Linkages between Human Rights and SDGs

The OHCHR has emphasised the importance of integrating human rights to define the SDGs and has made efforts to ensure that strategies and policies to implement the 2030 Agenda are human rights-based. 


As part of its efforts, the OHCHR mapped linkages between the SDGs and fourteen international human rights instruments - ① Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), ② International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), ③International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ④International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), ⑤International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ⑥Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), ⑦Declaration on the Right to Development (UNDRTD), ⑧Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), ⑨International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW),  ⑩Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVAW), ⑪Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Conflict (OP-1), ⑫Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), ⑬International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPEP) and ⑭Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). 


This section includes the relevant rights to each of the goals, though the listing of relevant rights is not exhaustive.

SDG 16


Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

UDHR art. 3    

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.


ICCPR art. 6(1)    

Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.


ICCPR art. 9(1)    

Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.


ICPED art. 1    

  • 1. No one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance.
  • 2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.

UDHR art. 5    

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.


ICCPR art. 7    

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.


CAT art. 2    

  • 1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
  • 2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
  • 3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.


CRC art. 37(a)    

No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.

CRC art. 19    

  • 1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
  • 2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.


CRC art. 37(a) 

No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.

CRC art. 34    

States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:

  • (a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
  • (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
  • (c) The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.


CRC art. 35    

States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form.


CRC art. 36    

States Parties shall protect the child against all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child's welfare.


CRC-OP1    

States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.

UDHR art. 8    

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.


UDHR art. 10    

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.


ICCPR art. 2(3)    

Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes:

  • (a) To ensure that any person whose rights or freedoms as herein recognized are violated shall have an effective remedy, notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity;
  • (b) To ensure that any person claiming such a remedy shall have his right thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the State, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy;
  • (c) To ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce such remedies when granted.


ICCPR art. 14    

  • 1. All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. The press and the public may be excluded from all or part of a trial for reasons of morals, public order (order public) or national security in a democratic society, or when the interest of the private lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice; but any judgement rendered in a criminal case or in a suit at law shall be made public except where the interest of juvenile persons otherwise requires or the proceedings concern matrimonial disputes or the guardianship of children.
  • 2. Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.
  • 3. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:
    • (a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against him;
    • (b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defense and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing;
    • (c) To be tried without undue delay;
    • (d) To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it;
    • (e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;
    • (f) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court;
    • (g) Not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.
  • 4. In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation.
  • 5. Everyone convicted of a crime shall have the right to his conviction and sentence being reviewed by a higher tribunal according to law.
  • 6. When a person has by a final decision been convicted of a criminal offence and when subsequently his conviction has been reversed or he has been pardoned on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice, the person who has suffered punishment as a result of such conviction shall be compensated according to law, unless it is proved that the non-disclosure of the unknown fact in time is wholly or partly attributable to him.
  • 7. No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country.


ICCPR art. 15    

  • 1. No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time when the criminal offence was committed. If, subsequent to the commission of the offence, provision is made by law for the imposition of the lighter penalty, the offender shall benefit thereby.
  • 2. Nothing in this article shall prejudice the trial and punishment of any person for any act or omission which, at the time when it was committed, was criminal according to the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations.


CEDAW art. 2(c)    

To establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public institutions the effective protection of women against any act of discrimination.

UDHR art. 6    

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.


ICCPR art. 16    

Everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.


CRPD art. 12    

Equal recognition before the law.

  • 1. States Parties reaffirm that persons with disabilities have the right to recognition everywhere as persons before the law.
  • 2. States Parties shall recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life.
  • 3. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity.
  • 4. States Parties shall ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to prevent abuse in accordance with international human rights law. Such safeguards shall ensure that measures relating to the exercise of legal capacity respect the rights, will and preferences of the person, are free of conflict of interest and undue influence, are proportional and tailored to the person's circumstances, apply for the shortest time possible and are subject to regular review by a competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body. The safeguards shall be proportional to the degree to which such measures affect the person's rights and interests.
  • 5. Subject to the provisions of this article, States Parties shall take all appropriate and effective measures to ensure the equal right of persons with disabilities to own or inherit property, to control their own financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit, and shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not arbitrarily deprived of their property.

UDHR art. 21    

  • (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
  • (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
  • (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

ICCPR art. 25    

Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions:

  • (a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
  • (b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors;
  • (c) To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.

UDHR art. 19    

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.


ICCPR art. 19(1)    

Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

33, Changgyeonggung-ro 1-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 

TEL : 02-723-6045          E-MAIL : nkdbi@hanmail.net

Sign up to receive updates

Subscribe

Copyright © NKDB. all rights reserved.