A/HRC/43/37 implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the fulfilment of human rights. In practice, 92 per cent of the 169 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals are linked to specific provisions of international human rights treaties. 7 The nexus between human rights and the 2030 Agenda was reiterated in the political declaration adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the Sustainable Development Goals Summit held in September 2019 in New York (A/HLPF/2019/L.1, para. 7), along with the centrality of the “leaving no one behind” commitment, which is closely linked to human rights principles (ibid., para. 27 (a)). 44. In April 2018, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 37/24 on the promotion and protection of human rights and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in which it underscored the contribution of international human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures of the Council and the universal periodic review, in promoting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In this resolution, the Council decided to organize two intersessional meetings, which took place on 16 January 2019 and 3 December 2019 respectively. The rapporteurs are in agreement with the conclusions of these meetings (see A/HRC/40/34), notably that the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals should increasingly be integrated in the universal periodic review process and the work of special procedures. To this end, these mechanisms should integrate more systematically the Sustainable Development Goals into their analyses and recommendations. The fact that the Universal Human Rights Index now links the recommendations of the human rights mechanisms with the Sustainable Development Goals is a welcome initiative. 8 45. Efforts must also be made to bridge the gap between the human rights community in Geneva and the development community in New York (A/HRC/40/34, para. 99). The invitation issued to the High Commissioner to deliver a speech during the 2019 high-level political forum on sustainable development is welcome. A similar space for dialogue on the contribution of human rights to the 2030 Agenda should be secured in the upcoming meetings of the forum. 46. The interaction between the Human Rights Council and the Economic and Social Council should go beyond the invitation made to the President of the latter to report annually on the outcomes of the high-level political forum at the Human Rights Council. 9 The possibility of inviting the President of the Human Rights Council to brief the Economic and Social Council on the Sustainable Development Goals-related activities undertaken by Human Rights Council mechanisms should also be explored. Moreover, as suggested in the conclusions of the January 2019 intersessional meeting, a joint meeting of the Human Rights Council and the Economic and Social Council should be convened to explore complementarity between the universal periodic review and the voluntary national review mechanisms (A/HRC/40/34, para. 99). Voluntary national reviews constitute opportunities to assess the steps taken by States to implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms. Similarly, the outcomes of voluntary national reviews should be included in the universal periodic review process in order to assess the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this respect, initiatives taken to support Governments to unify the reporting systems on human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals, such as the regional workshop on the universal periodic review and Goal 16 and related goals of the Sustainable Development Goals, held in Cabo Verde in November 2018, should be replicated. 47. The reform of the United Nations development system also constitutes an opportunity for greater engagement of the Council’s mechanisms with United Nations country teams and greater integration of their recommendations in United Nations common analyses and programming at the national level. With their strengthened role, resident coordinators are now, more than ever, critical interlocutors for special procedures before, during and after country visits. Resident coordinators should be systematically invited by the Council to discuss specific country situations. OHCHR has a pivotal role to play in summarizing, prioritizing and clustering the recommendations of the Council’s mechanisms, so that they are more accessible to United Nations country teams and better integrated in 7 8 9 10 Online database of the Danish Institute for Human Rights. See https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/Goals/SDGS. Human Rights Council resolution 37/25, para. 4.