A/71/304 I. Introduction 1. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (General Assembly resolution 70/1) is one of the most important and ambitious global strategies to emerge from the United Nations. The 2030 Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which reflect a holistic approach to transforming the world into a more peaceful, just and inclusive global community. The Goals are focused on social, economic and environmental objectives with attention to good governance, the rule of law, access to justice, personal security and fighting inequality. Sustainable Development Goal 3 focuses on health, with other Goals also including many health-related commitments. 2. Although the process and final outcome are not without important criticism, 1 the negotiation of the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals concluded with a commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. The 2030 Agenda is grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties and is informed by the Declaration on the Right to Development (resolution 70/1, para. 10). Notably, the 2030 Agenda includes a commitment to be “implemented in a manner that is consistent with the rights and obligations of States under international law” (ibid., para. 18). In other words, the realization of international human rights law, which includes the right to health, is in and of itself an explicit objective of the Sustainable Development Goals. 3. At an instrumental level, the Sustainable Development Goals and international human rights law have much to offer each other. With careful attention to human rights, global and national efforts towards the Goals can sup port the realization of the right to health. Conversely, the right to health and other human rights can play a key role in supporting the Goals. It is that special symbiotic relationship that is the focus of the present report, particularly the contributio ns that the right to health can make towards the effective implementation of the Goals. II. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: key issues and principles 4. The 2030 Agenda builds on the United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted at the start of the new millennium and concluded in 2015. The policy objectives of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals focused on improved human development outcomes in health, education, poverty and gender equality in low-income countries (A/59/422, paras. 8-13). That agenda received unprecedented attention from the international community, funding priorities and international relations throughout its 15 years. The 2030 Agenda inherits that strategic space and will be a powerful policy tool influencing international and domestic development agendas through the second and third decades of the millennium. __________________ 1 16-13597 Barbara Adams and others, eds., Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2016: Report of the Reflection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Rheinbreitbach, Germany, Social Watch and others, 2016); Claire E. Brolan, Peter S. Hill and Gorik Ooms, “‘Everywhere but not specifically somewhere’: a qualitative study on why the right to health is not explicit in the post-2015 negotiations”, BMC International Health and Human Rights, vol. 15, No. 22 (August 2015). 3/26