The Center for Economic and Social rights and UNWomen paper focuses mainly on mechanisms and venues that have the greatest potential to strengthen the responsibility and answerability of policy makers and where their actions and decisions can be assessed against women’s rights and gender equality standards, and on mechanisms which can bolster accountability to the SDGs by enforcing the human rights obligations underpinning them. Accountability has a corrective and a preventive function. Therefore, as well as providing a space to track progress and assess whether the efforts to implement the SDGs are in line with women’s rights and gender equality standards, the mechanisms and venues discussed here could help women’s human rights advocates to influence the translation of the SDGs into national processes; identify systemic failures and data gaps; propose adjustments to policy options; and discuss policy alternatives and emerging issues.
Author: Dr. Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona
Source: UNWomen
