A/76/162 27. As the Sustainable Development Goals were inspired by the Millennium Development Goals, it is important to look into the 2007 report by the first Independent Expert on minority issues, where she observed that minorities were often neglected or excluded from efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. She recommended that the Millennium Development Goals country reports systematically reflect the situation of minorities and that data disaggregated by social group and gender should be included in all poverty reduction strategy papers and Millennium Development Goals country reports. 8 She also recommended that the 2003 guidance note on country reporting on the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations Development Group be revised to clearly ref lect a requirement for the collection and inclusion of disaggregated data by race, ethnicity and religion, and guidelines in that regard. 9 The guidance note was thereafter revised in 2009 and acknowledged that “different dimensions of inequality could be highlighted, such as regional, ethnic, socioeconomic groups and gender disparities”. 10 It suggested to use data disaggregated by ethnic groups. 11 However, the revised version did not include the recommendations of the Independent Expert, no reference was m ade to minorities and the collection of disaggregated data by race, ethnicity and religion was eventually dropped despite her plea. 28. In the Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, 12 the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat reflected on the lessons learned from achieving the Millennium Development Goals and acknowledged the need to include minorities in the emerging post-2015 development agenda. It highlighted, among other things, that “the unfinished work on education must rank high on the post-2015 development agenda” by tailoring interventions to the needs of children belonging to minorities. 13 It suggested that better data were needed for the post-2015 development agenda and should be disaggregated by key dimensions beyond the basics of age and sex, including ethnicity. 14 It acknowledged that targeted efforts would be needed when implementing the post-2015 development agenda so as to reach the most vulnerable people, including those disadvantaged because of their ethnicity. 15 It indicated that “access to good schools, health care, electricity, safe water and other critical services remains elusive for many people, and it is frequently determined by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity or geography”. 16 2. Sustainable Development Goals and leaving no one behind – except minorities 29. The 2030 Agenda was elaborated through two parallel United Nations processes. The first was the Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals, which was mandated by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to elaborate the Sustainable Development Goals, including social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The second was the “post-2015” process set up by the SecretaryGeneral to elaborate a development agenda to follow the expiry of the Millennium Development Goals. This process included a wide range of open consultations among __________________ 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 8/22 A/HRC/4/9, para. 104 (f). Ibid., para. 108. United Nations Development Group, “Addendum to 2nd guidance note on country reporting on the Millennium Development Goals”, November 2009, p. 5. Ibid. Millennium Development Goals Report 2015 (United Nations publication, 2015). Ibid., p. 27. Ibid., p. 11. Ibid., p. 8. Ibid., p. 23. 21-09902