts to tackle poverty.  They have helped to put the fight against poverty firmly on the world’s agenda. However, the Goals do not fully reflect the promise in the Millennium Declaration where countries pledged to strive for the protection and promotion of all human rights.  Despite this promise, states’ human rights obligations are not adequately reflected in the MDGs, despite the importance of human rights – including economic, social and cultural rights – for improving the lives of people living in poverty. Putting human rights at the heart of the MDGs means addressing discrimination and advancing equality; giving adequate focus to those who are most marginalised and excluded; ensuring that  everyone has at least minimum essential levels of healthcare, housing, food, water, sanitation and education; addressing human rights violations that undermine progress on the Goals, and enabling the effective participation of communities in the decisions that affect their lives.  Governments will not make equitable and sustainable progress on critical issues such as preventing maternal deaths  for example, unless their efforts also focus on tackling gender discrimination, gender -based violence in all its forms, and violations of women's sexual and reproductive rights.
 
The targets set by the MDGs in some cases ask governments to do less than they are already required to under international human rights law. For example, Goal 7 only commits to improving the lives of 100 million slum residents by 2020. But this ignores the fact that there are already more than 1 billion people living in slums and that states are immediately obliged to protect all of them from forced evictions and other human rights violations. The MDGs also fail to fully address women’s rights and have unacceptably narrow targets on gender equality and empowerment. Under international law, governments must address gender discrimination and guarantee equality in all their actions to reach all the MDGs. States also often fail to ensure respect for rights to freedom of expression, information, assembly and association – rights that are crucial in order for people to participate in decision-making and to hold governments accountable.  
 
In September 2010, world leaders will assemble at a UN Summit to assess their progress on the MDGs and chart a way forward towards 2015. Amnesty International is calling on governments to commit to making their MDG policies and strategies consistent with their human rights obligations. Respecting and promoting human rights is not separate from actions to fight poverty – it is central to those efforts.  

For more information see Amnesty International's report:

• From promises to delivery - putting human rights at the heart of the Millenium Development Goals

Public statement

• Civil Society Statement on the draft Joint Action Plan for Women’s and Children’s Health (30 June, 2010)
• G8 - Time for bold actions, not just promises (24 June, 2010)
• Human Rights – a Foundation for Progress on the Millennium Development Goals: Communiqué (10 June, 2010)
• UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Joint statement on United Nations High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (30 April, 2010)

Related appeals for actions

• Put human rights at the heart of the global fight against poverty - An appeal to the MDG summit presidents

Related publications

Amnesty International collaborated with Conectas – an international non-governmental, not-for-profit organization based in Brazil - to produce a special issue of Sur – International Journal on Human Rights, focusing mainly on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and corporate accountability. On the occasion of the UN High-level Summit on the MDGs in September 2010, the discussion in this journal is very timely and important. It is important to note that the journal contains articles from other authors that do not necessarily represent the views of Amnesty International. The journal can be found at the following link:: http://www.surjournal.org/eng/index.php