Coordinated Civil Society Response
1
Coordinated Civil Society Response to Goal 10 on Equality and Related Targets
Date: 16 June 2014
To: Co-chairs and Members, Open Working Group
We thank you for your hard work and productive efforts to draft the new SDGs through the Open Working Group. We hereby present our coordinated civil society response and recommendations regarding Goal 10 on Equality and associated targets.
This coordinated response relied on inputs from:
Initiative for Equality (Field Hearings Network)
Beyond 2015
Oxfam
ATD Fourth World
Christian Aid
Academics Stand Against Poverty
ClimateWorks Australia
CONGCOOP
SustainUS
Commons Cluster, UN Rep of Association of
World Citizens
KOINONIA Presença Ecumênica e Serviço - Brazil
Association Nigérienne des Scouts de
l'Environnement (ANSEN)
TEJO - World Esperanto Youth Organisation
Sub-Committee for the Elimination of Racism of
the NGO Committee on Human Rights
Women Environmental Programme – Nigeria
General Comments
We are extremely pleased that the OWG has included a Stand-alone Goal on Equality (Goal 10) in the new Zero Draft. This is good news for everyone concerned with poverty, barriers to development, discrimination against women or various socially excluded groups, human rights, conflict, political and economic instability, lack of progress on climate accords, and more.
Therefore, we strongly oppose merging of Goals 1 (Poverty) and 10 (Equality). Minimizing inequalities is a critically important goal in its own right, well beyond overcoming poverty. A large body of research now shows that many serious problems are caused or made worse by inequality, ranging from crime and conflict through health and mental health problems, to economic instability. Furthermore, there has been much protest and potential unrest due to growing inequalities in countries around the world. Without a Stand-alone Goal on Equality, this important focus is lost.
Throughout the entire set of SDGs, no goal or target should be considered met until it is met for all groups, ensuring that no one is left behind. Failures within certain segments of society must not be allowed to hide behind improved overall average values. Data must be disaggregated for all human populations, subgroups, and minorities, including by geography, urban or rural status, income, gender, racial or ethnic group, sexual orientation, religion, language, disability, age, legal and migration status, and any other needed categories as determined on a country by country basis through participatory democratic input.
2
Below follow our specific suggestions to the targets proposed under Goal 10 (shown in strikethrough for deletions, and red for additions):
Proposed goal 10. Reduce Minimize social, economic and political inequality within and among countries
Reduce inequality among social groups within countries:
10.1 by 2030 eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices and recognize and fulfill the cultural, social, economic, political, and environmental rights for all human populations, subgroups, and minorities
10.2 achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40% of the population that is higher than the national average through reduce income inequality in all countries such that the post-tax, post-transfer income of the poorest 40% is no less than the post-tax, post-transfer income of the richest 10%
10.3 by 2030 reduce eliminate inequalities of opportunity and minimize inequalities of outcome among all social groups, including economic (income, assets, and access to resources), social, and environmental inequalities
10.4 work towards reversing the decline of the share of labour income in GDP where relevant
10.5 by 2030 ensure, empower and promote the social, political and economic inclusion of the poor, the marginalized and people in vulnerable situations, including indigenous peoples, women, minorities, migrants, persons with disabilities, older persons, children and youth, and all other human populations, subgroups, and minorities
[ADD] Ensure that every person has access to influencing public decision-making on economic
and social benefits policy
[ADD] Ensure that every person has access to influencing fundamental decisions within their
place of work, including setting of equitable compensation levels
[ADD] Transition to economic systems, structural approaches, and macroeconomic (fiscal and
monetary) policies that generate increasing equality rather than inequalities
10.6 promote and respect cultural diversity as congruent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
10.7 ensure the availability and accessibility of high-quality, timely and disaggregated data to ensure
monitoring of progress for marginalized groups and people in vulnerable situations, to be disaggregated by geography, urban or rural status, income, gender, racial or ethnic group, sexual orientation, religion, language, disability, age, legal and migration status, and any other needed categories as determined on a country by country basis through participatory democratic input
3
International actions to reduce inequalities among nations:
10.8 establish measures at global level to reduce inequality among countries, to reduce income
inequality for metrics including per capita income, resource use, and carbon output to no more than a 10-fold difference between the richest and poorest nations
10.9 promote strong international institutions, including through the conclusion of reforms for
increasing effective and democratic participation of developing countries in international financial institutions
10.10 improve regulation and accountability of global financial markets and institutions and
strengthen their implementation, transitioning to structural approaches and macroeconomic (fiscal and monetary) policies that generate increasing equality rather than inequalities between nations
10.11 facilitate greater international mobility of labour and ensure workers’ rights for migrant workers
while mitigating brain drain
10.12 assist developing countries in attaining long term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring
ADD: by 2030, eliminate illicit financial flows, including money laundering, mispricing, transnational
corruption and bribery, and eradicate cross-border tax evasion, improve and standardize financial reporting standards to increase transparency, including country-by-country reporting of corporate profits, full transparency of global financial transactions, bank holdings and deposits, and beneficial ownership, and increased stolen asset recovery
ADD: by 2030, reform trade systems to promote equality among trade partners, recognizing the need
for special and differential treatment of developing countries, and more equal distribution of profits along the value chain, by x% over y number of years
ADD: by 2030, developed nations significantly reduce their water, carbon, cropland and raw material
footprints, and developing nations in turn receive the financial and technology transfers required to achieve a good quality of life for all their citizens
-----------------------------------------------
For further information, including detailed references, contact:
Coordinator of Joint Statement
Deborah S. Rogers, PhD - deborah.rogers@initiativeforequality.org
Coordinated Civil Society Response to Goal 10 on Equality and Related Targets
Date: 16 June 2014
To: Co-chairs and Members, Open Working Group
We thank you for your hard work and productive efforts to draft the new SDGs through the Open Working Group. We hereby present our coordinated civil society response and recommendations regarding Goal 10 on Equality and associated targets.
