About this tool

UN

The SDG – Human Rights Data Explorer is a searchable database that links monitoring information from the international human rights system to the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It allows users to explore the recommendations and observations of international human rights monitoring bodies, as they relate to the implementation of the SDGs and their 169 targets in specific countries.

Scope

The SDG – Human Rights Data Explorer lets you explore 235,000 recommendations and observations from 70 monitoring mechanisms of the international human rights system. Almost 60% of these are directly linked to a SDG target and hence immediately relevant for national SDG implementation.

The SDG – Human Rights Data Explorer is the result of an experimental data mining project developed in close collaboration between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. Through the project, an algorithm has been trained to automatically identify links between recommendations of the international human rights system and SDG targets. You can read more about the methodology here.

Making the link between human rights and the 2030 Agenda

The 2030 Agenda is grounded in international human rights treaties, and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals seek to realise the human rights of all, and to leave no one behind. Concretely, more than 92% of SDG targets reflect specific provisions of international human rights and labour standards.

This means that the systematic qualitative analysis, data and recommendations of human rights monitoring bodies and mechanisms hold essential guidance for realising both human rights obligations and SDG commitments.

Operationalising the links between human rights and the SDGs, and making use of human rights recommendations in national SDG implementation strategies, strengthens efficiency and policy coherence, increases accountability, and ensures that no one is left behind.

The SDG  Human Rights Data Explorer unleashes the synergies

International human rights monitoring bodies such as Treaty Bodies, the Universal Periodic review (UPR) and the UN Special Procedures provide country-specific high-quality recommendations that are directly relevant for realising the SDGs in specific countries, for specific groups and with regards to particular themes and sectors. However, the multitude of recommendations from these bodies can be difficult to use directly for this purpose, as they are not linked to the SDGs.

The SDG  Human Rights Data Explorer overcomes this problem by connecting the recommendations of international human rights mechanisms to the SDGs. It is the result of an experimental data-mining project developed in close collaboration between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. The database allows users to explore the recommendations of the international human rights system as they relate to the implementation of the 17 SDGs and their 169 targets in specific countries.

Recommendations from international human rights mechanisms help identify:

  • priority areas for national SDG action plans
  • vulnerable groups that require additional support
  • concrete measures to combat exclusion and discrimination

Who can benefit from this tool?

The SDG  Human Rights Data Explorer is a tool for all stakeholders working in the areas of human rights and sustainable development. This includes development policymakers, human rights advocates, UN Country Teams, and other stakeholders.

For state actors, integrated follow-up to international obligations in the areas of human rights and sustainable development offers increased efficiency and coherence in implementation, monitoring, and reporting.

For rights-holders, the human rights system offers an effective way to monitor and hold states to account for unequal progress in SDG implementation.

Read more about this tool and how to use it