A/HRC/34/27 out of school worldwide from 100 million in 2000 to an estimated 57 million in 2015. 3 There has also been extensive progress on the targets of the Millennium Development Goal regarding absolute poverty, which has been reduced by 900 million, and HIV infection rates among children under 14, which have been reduced by 58 per cent since 2001. 4 These areas of progress have contributed to the improved enjoyment of economic and social rights by children. 13. In spite of these gains, however, the most critical lesson of the Millennium Development Goals was that progress was highly uneven, with services and rights continuing to be denied to children from marginalized groups and those living in the worst forms of poverty and deprivation. As such, during the period of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, the right to survive and thrive, to learn and grow was not realized for millions of children around the world. The most disadvantaged children were left behind, for example children with disabilities, indigenous children and stateless children, and in particular girls who belong to these groups. Progress was particularly uneven for early childhood development, which is a crucial stage of human development, with consequences that hold children back for their entire lives. 14. The available data on shortfalls in achieving the Millennium Development Goals reflect a harsh reality for those who were left behind. Almost half of all people worldwide living in extreme poverty are 18 years old or younger, meaning that close to 570 million children are deprived of their dignity and the right to an adequate standard of living. Although fewer children today die before their fifth birthday, about 17,000 under the age of 5 still die every day, including from preventable causes.5 As many as 230 million children under 5 years of age do not officially exist, owing to failures in registering their births, and close to 58 million children of primary school age are not in school, with as many as 250 million failing to learn basic literacy or numeracy owing to poor quality of education. 6 15. Millions of children worldwide have been left behind simply because of who they are and where they live. Poor development outcomes for children from the most marginalized communities are closely associated with inequality and discrimination, compounded by intergenerational cycles of poverty. The monitoring of the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals on the basis of average and aggregate national progress rates has further contributed to unequal outcomes for children by masking the situation of those being left behind within countries. It is widely acknowledged that one of the greatest shortcomings of the Millennium Development Goals was the lack of adequate disaggregation in data and monitoring, compounded by weak accountability for their implementation. IV. Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in a manner in which the rights of the child are realized 16. The 2030 Agenda pledge to leave no one behind and reach those furthest behind first is strongly aligned with the human rights imperative to tackle inequality and discrimination, which undermine the realization of the rights of children worldwide. Inequality and discrimination are caused by policy decisions that do not prioritize the realization of 3 4 5 6 See United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “Progress for children. Beyond averages: learning from the MDGS” (New York, June 2015). Ibid, p. 3. UNICEF, “Committing to child survival: a promise renewed. Progress report 2014”. See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics, “Out of school children and youth” (2014). 5