30 January 2015
UN Human Rights Bodies Call for Accountability, Rights References in SDGs
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The Chairs of ten UN human rights treaty bodies issued joint recommendations for aligning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets with existing human rights standards, calling for ensuring accountability for their implementation.

United Nations18 January 2015: The Chairs of ten UN human rights treaty bodies issued joint recommendations for aligning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets with existing human rights standards, calling for ensuring accountability for their implementation.

In their statement, the Chairs recommend referring to, inter alia: freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and the elimination of corruption, under Goal 16 (peaceful and inclusive societies); free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples in relation to decisions that affect them, under Goal 2 (food security) and Goal 4 (education); and sexual and reproductive health and rights, in relation to Goal 5 (gender equality).

On monitoring of implementation, the treaty bodies’ Chairs called for “reliable and validated means” of measuring progress, based on disaggregated data. They suggested that UN Member States could build on the principles and working methods applied in current human rights monitoring mechanisms, such as the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. They added that accountability mechanisms should include the private sector, and called on Member States to endorse the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The ten human rights treaty bodies include the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Committee on Migrant Workers. [Chairs’ Statement] [UN Press Release]

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