Compounded Injustice and Cautionary Notes for Progress in the Sustainable Development Era: Considering the Case of Sterilization of Women Living with HIV

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda (Agenda) and Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”), adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2015 as the roadmap for progress in the world through 2030, “seek[s] to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” Guiding the Agenda’s seventeen ambitious goals is the principle that as the globe continues its trajectory of development, no one should be left behind—that the governments of the world shall “ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dignity and equality. The SDGs notably set out an agenda where health goals, including Universal Health Coverage (Target 3.8) and access to sexual and reproductive health care (Target 3.7), are meant to be addressed in combination with goals on gender equality (Goal 5), as well as those relating to “equal access to justice for all” (Target 16.3) and “effective, accountable and transparent institutions” (Target 16.6). Specifically, seeking to address a gap in the previous Millennium Development Goals (“MDGs”), the agenda includes the proportion of “women aged 15–49 who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care” (Target 5.6.1) among the indicators towards the realization of these Goals.