A/69/302 34. The Special Rapporteur supports universal goals that are applicable to all States and are inclusive of marginalized groups, including migrants. Mainstreaming migration would entail including targets and indicators on the human rights of migrants under each goal. 2. Narrative 35. The narrative should recognize the significant role that the millions of migrants play as enablers and subjects of development, whose human rights should be respected, protected and fulfilled. It should acknowledge how migration affects the realization of a number of development goals at the national, regional and global levels and also how migrants are affected by them and thus needs to be taken into account when formulating development strategies at all levels. 36. In the following section, the Special Rapporteur sets out the need to have migration mainstreamed under each of the goals outlined below. 3. Goal on equality 37. The Millennium Development Goals failed to address the issue of inequality and the plight of the most disadvantaged members of society, which resulted in some Governments concentrating their interventions on the groups easiest to reach, rather than on those most marginalized. 12 38. The rising inequality in many developed and developing countries has a detrimental effect on social cohesion and economic growth. The synthesis report of the global thematic consultation on the post-2015 development agenda, focusing on inequalities, states that: There is considerable evidence that inequalities in one structural domain increase the likelihood of inequalities in others. In the event of opportunity for improvements in one domain, the chance of progress is often undermined or rendered inaccessible by simultaneous intersecting disadvantage in another … These intersecting and mutually reinforcing inequalities are often rooted in historical relationships, and continue to be reproduced through discrimination in social, economic, environmental and political domains. 13 39. A human-rights-based approach to setting goals makes it essential to tackle inequalities when formulating development priorities. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. All persons are entitled to the enjoyment of all rights, on an equal footing and without discrimination on any grounds, including race, ethnicity, sex, gender, disability, socioeconomic status, age or nationality. Moreover, under international human rights treaties, States have committed themselves to taking measures to ensure the implementation of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights to the maximum extent of their available resources. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its general comment No. 20, states that the lack of available resources cannot be considered to be an objective and __________________ 12 13 14-59006 United Nations system task team on the post-2015 United Nations development agenda, “Addressing inequalities: the heart of the post-2015 agenda and the future we want for all” (New York, 2012). Available from www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/Think%20Pieces/ 10_inequalities.pdf. See www.worldwewant2015.org/node/299198. 9/26