24 August 2012: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has issued a collection of papers on practical ways to realize human rights in relation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The papers are published by UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC) and titled “Accelerating Achievement of MDGs by Ways and Means of Economic and Social Rights.”

According to the introduction to the collection, the MDGs have been criticized for emphasizing country-level analysis, which masks disparities within countries, and it notes that the emphasis has shifted to the need to reduce inequalities, while promoting sustainability and inclusion. Most papers in the collection include recommendations on programme design towards human development and achieving the MDGs, linking these aims to rights and social protection.

Contributions address: the role of social protection in light of food and fuel crises; public action towards realizing economic and social rights; affirmative action policies in employment, education and housing; and connections between the MDGs and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) based on indigenous peoples’ perspectives, among others.

The final chapter, on rethinking UNDP’s “MDG acceleration framework,” highlights the need to ensure long-term sustainability of progress made, and to ensure that the poorest of the poor are included in such gains. It finds that conceptual linkages between human rights, governance and the MDGs are not always well integrated in practice, and proposes concrete steps for strengthening the linkages in programming.

The collection as a whole is intended to contribute to discussions on the post-2015 development agenda, UNDP notes. [Publication: Accelerating Achievement of MDGs by Ways and Means of Economic and Social Rights] [UNDP APRC website]