11 December 2014: Beyond 2015 has issued the outcome document from its Civil Society Organization (CSO) Copenhagen Conference. ‘Equality at the Core: A call for a strong commitment to tackling inequalities through the post-2015 agenda’ calls for stand-alone goals on equality and gender equality, and provides recommendations on addressing inequality in the post-2015 development agenda.

According to the statement, the post-2015 development agenda must meet four criteria to ensure that “no one is left behind”: addressing equality in the headline goals as well as a stand-alone goal on equality; addressing equality in all three dimensions of sustainable development, in all goals and targets; addressing equality in all post-2015 indicators and data collection, including through disaggregation of data to reflect vulnerable and marginalized groups; and including a clear commitment that no goal or target should be considered met unless it has been met by all, including the poorest and most marginalized.

“A standalone goal on equality is essential,” argues the document, which emphasizes the post-2015 framework must address structural drivers of inequalities, end discriminatory laws and practices, and address inequalities between countries. Similarly, the document argues that achieving gender equality and the human rights of all women and girls “cannot be subsumed into an overall inequality goal.” It recommends addressing structural causes of gender inequality, including violence against women, unequal participation in private and public decision-making, control over assets and property, and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Thematic recommendations on equality in the document focus on people, planet and participation. These recommendations discuss, inter alia: accountability mechanisms; data disaggregation; indicators; means of implementation (MOI); financing, economy and tax; peaceful societies and people’s security; and youth involvement.

On planet, the outcome document identifies environmental degradation and climate change as drivers and symptoms of inequality, and recommends integrating environmental sustainability across the post-2015 framework, including in the goal headlines. It describes climate change as the greatest threat to poverty eradication, stressing that the post-2015 agenda must “include a strong, clear human-rights and equity-based commitment to tackle climate change.”

The Beyond 2015 Conference took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 13-14 November 2014, with participation of approximately 200 CSO representatives from 46 countries. The Permanent Missions of Benin and Denmark to the UN presented the conference’s outcomes at a briefing in New York, US, on 11 December 2014. [Copenhagen Statement] [Conference Website]