A/HRC/45/40 expertise on the right to development and to promote the implementation of the right to development worldwide. 24. The right to development has consistently been reaffirmed in documents and resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, the Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Council, as well as at NAM summits and other multilateral forums. Some of those documents have also highlighted the urgent need to make the right to development a reality for everyone. 25. In the final documents of the seventeenth11 and eighteenth12 NAM summits, held in 2016 and 2019, respectively, the Heads of State or Government urged the United Nations human rights machinery to ensure the operationalization of the right to development as a priority, including through the elaboration of a Convention on the Right to Development. III. The Sustainable Development Goals and the right to development 26. In The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, it was noted that while significant achievements had been made on many Millennium Development Goal targets worldwide during the period 2000–2015, progress had been uneven across regions and countries, leaving significant gaps. It was also acknowledged that millions were being left behind, especially the poorest and those disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability, ethnicity or geographical location. It was recognized that gender inequality persisted; big gaps existed between the poorest and richest households, and between rural and urban areas; climate change and environmental degradation were undermining progress; the poor were suffering the most; conflicts remained the biggest threat to human development; and 800 million people still lived in extreme poverty and suffered from hunger. 13 Indeed, recognition of the need for greater fairness, justice and equity emerged as a central outcome of international negotiations that led to a post-2015 sustainable development agenda. 27. Alongside the progressive development and advancement of human rights, a new global consciousness encompassing a right to sustainable development has been crystallizing over the last few decades. Its overriding priority is the elimination of extreme poverty, alongside addressing concerns of intergenerational and intragenerational equality. While members of the present generation, as “trustees” of the planet, need to be concerned about obligations to future generations on environmental and linked developmental issues, it would be less than sincere if nothing were done to address the precarious situation of the vast number of people currently living in grinding poverty.14 28. Against this backdrop, building on the momentum generated by the Millennium Development Goals, the ambitious new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for the period 2015–2030 was endorsed by world leaders in 2015. The Agenda contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, which were unanimously agreed and which represent a defining contribution to international efforts to address the socioeconomic and environmental challenges confronting humanity. While not legally binding, the Sustainable Development Goals are aimed at building upon and completing what the Millennium Development Goals did not achieve, and at presenting a global road map to a future where nobody is left behind. 29. The Sustainable Development Goals are focused on eradicating poverty (Goal 1); ending hunger (Goal 2); good health and well-being (Goal 3); quality education (Goal 4); gender equality (Goal 5); clean water and sanitation (Goal 6); affordable and clean energy 11 12 13 14 6 NAM 2016/CoB/Doc.1. Corr.1, para. 753.15. NAM 2019/CoB/Doc.1, para. 980.15. Available at www.namazerbaijan.org/pdf/BFOD.pdf. United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015 (New York, 2015), p. 8. Ajai Malhotra, “A commentary on the status of future generations as a subject of international law”, in Future Generations and International Law, Emmanuel Agius and Salvino Busuttil, eds. (London and New York, Routledge, 1998), pp. 39–50. 15 Statement by Maria Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, at the High-level Panel of the Human Rights Council Intersessional Meeting for Dialogue and Cooperation on Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 3 December 2019, Geneva.