A/HRC/4/9 page 15 57. At every level, discrimination against minorities creates obstacles that make benefiting from poverty reduction strategies difficult. To tackle these obstacles, appropriate targeted mechanisms are needed in both the public and private spheres. Discrimination results in poverty which is often more pervasive, more deeply entrenched, and which is more persistent in comparison to that faced by others. Mainstreamed social inclusion policies alone cannot tackle these issues. Confronting this poverty requires acknowledgement that it is uniquely fuelled by discrimination, and often a deliberate intention to exclude certain groups. C. Current deficiencies in integrating minorities into poverty reduction strategies 58. The Programme of Action of the World Summit on Social Development (1995) recognized, in its paragraph 19, eight characteristics of poverty that are experienced universally: “lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods; hunger and malnutrition; ill-health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments; and social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterized by a lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life.”23 59. The Millennium Development Goals were set to address the first six points on this list of manifestations of poverty and established ambitious targets to be met by 2015. However, the Goals do not comprehensively address, “social discrimination and exclusion” and “lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life”, which are of particular relevance to marginalized or disadvantaged minority groups and have a direct causal relationship with the other six manifestations of poverty. 60. These issues are noted in the Millennium Declaration itself; in Section V on “Human rights, democracy and good governance”, States make several pledges, including: − To strive for the full protection and promotion in all our countries of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for all; − To strengthen the capacity of all our countries to implement the principles and practices of democracy and respect for human rights, including minority rights; − To work collectively for more inclusive political processes, allowing genuine participation by all citizens in all our countries (emphasis added, see A/RES/55/2). 61. Each of these points is vital for overcoming poverty and underscores the centrality of human rights in achieving this goal. This same idea is embodied in the human rights-based approach to development (HRBA). HRBA offers a useful and effective framework for devising a development policy which has a positive impact on human rights in both the process and the outcome. 23 Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 6-12 March 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.8), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.