A/HRC/40/34 development. This could perhaps be attributed to the tone and language used. Greater emphasis on the treaty bodies and universal periodic review making recommendations and mobilizing support for countries to implement human rights and Sustainable Development Goals might result in a greater willingness to discuss human rights. In the high-level political forum on sustainable development, civil society and other stakeholders had important roles, which included the organization of one session. 85. Speaking of the voluntary national reviews, Ms. Barthelemy recalled Ms. Robinson’s assessments that they were weak and that the weakness of accountability for the 2030 Agenda might hinder its implementation. She noted that when the voluntary national reviews were created, they came as an unexpected achievement, given that the negotiations were difficult and that the Sustainable Development Goals were not treaty commitments. The reviews were voluntary, but they were also constructive, and their main purpose was to allow exchanges of experience and the building of partnerships. 86. With over a hundred countries having conducted voluntary national reviews, there was clearly scope for improving the fulfilment of that purpose. The reviews were less systematic than the universal periodic review and had no recommendations. Nonetheless the voluntary national review helped to advance implementation by focusing the State’s attention on what was being done at the national level. Ms. Barthelemy also mentioned work being carried out to improve the voluntary national reviews. She noted that the President of the Economic and Social Council was introducing some improvements already in 2019. There would be another opportunity when the high-level political forum on sustainable development was reviewed in 2020. Nonetheless, it was important to also use the universal periodic review to examine the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, because of its more systematic character. Ultimately it might be fine to have different approaches in the universal periodic review and voluntary national review processes. 87. Ms. Barthelemy emphasized that it was very important to make sure that the summary report of the intersessional meeting, which would be a Human Rights Council contribution to the high-level political forum on sustainable development, received visibility and attention in New York. This would be raised with the President of the Economic and Social Council so that the programme had a space in July where the report could be presented. 88. Ms. Hicks outlined five key messages from the meeting: (a) human rights were crucial to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda; (b) there were concrete suggestions for how to bridge the divide between New York and Geneva; (c) it was important to take full advantage of the high-level political forum on sustainable development to demonstrate the links between human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals; (d) the role of partnerships to support Sustainable Development Goal implementation should be broadened, including by bringing in those who were most affected by the Sustainable Development Goals, but shrinking civil space was an obstacle to this; and (e) efforts must be accelerated in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Human rights were part of the solution, not a problem, in terms of fully implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. 89. The Rapporteur summarized some key themes and messages of the meeting, which are reflected below in the conclusions and key messages. 16 III. Conclusions and key messages 90. The meeting examined numerous aspects of the relationship between the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights. Many evidence-based examples illustrated that the relationship was profound and indivisible. There was a widespread sense that the Sustainable Development Goals could only be realized through a human rights-based approach to their implementation at the local, national, regional and global levels. Strengthening synergies between the 2030 Agenda and human rights would also ensure better coherence between political commitments and legal obligations. 16 14 His summary is available online at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SDGS/2030/Mr.MichaelO_Flaherty.pdf.