A/HRC/34/25
arbitrary disconnections or contamination of water supplies; and the right to a system of
water supply and management that provides equality of opportunity for people to enjoy the
right to water.2
12.
Another example of a marked improvement over the Millennium Development
Goals is on the right to education. The previous commitment on education under the
Millennium Development Goals was merely to ensure that, by 2015, “children everywhere,
boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling”, while the
relevant provisions of both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (art. 13.2(a)) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 28.1(a)) stipulate
that primary education should be compulsory and provided free of charge. There is ample
evidence that indicates the exclusionary impact of school fees, formal or informal, on the
poorest in terms of school attendance and completion. Sustainable Development Goal 4
now includes the element of “free primary and secondary education” in its target 4.1.
13.
Notwithstanding the significant gains over the Millennium Development Goals, the
new framework also contains some gaps and limitations, which will require close attention
to ensure that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is consistent with international
human rights law, including economic, social and cultural rights. Examples include sexual
and reproductive health and rights (target 5.6), targets limited to the requirements of
national law (targets 5.a and 16.10), and targets 16.2 (ending violence and torture) and
16.10 (on fundamental freedoms). In other cases, inconsistencies with human rights
standards may be implicit. For example, target 6.2 aims to eliminate open defecation but,
with means of implementation unspecified, may risk criminalizing the poorest people in
practice. It has also been pointed out that many of the health-related targets are reductive in
their approach and do not reflect critical right-to-health elements (A/71/304, para. 8).
14.
The risks of unintended effects and discrepancies must be anticipated and prevented
when implementing the 2030 Agenda. At the same time, it has been recognized that, while
there is considerable convergence, economic, social and cultural rights have much larger
scope than the Sustainable Development Goals, and multiple human rights come into play
in each Goal. Thus, approaching the implementation of the Goals from the perspective of
economic, social and cultural rights helps to reinforce the integrated and interrelated nature
of the Goals and the imperative to ensure a coherent and coordinated approach to their
implementation.
III. Equality and non-discrimination
15.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development puts commitments to leave no one
behind and to reach the furthest behind first at its heart, cutting across all goals and targets.
The human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination cut across all of the
Sustainable Development Goals. The 2030 Agenda aims not only to end poverty and
hunger, but also to combat inequalities within and among countries; to eliminate
discrimination in laws, policies and practices; to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies;
to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; and to protect
human rights, including the right to development, so that all human beings can fulfil their
potential in dignity and equality in a healthy environment irrespective of age, sex,
disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
2
4
See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right
to water.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents