Global obligations for sustainable development : harmonizing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and international human rights law

First published online: 30 June 2020Poverty eradication is a common fundamental goal of the human rights agenda and the sustainable development agenda. International human rights law considers poverty to be a denial of human rights and acknowledges shared global obligations to alleviate poverty and realize socio-economic rights indispensable for leading a decent life universally. In unison with the human rights agenda, sustainable development instruments declare healing the planet from poverty and freeing people from the tyranny of want as a primary goal of the contemporary globalized world. This was reaffirmed by a recent important document- Transforming our World : the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. That Agenda declares that "eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development." This Article represents a systematic analysis of the global obligations to eradicate poverty and ensure a decent standard of living universally embedded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It provides a general outline of the conception of global obligations for sustainable development and opens a novel understanding of their nature, status, content, scope, and duty-bearers, as well as the mechanisms necessary for their implementation. This Article also examines special features, strengths and limitations, and the interrelation between commitments for sustainable development and global obligations in the area of socio-economic rights. Based on that analysis, this Article puts forward suggestions for how the contemporary sustainable development agenda might be further improved in order to realize global obligations for sustainable development. Additionally, this Article explores modes of global governance and accountability that are necessary to realize human rights and reach the Sustainable Development Goals. It concludes by suggesting how the human rights and sustainable development agendas should be harmonized in a way that enriches both agendas at normative and institutional levels, in the service of realizing their common goals of combating poverty and ensuring a decent standard of living universally