Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

What are the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enshrines 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to be achieved over the next 15 years.

It emphasizes the importance of promoting universal respect of human rights and human dignity. It is built on the guiding principles of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and international law. It is also informed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The SDGs are actually the chapter three of the 2030 Agenda, which also includes:

  • the Preamble
  • the Declaration
  • the Means of Implementation and the Global Partnership
  • and the Follow-up and Review

On 1 January 2016, the SDGs officially came into force. Over the next 15 years, the new Goals will rely on the previous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and intend to complete what they did not achieve by 2030.

There are 17 SDGs, non-binding in nature but they symbolize an unprecedented opportunity to set the world on a sustainable course and ensure a life of dignity for all. The SDGs are universal and they provide a clear policy framework for regulatory actions at national, regional and international level. National governments are expected to align their political agendas  with the SDGs.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enshrines 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to be achieved over the next 15 years.

The 2030 Agenda emphasizes the importance of promoting universal respect of human rights and human dignity. It is built on the guiding principles of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and international law. It is also informed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The SDGs are actually the chapter three of the 2030 Agenda, among:

  • the Preamble
  • the Declaration
  • the Means of Implementation and the Global Partnership
  • and the Follow-up and Review

Why are the Sustainable Development Goals important?

Inclusion is at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They pledge to “leave no one behind” but also “to reach the furthest behind first”. Unlike the previous Millennium Development Goals, disability issues and persons with disabilities are included with 11 specific references throughout the 2030 Agenda.

Overall, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contain 169 targets and 231 indicators for monitoring the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Persons with disabilities are mentioned 19 times in the SDGs. A key message presented in the introduction of the indicator framework is that all indicators ‘…should be disaggregated, where relevant, by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or other characteristics….’. (Goal 17.18).

The SDGs are extremely important because they are a powerful advocacy platform to support the implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

How do the SDGs support the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has given the disability movement a strong legal framework to advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities. The 33 core articles of the CRPD, which cover all areas of life, must be implemented and monitored. The EU and all its Member States have a legal obligation to comply.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, provides a political momentum to push for the realization of the CRPD. In fact, there is a considerable overlap between the articles of the CRPD and the SDGs as the 2030 Agenda was built upon existing international and national commitments such as the CRPD.

The CRPD is legally binding while the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs are a political vision for a better world to be achieved by 2030. The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs are both clearly inclusive of persons with disabilities. They can be used as an advocacy platform to draw the attention of decision makers for the creation of disability-inclusive policies and programmes.

The 2030 Agenda commits, in the same spirit as the CRPD, to empower those at risk of vulnerability, including persons with disabilities. It also promotes universal respect for human rights, equality and non-discrimination.

The SDGs in the EU: what now?

The EU played an influential role in the negotiations of the 2030 Agenda and has committed to implementing the SDGs both in its internal and external policies. Yet the EU must still develop an overarching vision to put in place and monitor the SDGs in its strategies and policies

So far, the EU presented several fragmented initiatives, and it still needs to provide more  guidance to engage in the active implementation of the SDGs. 

What is EDF's work and perspectives for engaging in disability inclusive SDGs?

The European Disability Forum (EDF) wants to make sure the SDGs also become a reality for the 80 million Europeans with disabilities.

In particular, EDF works in four main areas:

  • Harmonised SDGs policy on disability-inclusive development at the European level,
  • Support to European organisations of persons with disabilities to implement and monitor the SDGs at the national level,
  • Data disaggregation by disability using the Washington Group Set of Questions on Disability,
  • Information sharing and support to other regional platforms of persons with disabilities outside the EU.

The High Level Political Forum

To follow-up and review the SDGs’ implementation, the 2030 Agenda encourages member states to ‘conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-led and country-driven’. The High-Level Political Forum is the global structure set up to assess progress, achievements and challenges faced by all countries as they implement the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

The Forum is organized every July at the United Nations in New York.

We participated in the Forum for the first time in 2017.

The Voluntary National Reviews

The annual Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) are intended to track progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda, including the SDGs and targets, in all countries, in a manner that respects their universal and integrated nature and all dimensions of sustainable development. Countries present them during the three-day ministerial segment of the High Level Political Forum.

EDF ensures that the voice of persons with disabilities are not forgotten in the process of the Reviews of European countries. 

The Regional Forums on Sustainable Development (RFSD) 

The implementation and the monitoring of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs are supported in each world region by the five United Nations Regional Commissions, with the organisation of yearly Regional Forums on Sustainable Development (RFSD). EDF usually participates in the Forums.