12 February 2013
UNICEF, UN Women Release Final Report on Inequalities Consultation
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The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Women have issued the final version of the Synthesis Report of the Global Public Consultation on Addressing Inequalities.

The World We Want 20157 February 2013: The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Women have issued the final version of the Synthesis Report of the Global Public Consultation on Addressing Inequalities.

The Report is based on global public consultation held from September 2012 to January 2013. It is informed by: 175 written submissions on various issues related to Inequalities; ten moderated e-discussions on themes that emerged from the written submissions; the inputs and contributions of the Inequalities Consultation Advisory Group; and comments from the public on the draft version of the report, which was released in January 2013.

Key messages outlined in the final synthesis include: inequalities have deep consequences for everyone, not only for the most disadvantaged and excluded; gender-based discrimination, and the denial of the rights of women and girls, remains the single most widespread driver of inequalities; goals that aspire to “getting to zero” in terms of conditions such as poverty, violence, preventable deaths, malnutrition and denial of basic service access will assist in moving toward the realization of human rights for all in the post-2015 development framework; a self-standing global goal on inequalities should be part of this framework, and should not only address economic inequalities but also other key dimensions including gender inequalities and discrimination; and this self-standing goal should be complemented by targets and indicators that focus on the situation of the most disadvantaged groups, and on major drivers of inequalities across all goal areas of the framework.

The report is divided into five sections, on: the rationale for addressing inequalities; the structural drivers of inequalities in the economic, social, environmental and political domains; how inequalities affect the lives of different groups such as the poor, minorities and disadvantaged groups, women and girls, children and older people, and urban, rural and remote populations; how to tackle inequalities; and how equality can be reflected in the post-2015 framework.

The next step in the global thematic consultation on inequalities in the post-2015 development agenda is a High-Level Leadership Meeting on Addressing Inequalities, convening in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 18-19 February 2013. The high-level meeting will review the final report and findings of the consultation, with the aim of developing a statement and recommendations. The first day of the meeting will be a Public Dialogue and will be live-streamed via the consultation’s website. The event will be interactive, with online participants invited to submit questions in advance.

Inequalities is one of 11 themes being addressed on a global level by the UN Development Group’s (UNDG) consultations on the post-2015 development agenda. UNICEF and UN Women co-lead and facilitate the global thematic consultation on inequalities, with support from the Governments of Denmark and Ghana. An Advisory group composed of civil society organizations, academic institutions, UN agencies and the UN co-leaders for the thematic consultation also provides guidance and contributes to the consultation process. [Publication: Addressing Inequalities: Synthesis Report of Global Public Consultation] [IISD RS Story on Draft Report] [Inequalities Consultation Website] [High-Level Meeting on Addressing Inequalities]


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