A/HRC/39/51
hamper the achievement of development. The commitment to combat inequalities and
discrimination is reflected in two goals explicitly focused on this issue. Sustainable
Development Goal 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) is the
stand-alone goal dedicated to bridging the gap between men and women and addressing
gender-based discrimination depriving women and girls of their rights and opportunities
and thus of their ability to realize their full potential. Women’s equal right to development
could in itself be an amplifier of development. However, the realization of their right to
development is beset by challenges rooted in the inequalities that pervade their lives. For
women, the right to development requires consideration for their lack of voice and
participation in decision-making within their families and societies.
32. Sustainable Development Goal 10 (Reducing inequality within and among countries)
is the goal designed to address inequalities across the spectrum of development goals. In
addition, all other Sustainable Development Goals call for more equitable development and
universal access to the constituent elements of development for all people. A commitment
to equality is reflected, for example, in target 16 (b), which highlights the need for “nondiscriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development” as an essential element of
the framework for effective development, or target 4.1 requesting States to ensure that “all
girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education”. The
2030 Agenda also contains the commitment to disaggregate data across all goals in order to
measure the extent to which its central pledge to leave no one behind has been met.
33.
Target 10.3 under Sustainable Development Goal 10 specifically calls on States to
ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating
discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies
and action in this regard. Equality of opportunity typically means that all people are treated
equally in the application of law or, for example, when applying for work or in relation to
access to education and health care. This concept is not inconsistent with reducing
inequalities of wealth or income but, as discussed above, income inequalities may lead to
unequal opportunities and discrimination. Inequalities of outcome, however, can be
measured on a number of issues: wealth, health, education or income. Policies aimed at
reducing inequalities of outcome should have a redistributive focus.
34.
To measure the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, States
agreed on 169 targets and 232 indicators 38 and to a process of voluntary national reviews in
the framework of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, convened
under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. States have agreed that, in 2019,
the theme of the forum will be “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and
equality”.
35.
The voluntary common reporting guidelines for voluntary national reviews at the
high-level political forum39 suggest that voluntary national reviews should: be open,
inclusive, participatory and transparent for all people; support reporting by all relevant
stakeholders; be people-centred and gender-sensitive, and respect human rights; and have a
particular focus on the poorest, most vulnerable and those furthest behind. They should
ideally also include information regarding what mechanisms have been used to engage
stakeholders from civil society, academia and the business sector, and how the national
report to the high-level political forum has been discussed at the national level and who was
engaged in the discussions. The reporting guidelines also suggest that the voluntary national
reviews could assess how the principle of leaving no one behind has been mainstreamed in
38
39
12
The global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals, developed by the InterAgency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, was agreed upon at the fortyeighth session of the Statistical Commission and adopted by the General Assembly in resolution
71/313 of 6 July 2017. The list of indicators is refined annually: it includes the global indicator
framework as contained in the resolution and refinements agreed by the Statistical Commission at its
forty-ninth session in March 2018 (see E/CN.3/2018/2, annex II). See
https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/Global%20Indicator%20Framework%20after%20refinement_E
ng.pdf.
See https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17346Updated_Voluntary_Guidelines.
pdf.
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