A/HRC/50/60
marginalized communities and low-income countries leads to unequal health outcomes. It
urged States to meet Sustainable Development Goal target 3.A, which calls on the
international community to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control.111
67.
The Refugee Law Lab reported that the continuing development of new surveillance
and border-enforcement tools has implications for the implementation of nearly all of the
Sustainable Development Goals due to the violent, abusive and opaque application of new
technologies to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. 112
68.
In sum, notwithstanding the rallying cry of the 2030 Agenda to “leave no one behind”,
closer examination of its implementation reveals a failure to elevate concerns of racial justice,
equality and non-discrimination to the requisite level of priority.
III. International human rights law applicable to the
development framework and the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development
69.
Both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enshrine the right to self-determination
of peoples and codify the principle of non-discrimination, guaranteeing equality in the
exercise of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.113
70.
The most comprehensive prohibition of racial discrimination is found in the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In article
1 (1) of the Convention, racial discrimination is defined as “any distinction, exclusion,
restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has
the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an
equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural or any other field of public life”.
71.
The racial equality guaranteed by the international human rights framework is
substantive. States must combat intentional or direct racial discrimination as well as de facto
or indirect racial discrimination.114
72.
Accordingly, discrimination and inequality in any of the Sustainable Development
Goal indicators on the grounds of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin may rise
to the threshold of prohibited racial discrimination under the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and violate the provisions of international
human rights law.
73.
The right to development is a reconceptualization of development in terms of human
rights obligations, guaranteeing both a right to social and economic progress and the
realization of all other human rights through self-determination and equal sovereignty. The
Declaration on the Right to Development states that the right of peoples to self-determination
includes the exercise of their inalienable right to full sovereignty over all their natural wealth
and resources. It further articulates the following duties in the context of the international
development framework: “States have the duty to cooperate with each other in ensuring
development and eliminating obstacles to development. States should realize their rights and
fulfil their duties in such a manner as to promote a new international economic order based
on sovereign equality, interdependence, mutual interest and cooperation among all States, as
well as to encourage the observance and realization of human rights.” The right to
development “implies the full realization of the right of peoples to self-determination”,115
111
112
113
114
115
16
Submission by Action on Smoking and Health.
Submission by Refugee Law Lab.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 2 (2), and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2 (1).
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 32 (2009),
paras. 6–7.
Declaration on the Right to Development, art. 1(2).