Agenda 2030 - Child Rights and Sustainable Development Goals

UNICEF has recently developed a publication mapping of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It highlights the connections and synergies between the two documents, allowing the reader to jump between each Global Goal and each Convention article.

It takes a detailed, yet deliberately broad, interpretation of the Global Goals and the Convention, highlighting for users the connections between the two frameworks, so as to reinforce their potential for advocacy and implementation. It will therefore be an invaluable tool for both UNICEF and external partners, as they advocate for both CRC and SDG implementation over the coming years. To reinforce the links in both directions, it is divided into two sections: The first part identifies relevant CRC articles for each Global Goal and their targets. The second part lists the goals and targets for each CRC article. By clicking, the reader can jump between goals and articles in a simple and user friendly way.

The new publication complements the 2-page document produced by UNICEF in January 2016 which presents a preliminary mapping of the current priority Global Goals indicators for children against the nine clusters of rights of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

All of the Global Goals are relevant for children. This detailed, interactive mapping aims to reinforce, but also to move beyond, the more obvious links between the Global Goals and the Convention - such as in the areas of health, education and violence. It assumes that all of the Global Goals are relevant for children, not only those which specifically refer to children. For example, Goal 9 (Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation) corresponds – amongst other things - to Article 29.1(a) and (e) of the Convention (education of the child shall be directed to the development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential and the development of respect for the natural environment), which is seen as essential to the fostering of innovation.

Children have the right to directly engage in achieving the Global Goal targets, in terms of claiming their rights now, as children, as well as preparing themselves to take on more complex responsibilities as they grow older. A child who is 4 years old in 2016 will attain adulthood by 2030. Thus the distinction between child- and adult-specific Goals is very fluid.

As said before the document adopts a deliberately broad interpretation of the Global Goals and the Convention. For example, Global Goal target 6.1 (By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all) corresponds not only to rights relating to discrimination and health, but also to Convention Articles 32 (child labour), 34 (sexual exploitation and abuse) and 36 (other forms of exploitation) in order to draw attention to the ways in which many children are put at risk in the collection of drinking water from distant sources. The intention is to challenge users to look for comprehensive and less obvious connections between the two frameworks so as to reinforce their potential for mutual advocacy and implementation.

You can access the document on the UNICEF public UNICEF page:  

SDG CRC mapping on the UNICEF Internet page