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

International human rights law guarantees the right to participation, including the rights to freedom of expression, information and association, of affected communities.13 Participation and genuine consultation are prerequisites for effective planning and delivery and must be guaranteed in all national and international efforts to meet the MDGs. [...] The MDGs, in contrast, contain no explicit requirement for states to comprehensively identify and redress exclusion and discrimination.14 While the Millennium Declaration reiterated states’ commitment to “combat all forms of violence against women and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, gender equality and women’s rights are only partly and [...] In 2005 and 2006 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the lands should be returned to the Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa, and highlighted the central importance of Indigenous Peoples’ relationship with their lands for the realization of other human rights. [...] In fact, in October 2009, the Paraguayan Senate voted against the return of Indigenous lands to the Yakye Axa, and the state now seems to be resigned to seeking alternative lands to offer to the communities rather than taking the decisive action needed to obtain on their behalf the land they are claiming. [...] While the order was initially ignored by several states, it strengthened the bargaining power of those working for the right to food.56 Popular movements for fulfilment of the order and the appointment of Commissioners to monitor the implementation of the order helped increase enforcement of the order.