A/67/270 lack access and helps to design appropriate policy responses. A person with a disability and a person of an ethnic minority might be both poor and lacking access to water and/or sanitation — but the reasons for their lack of access differ, and the necessary policy response to guarantee them access are also distinct. Sometimes, the barrier preventing certain groups from having access is not a lack of financial resources, but rather the existence of laws, policies or cumbersome administrative procedures that lead to their exclusion. Moreover, without targeting the most marginalized, they will continue to be excluded even when efforts target the poorest of the poor. 38. Against this background, in the Special Rapporteur’s view, there is a need to redefine progress within the context of development — it must not be called progress when significant parts of the population are left behind. The future development agenda must include measures to determine how progress is distributed and who is excluded, and to set incentives to reduce inequalities and focus on the most disadvantaged. B. The way forward: integrating equality and non-discrimination into goals, targets and indicators 39. The Special Rapporteur is of the view that a forward-looking post-2015 development agenda must be ambitious. It must tackle disparities and emphasize non-discrimination and equality as core principles. This view is shared increasingly by States, United Nations entities, development actors and civil society organizations. This comes from practical evidence found on the ground. Appallingly, much of the progress made since 2000 has left the most marginalized in a similar situation. Indeed, many agree that the current set of Millennium Development Goals, which focus on average progress, has masked the inequalities that lie behind these averages, thus requiring a new method of measuring progress. According to the United Nations Development Group, inequalities have been identified as one of only nine major areas for consultation at the global level. This sentiment is widely shared by those working in the water and sanitation sectors, agreeing that “concerns of non-discrimination and equity related to fulfilling the right to access water and sanitation should be reflected in future indicators”. 24 40. Undeniably, one of the strengths of the Millennium Development Goals is their format, with concrete and easy-to-communicate goals, quantitative and time-bound targets and measurable indicators providing a clear framework for global scrutiny. Hence, many stakeholders are arguing to retain this format. 25 This should be combined with developing better tools and methodologies for measuring the underlying inequalities that are otherwise hidden by current methods. 41. Already in 2010, States committed to improved systems for monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals so as to allow for the collection of disaggregated data to capture inequalities by recognizing: “all countries require adequate, timely, reliable and disaggregated data, including __________________ 24 25 12 WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation, Report of the first Consultation, p. 3 (see footnote 7 above). United Nations System Task Team on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (2012), “Realizing the future”, para. 24 (see footnote 20 above). 12-45653