Welcome to the United Nations
BACKGROUND AND AIMS OF THE DOCUMENT
The present document is a contribution to the 2019 United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), to be convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at UN Headquarters in New York from 9 to 18 July 2019.
It was prepared following the letter of 26 November 2018 from the President of ECOSOC inviting the President of the Human Rights Council to provide substantive inputs to the 2019 High-level Political Forum showcasing the Council’s contribution to the 2030 Agenda in general, and particularly for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and respective targets that are most relevant to its mandate.
WHAT IT IS
This document presents an objective analytical overview of all initiatives and actions undertaken by the Human Rights Council that are directly related to the 2030 Agenda and to the SDGs.
It covers all outcomes of regular sessions of the Human Rights Council that took place after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, namely from the 30th to the 40th regular sessions of the Council.
While the texts and documents identified in this research specifically refer to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is to be noted that, given the established links between human rights and the 2030 Agenda, virtually all activities and outcomes of the Human Rights Council may be understood as contributing to the overall aim of “leaving no one behind”.
For the purpose of brevity, the document is accompanied by two annexes containing a summarised version of the data collected as well as analytical graphs that may be useful for further analysis. All information and disaggregated data is available for consultation upon request.
METHODOLOGY
Data for this research was collected by consulting:
- All resolutions, decisions and president’s statements adopted by the Human Rights Council between September 2015 and March 2019, excluding the adoptions of the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review.
- All reports submitted to the Human Rights Council by the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) following a mandated request.
Search keys included direct mentions of the following words: “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, “post-2015 agenda” and “Sustainable Development Goals”.
Mentions were classified by their location either in the title or in the text of the document.
It is important to note that this analysis was carried out exclusively on the basis of official documents of the Human Rights Council. Other sources emanating from Council activities such as panels, side events, reports of special procedures, and Council subsidiary bodies such as the Universal Periodic Review Working Group and the Advisory Committee, were not taken into account at this stage. This selection was intentionally made to ensure the highest possible degree of objectivity and transparency, and to serve as a useful basis for any future analysis and initiatives on this matter.
