Furthering the right to defend rights through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Specifically, it uses the set of rights and freedoms incorporated in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and connects them with the SDGs, demonstrating their interdependent nature. The rights and freedoms of the Declaration are the essence of the right to defend and promote human rights and a key enabler for the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Human rights defenders are people who promote and strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms through peaceful means.

They can act individually or in association with others and are key actors at national, regional, and international levels in supporting and holding states accountable to their human rights obligations.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have a symbiotic and mutually enforcing relationship with human rights. Hence, human rights defenders have a positive, important, and legitimate role in contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda). Their participation in the development of SDG programmes, plans and monitoring is key for ensuring coherence between the legal human rights obligations of states and states’ political commitments under the 2030 Agenda.