The Time is Nigh…No, The Time is NOW! Embed the SDGs in Legal Curricula Across All Levels of Higher Education
Dr Miracle Chinwenmeri Uche
Miracle is a Senior Lecturer at Westminster Law School at the University of Westminster. Her research focuses on public international law, international criminal law and transitional justice, with particular emphasis on victims’ participation in international criminal proceedings and the development of transformative and sustainable reparations. She has also contributed to refugee and community integration initiatives and humanitarian development projects in the Netherlands and Nigeria through Stichting Unity in Diversity. Miracle holds a PhD in Law from the University of Essex.
Introduction
Extreme heat, cold, precipitation and fires mark the start of 2026. At the time of writing this piece in September 2026, so many other ‘unprecedented’, ‘record breaking’ or more severe weather events and other forms of natural disasters have been recorded, including in West Africa, Venezuela, United Kingdom, Japan, Spain and France. At the same time, conflicts continue to rage around the world in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran, to mention some. Migration and displacement rates tell their own stories, so too has the rise in anti-migrant sentiments and rhetoric. The world continues to battle different types of health challenges, food and water scarcity, gender-based violence of various types, and the list goes on. What do these have in common? Human beings, our human rights and global, regional and national efforts to protect them. This is where the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) come into play. Its history can be traced back to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment—the Stockholm Conference, which adopted a series of principles for sound management of the environment and marked the start of a dialogue between industrialised and developing countries on the link between economic growth, the pollution of the air, water, and oceans and the well-being of people around the world.
Nearly three decades later, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the United Nations in 2000, with a target date of 2015, continued to reflect the international community’s awareness that human well-being, economic development, and environmental protection were interlinked. As the MDGs period drew to a close, all UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. There are 17 SDGs and 169 targets, which have since been referred to as representing an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. These goals draw on and are relevant to our human rights. Therefore, the examination of progress made in the pursuit and achievement of the 2030 Agenda must be done in the context of the binding human rights obligations, which underpin this political commitment to the SDGs, the relevant legal framework and the role of legal education in this regard. This post is a call to action to improve awareness and uptake of the SDGs, specifically among individuals undergoing legal education. It does so by highlighting: (i) the past and present issues which necessitate immediate action, (ii) the interconnection between the SDGs and our human rights, and (iii) reiterating the centrality of Legal Education for Sustainable Development.
The Past and Current Issues Which Necessitate Immediate Action
I am particularly conscious of time. This may be due to my personal faith, my upbringing, the demands of academia, and the never-ending deadlines we hope to meet and ask students to adhere to. More importantly for this post, it is because the recent ‘unprecedented’ events, which have been long predicted and are slowly becoming normal, should at the very least, be a wakeup call for everyone. The issues that the SDGs target are global in nature and are interconnected. For example, desertification which is a major global environmental challenge affecting among others, the quality of water (SDG 6), with knock-on effects on food (SDGs 2 and 12) and health (SDG 3), is also at the root of political, cultural and socio-economic issues, including climate change-related migration (SDGs 8, 11 and 13). It is unsurprising that this one challenge can and has resulted in armed conflicts, and it remains a threat to peace and security not just for people living in drylands but for all of humanity.
The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2026 conducted in-depth reviews of SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals). Discussions on these goals highlighted that access to water, sanitation and hygiene has expanded significantly since 2015, but universal access is still expected to exceed the 2030 deadline by roughly 20 years at the current pace. The United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency announced on 29 July 2026 that the current drought now means there have been three droughts in the past five years – 2022, 2025 and now 2026. There has been a dramatic shift in England’s weather this year – from a very wet winter to an exceptionally hot and dry summer. Africa remains plagued by severe environmental problems and conflicts. Rural Sudan had barely recovered from the drought and desertification crisis of 1985, which caused massive famine in western Sudan and forced thousands to relocate to urban centres, when another shock hit in 2023.
