A/HRC/43/33 13. The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights observed that no country was yet on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. 5 Yet the Goals were attainable, and the 2030 Agenda provided a detailed, practical road map to a destination that the world could not afford to miss. The high-level political forum in 2019 had demanded accelerated action for implementation of the Goals. Human rights were accelerators, and the Goals were imbued with rights. For the coming decade, the Goals should be the operational plan of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for delivery of all human rights for all people in all places, inclusively and universally. They were the international community’s compact to leave no one behind. 14. To accelerate the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations human rights system must step up its engagement through innovation, integration, generation, disaggregation and participation. On innovation, the system’s recommendations, including under the universal periodic review, must be better positioned as leverage points for full delivery of rights at the national, regional and international levels. On integration, the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms must pursue a deep and visionary partnership with global efforts for climate action. The economies of all nations, the civil, political, social and cultural development of every State and the rights of all people – and future generations – hung in the balance. 15. The human rights system must help generate a bold and courageous human rights paradigm for economic transformation to address inequalities and develop a more sustainable economy. The principle of leaving no one behind demanded disaggregation of data to identify progress for those who were excluded or discriminated against. 16. The human rights system needed to ensure the participation of rights holders, elevating people from protestors to partners, which was critical to the success of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The role of civil society must be protected and enhanced for participation to flourish. In the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, an acceleration in efforts to position rights at the intersections between peace, prosperity and planet would place people at its heart, which would be truly transformative. 17. The Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Reform explained that the aim of the Secretary-General’s ambitious reform of the United Nations was to create a more effective organization to ensure a global response that addressed the root causes of conflict and integrated peace, sustainable development and human rights in a holistic way, from conception to execution.6 18. Human rights underpinned the Sustainable Development Goals, and a fundamental human rights principle of non-discrimination and equality was captured in the objective to leave no one behind. The Goals were a framework for action, which provided a new opportunity to operationalize human rights standards at all levels for all actors. Accepting the Goals as a global language therefore provided a set of global standards for progress and impact and confronted the lack of real action in the area of human rights. 19. The managerial and substantive elements of the reform were enabling the United Nations system to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda more effectively. Significant structural changes had been made to improve efficiencies, make the peace and security pillar less fragmented and reposition the system of resident coordinators within the United Nations to make the function more strategic with a view to ensuring more integrated approaches at the country level. 20. The Secretary-General had committed to achieving gender balance throughout the organization, since gender equality was a sine qua non of sustainable development and an indispensable outcome of it. The new country-level United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework was a strong planning instrument to organize an effective United Nations response to human rights needs and challenges within the overall framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. 5 6 4 See www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/2030Agenda/SecondSession/Statements/ Kate_Gilmore.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/2030Agenda/SecondSession/ Statements/Jens_Wandel.pdf.