August 16, 2013 — The UN Secretary General’s Millennium Development Goals and Post-2015 report “A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015” was publicly released this week.
The report is a key part of the ongoing conversation about how the world should allocate its resources and address poverty, inequality, instability, and other pressing challenges going forward. We welcome the report’s recognition of the importance of women’s secure land rights to empower women and girls.
The report recognizes the linkage between land and benefits to women and children: “In addition, programmes in Latin America and South-East Asia that have combined increased food production and distribution with skills training, microfinance, land distribution and nutrition education programmes have had positive impacts on child mortality and maternal health.”
To “Empower women and girls,” the report says: “The new agenda must ensure the equal rights of women and girls, their full participation in the political, economic and public spheres and zero tolerance for violence against or exploitation of women and girls. The practice of child marriage must be ended everywhere. Women and girls must have equal access to financial services, infrastructure, the full range of health services, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, and water and sanitation; the right to own land and other assets; a safe environment in which to learn and apply their knowledge and skills; and an end to discrimination so they can receive equal pay for equal work and have an equal voice in decision-making.”
Landesa is part of a group of organizations that continues to advocate for the inclusion of secure land rights for women and men in the post-2015 framework. Our efforts focus on both making the case for the importance of secure land rights as well as for targets and indicators that will make those rights real.
For more information about Landesa’s advocacy efforts in the post 2015 process, visit our Post-2015 communications hub.