It has been reported that 60 million people are expected to eventually move from the desertified areas in Sub-Saharan Africa towards northern Africa and Europe in the next 20 years. Meanwhile, every year, between 700,000 and 900,000 Mexicans leave their rural dryland homes to find a living as migrant workers in the United States. These issues, touching upon various aspects of international law, can then become more of national and county issues. For example, there has been an increase in violent crackdowns or anti-immigrant protests and violence in Northern Ireland (see also here), and other parts of the United Kingdom, in South Africa, and the United States, which often affect legal migrants, citizens and other residents in various ways. Thus, criminal law, migration law, refugee law, contract law, housing law, equality law, and human rights law may be relied upon to address them. For instance, criminal law can be used to prosecute crimes related to these events. Businesses contracted to house asylum seekers may find themselves in the middle of contractual difficulties, uncertainties or legal battles. The content and implementation of housing law may also come under scrutiny, especially in areas where the government may be housing or planning to house asylum seekers. Equality law becomes important to ensure that people, regardless of their status, may still be protected. So, we must ask ourselves: Has there ever been a time when words about the SDGs should equal action more than now?
The SDGs as Drivers of Human Rights Realisation: A Values-Based Approach to Communicating and Teaching the SDGs
The SDGs themselves represent a political commitment to a shared framework for realisation of the Goals, and are thus non-binding, but this does not diminish their intrinsic interconnection with human rights. As Smith rightly notes in her chapter on Sustainable Development and Human Rights, SDGs draw heavily on human rights standards. The Preamble to the 2030 Agenda expressly state that the SDGs seek to realise the human rights of all. Similarly, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has stated that human rights are essential to achieving the SDGs and the latter are themselves anchored in human rights principles and standards. The OHCHR and Amnesty International have also pointed to the ‘leave no one behind’ pledge in demonstrating this inherent interconnection between the SDGs and human rights. If the principles of equality and non-discrimination underpin universal human rights, it makes sense that the ‘leave no one behind’ pledge is integral to the pursuit and achievement of the SDGs. No wonder Rattray referred to this relationship as two sides of the same coin; this is because progress by UN Member States towards the SDGs can contribute to the fulfilment of their human rights obligations. For example, it has been stated that 92% of SDGs are linked to specific provisions of international human rights instruments. Goals 1-5, 8, 10 and 12-15 address poverty, hunger, good health and well-being, quality education and gender equality, decent work, inequalities, responsible consumption and production, climate change and the protection of the natural environment.
The above issues are also addressed in many regional and international human rights instruments protecting corresponding human rights of every individual and certain categories of individuals or addressing conditions necessary for their realisation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines a variety of children’s rights, including their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, thereby providing a framework for States Parties to ensure the holistic development and well-being of every child. Women’s rights are protected, among other instruments, by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which mandates States Parties to adopt measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and to establish legal protection of their rights on an equal basis with men. The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) places an obligation on states to fully address all forms of violence against women and take measures to prevent such. Also, the rights of persons with disabilities are protected under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which seeks to ensure that such persons can equally enjoy human rights without discrimination based on their disabilities. As such, when States Parties make reasonable progress on Goals 1-5, 8, 10, and 12-15, this should contribute to the realisation of the corresponding human rights mentioned above.
Given this interconnection between the Sustainable Development Goals and protected human rights, it is argued that the SDGs, while not legally binding, can be seen as a smart way to communicate human rights objectives and targets. Therefore, overall awareness and appreciation of their relevance to our present and future needs to improve, and a shift toward values-based language in communicating and teaching the SDGs could be useful. This values-based language idea was suggested by Camilla Wilkinson during the University of Westminster’s Summit on the Future of the SDGs, led by Dr Tom Cohen, which reflects the University of Westminster’s commitment to the SDGs. This framing sparked my interest because I approach life and my career with a focus on making an impact every day and in every task. In teaching and learning, we must translate the SDGs from what may appear to our students as abstract goals into values, human and legal alike, to ensure that students can be equipped with knowledge and skills to readily draw the connections between the SDGs and various matters which affect them or are of interest to them. This is particularly important for improving awareness, interest and uptake in advancing the SDGs.
