UNDP-OHCHR TOOLKIT 1997, the Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of ESC Rights suggested that “monitoring bodies such as national ombudsman institutions and human rights commissions should address violations of economic, social and cultural rights as vigorously as they address violations of civil and political rights.5 or missing their targets, including the Millennium Development Goals. Indicators of inequality are also quantitative indicators of human rights. They also happen to be the basic measures for the development ranking of nations. NHRIs can use well-being and human development indicators to determine what States need to do to meet peoples’ needs and to know when States are missing their targets. More broadly, the capacity to make the connection between human rights and democratic governance is linked to projects like poverty alleviation, state budgeting and decentralization initiatives. UNCTs are very well placed to help NHRIs access and use these data as a springboard to taking a rights-based approach to development. 11 In These indicators and goals can also be used by NHRIs to assess how well a given country is progressing. MDGs can be used to benchmark, track and assess human rightsbased approaches to major governance objectives such as poverty alleviation and other goals affecting populations generally as well as vulnerable groups. This chapter provides specific examples of how to make the connection to democratic governance and development by linking rights to poverty, development, MDG goals and decentralization initiatives. 11 In 5.2.1 Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and NHRIs 11 In 1998, General Comment No. 10 of the ESCR Committee6 noted that “national institutions have a potentially crucial role to play in promoting and ensuring the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights” … “it is therefore essential that full attention be given to economic, social and cultural rights in all of the relevant activities of these institutions.”7 2000, the UNDP report Human Rights and Human Development explicitly linked rights and human development. 2001, the Secretary-General’s Report, Road Map Towards the Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, stated that ESC rights are at the heart of the MDGs.8 In 2005, the UNDP’s Human Development Report: International cooperation at a crossroads: Aid, Trade and Security in an Unequal World pointed out the close ties between a country’s development and inequalities on one hand, and well-being and human security on the other hand. 11 In Understanding the role that NHRIs can play in promoting a human rights-based approach to human development requires understanding economic, cultural and social rights and how these rights can be promoted in the work of NHRIs. ESC rights are about the fundamentals of human existence: 11 In 11 the 1995, the UN emphasized that, although NHRIs tend to focus on civil and political rights, these institutions may also be empowered to promote and protect economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights).4 11 the basic necessities of life; 11 the right to learn and to work; 11 the right to form a family; and right to enjoy one’s cultural identity and the benefits of science and development. While not all NHRIs have legal authority to look at issues of economic, social and cultural rights, many do. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Professional Training Series No. 4, Section 48 (1995). 4 Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1997), online: University of Minnesota Human Rights Library <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/ Maastrichtguidelines_.html>. 6 General comment n. 10, “The role of national human rights institutions in the protection of economic, social and cultural rights”, online: (1998). E/C.12/1998/25, CESCR. http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/ doc.nsf/(Symbol)/af81bf2fed39cec1802566d50052f53b?Opendocument 5 The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (as it then was) in its Resolution on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights reiterated this statement and called upon all States to ensure that all human rights are appropriately reflected in the mandate of their national human rights institutions when established... UN Commission on Human Rights, Resolution 2002/83, 58th Session, 18 March-26 April 2002. 7 Secretary-General, Road Map Towards the Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, UN GAOR, 56th Sess., UN Doc. A/56/326 (2001). 8 84