International Law for the SDGs

The ILA Committee on the Contributions of International Law to the Global Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2030 Agenda (Committee on International Law for the SDGs) will pursue a work programme to analyse how international law can support current efforts in treaty regimes, international tribunals and other fora to address global sustainability challenges through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and related targets, and to develop recommendations which can strengthen the contributions of international law to the emerging post-2030 sustainable development agenda in the United Nations and beyond. 

This Committee will address the following elements in particular: (a) the legal status and application of the principles and rules of international law related to the seventeen SDGs, their 169 targets, and the practice of States and international organisations; (b) the recognition and interpretation of the principle of integration of human rights, economic and environmental considerations into development decision-making in international law on sustainable development; and (c) the regional and international legal aspects of measurement and indicators of legal effectiveness for advancing the SDGs.  

The  ILA Committee on International Law for the SDGs will enable the ILA to engage with a pressing topic that is attracting increasing attention and will be well-positioned to share its analysis with decision-makers in upcoming international processes. The Committee will continue the ILA’s practice of addressing sustainable development challenges through international law, as it has done for forty-five years and build on the work of prior ILA Committees, including the Committee on Legal Aspects of Sustainable Development (which developed the ILA New Delhi Declaration on the principles of international law on sustainable development) and the Committee on International Law on Sustainable Development (which developed the ILA Sofia Guiding Statements for international courts and tribunals seeking to apply the principles), and the Committee on the Role of International Law in the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources for Development (which developed the ILA Kyoto Guidelines on Sustainable Natural Resources Management), among other partnerships and initiatives.  

In particular, the Committee on International Law for the SDGs will discuss and discern key concepts, rules, treaty provisions and legal instruments increasingly shape international law on sustainable development into the 21st century. The Committee will, in particular, provide international law expert recommendations and advice to the United Nations and relevant international bodies in efforts to advance the SDGs, and to align the post-2030 sustainable development goals or agenda with international law.