The Centrality of Legal Education for Sustainable Development
Education for Sustainable Development is crucial. It empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for present and future generations. In 2013, even before the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, it was reported that in Scotland, education was recognised by policymakers and practitioners as a key enabler in the transition to a sustainable society. Universities play an important role in the pursuit and achievement of the SDGs. Law permeates all professions and protects all aspects of life, but not all legal education proactively supports sustainable development. Thus, some scholars and commentators have highlighted the importance of embedding SDGs in education across all levels and all curricula, usually covering environmental and closely related aspects of law (see, for example, here, here and here). Karim et al. have done a good job of sharing some ways through which SDGs can be integrated into core and optional law modules and showing some aspects of their connections. However, they rightly note that the reach of the SDGs is far more extensive than is traditionally captured by the idea of environmental sustainability. Thus, it becomes imperative that law and human rights students at all levels of higher education should acquire the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that empower them to contribute to sustainable development.
Beyond the relevance of the legal framework for the SDGs, the goals should be embedded in legal curricula and taught in context. Human rights and legal professions, which often go hand in hand, are grounded in ethical principles, the protection of values and rights, responsibility, and equality for all. As a result, we must work towards linking these principles to the SDGs using values-based language and improving our curricula to reflect the same. This brings us one step closer to graduating law and human rights professionals who are better equipped to not only fight for the protection and enforcement of our human rights, but who themselves have had the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to their realisation and hopefully will continue to do so.
To this author’s knowledge, there is yet no comprehensive statistic clarifying how the SDGs are embedded in law curricula in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, but there are some efforts such as this by SOS!UK, this by Responsible Futures, and the Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ranking—which, among others, looks at how universities advance the SDGs through teaching and in making sure that all alumni take forward the key lessons of sustainability into their future careers.
So, what does this call to action for curricula changes which can further enhance the teaching of law and human rights in context look like in practice?
This is not a call to abandon core aspects of each module, subject and course, whatever their designation across the globe. It is also not a call to radically change everything about aspects of legal and human rights education. Educators can start by slowly weaving an SDGs awareness-raising element into their law curricula by linking topics covered to specific SDGs and human rights provisions. This can also be a learning experience for educators and help them understand how to further integrate the SDGs using a values-based approach in their teaching and practice.
In a time when interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity are encouraged and even required in teaching, research and practice, the SDGs offer an avenue to meet these targets while also teaching law and human rights in context. This approach links legal principles and rights framework to the non-binding but highly relevant Sustainable Development Goals, thereby contributing to their overall aim.
Below, I share encouraging submissions from second-year students in the Introduction to Public International Law module at the University of Westminster Law School.
These have been reproduced with consent from each student who agreed to the inclusion of their module products in my research study titled ‘Embedding Sustainable Development Goals in International Law Modules at Undergraduate and Postgraduate Levels’, which received ethical approval from the University of Westminster, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Research and Knowledge Exchange Ethics Committee on 20 September 2025.
Part of the module SDGs element involved an individual presentation to the class. Students’ presentations captured changes in their awareness, improved knowledge and understanding, and their SDGs pledge.
The following instructions were provided to students. Before the seminar, as an individual, you must:
Identify and explain at least two things the University of Westminster (UoW) is doing in support/promotion of the SDGs. For guidance, please refer to the University’s Sustainable Development webpage, which is also linked in the Module Handbook.
Prepare a 3-5 minute presentation reflecting on the following questions:
- How has your understanding of your chosen SDG(s) evolved with each class and task?
- How can you make a personal contribution towards achieving these SDGs?
For educators and scholars who have already adopted the approach suggested in this post, consider creating or adapting existing programs and/or sponsoring SDGs legal fellowships, SDGs-aligned litigation, SDGs legal clinics, and employability. It is hoped that this post would offer some encouragement as we continue to strive to positively impact our world by empowering our law students to contribute to the protection of all our human rights. Selah!
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