This coordinated response relied on inputs from:
Initiative for Equality (Field Hearings Network)
Beyond 2015
Oxfam
ATD Fourth World
Christian Aid
Academics Stand Against Poverty
ClimateWorks Australia
CONGCOOP
SustainUS
Commons Cluster, UN Rep of Association of
World Citizens
KOINONIA Presença Ecumênica e Serviço - Brazil
Association Nigérienne des Scouts de
l'Environnement (ANSEN)
TEJO - World Esperanto Youth Organisation
Sub-Committee for the Elimination of Racism of
the NGO Committee on Human Rights
Women Environmental Programme – Nigeria
General Comments
We are extremely pleased that the OWG has included a Stand-alone Goal on Equality (Goal 10) in the new Zero Draft. This is good news for everyone concerned with poverty, barriers to development, discrimination against women or various socially excluded groups, human rights, conflict, political and economic instability, lack of progress on climate accords, and more.
Therefore, we strongly oppose merging of Goals 1 (Poverty) and 10 (Equality). Minimizing inequalities is a critically important goal in its own right, well beyond overcoming poverty. A large body of research now shows that many serious problems are caused or made worse by inequality, ranging from crime and conflict through health and mental health problems, to economic instability. Furthermore, there has been much protest and potential unrest due to growing inequalities in countries around the world. Without a Stand-alone Goal on Equality, this important focus is lost.
Throughout the entire set of SDGs, no goal or target should be considered met until it is met for all groups, ensuring that no one is left behind. Failures within certain segments of society must not be allowed to hide behind improved overall average values. Data must be disaggregated for all human populations, subgroups, and minorities, including by geography, urban or rural status, income, gender, racial or ethnic group, sexual orientation, religion, language, disability, age, legal and migration status, and any other needed categories as determined on a country by country basis through participatory democratic input.
2
Below follow our specific suggestions to the targets proposed under Goal 10 (shown in strikethrough for deletions, and red for additions):
Proposed goal 10. Reduce Minimize social, economic and political inequality within and among countries
Reduce inequality among social groups within countries:
10.1 by 2030 eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices and recognize and fulfill the cultural, social, economic, political, and environmental rights for all human populations, subgroups, and minorities
10.2 achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40% of the population that is higher than the national average through reduce income inequality in all countries such that the post-tax, post-transfer income of the poorest 40% is no less than the post-tax, post-transfer income of the richest 10%
10.3 by 2030 reduce eliminate inequalities of opportunity and minimize inequalities of outcome among all social groups, including economic (income, assets, and access to resources), social, and environmental inequalities
10.4 work towards reversing the decline of the share of labour income in GDP where relevant
10.5 by 2030 ensure, empower and promote the social, political and economic inclusion of the poor, the marginalized and people in vulnerable situations, including indigenous peoples, women, minorities, migrants, persons with disabilities, older persons, children and youth, and all other human populations, subgroups, and minorities
[ADD] Ensure that every person has access to influencing public decision-making on economic
and social benefits policy
[ADD] Ensure that every person has access to influencing fundamental decisions within their
place of work, including setting of equitable compensation levels
[ADD] Transition to economic systems, structural approaches, and macroeconomic (fiscal and
monetary) policies that generate increasing equality rather than inequalities
10.6 promote and respect cultural diversity as congruent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
10.7 ensure the availability and accessibility of high-quality, timely and disaggregated data to ensure
monitoring of progress for marginalized groups and people in vulnerable situations, to be disaggregated by geography, urban or rural status, income, gender, racial or ethnic group, sexual orientation, religion, language, disability, age, legal and migration status, and any other needed categories as determined on a country by country basis through participatory democratic input
3
International actions to reduce inequalities among nations:
10.8 establish measures at global level to reduce inequality among countries, to reduce income
inequality for metrics including per capita income, resource use, and carbon output to no more than a 10-fold difference between the richest and poorest nations
10.9 promote strong international institutions, including through the conclusion of reforms for
increasing effective and democratic participation of developing countries in international financial institutions
10.10 improve regulation and accountability of global financial markets and institutions and
strengthen their implementation, transitioning to structural approaches and macroeconomic (fiscal and monetary) policies that generate increasing equality rather than inequalities between nations
10.11 facilitate greater international mobility of labour and ensure workers’ rights for migrant workers
while mitigating brain drain
10.12 assist developing countries in attaining long term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring
ADD: by 2030, eliminate illicit financial flows, including money laundering, mispricing, transnational
corruption and bribery, and eradicate cross-border tax evasion, improve and standardize financial reporting standards to increase transparency, including country-by-country reporting of corporate profits, full transparency of global financial transactions, bank holdings and deposits, and beneficial ownership, and increased stolen asset recovery
ADD: by 2030, reform trade systems to promote equality among trade partners, recognizing the need
for special and differential treatment of developing countries, and more equal distribution of profits along the value chain, by x% over y number of years
ADD: by 2030, developed nations significantly reduce their water, carbon, cropland and raw material
footprints, and developing nations in turn receive the financial and technology transfers required to achieve a good quality of life for all their citizens
-----------------------------------------------
For further information, including detailed references, contact:
Coordinator of Joint Statement
Deborah S. Rogers, PhD - deborah.rogers@initiativeforequality.org