This paper sets out ERT's position on the Post-2015 Development Framework - the framework which is being developed to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The paper's central recommendation is that the new framework should include the adoption of comprehensive equality legislation as a specific, standalone development goal.

The paper argues that a failure to address inequality has been one of the undeniable failings of the MDGs. It uses ERT research to illustrate that status-based discrimination is a driver of both income poverty and denial of access to economic and social rights, such as education and health, which are central to the current MDGs. ERT argues that establishing effective legal protection for the rights to equality and non-discrimination can provide an important mechanism to alleviating poverty and its consequences, and concludes that this is only possible with the adoption of comprehensive equality legislation. It goes on to make four further recommendations, including calling for the establishment of positive action programmes, improvements to the disaggregation of developmented-relevant data and the elimination of statelessness.