New Joint UN report calls for urgent action to build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies to prevent risks to all Sustainable Development Goals

The latest UN Global Progress Report on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – was launched, and reveals concerning data that threatens to undermine future progress on all SDGs.

The world is far from peaceful, with a 72 per cent increase in conflict-related civilian deaths to 33,400 lives in 2023 compared to 2022. Governments are failing to protect the rights of all people to live a life free from fear and violence. Violent crime is on the rise, and organized crime is an increasing threat to peace and development, destroying peoples’ lives and communities. Peace remains a lofty goal when, as the report finds, discrimination is widespread, corruption is pervasive, governance is not inclusive, and people are not able to access justice.

The new report, entitled Global Progress Report on SDG 16 Indicators: At the Crossroads: Breakdown or Breakthrough for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions was launched during the High-Level Political Forum at UN Headquarters by the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed. The second UN progress report on SDG 16 was jointly produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) together with six other entities.

“SDG 16 is a crucial enabler of all SDGs,” stated UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. “This new report shows that we need to urgently scale up action on the SDGs to build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, leaving no one behind.”

With only 17 per cent of the SDG targets on track and over one-third stalling or regressing, the new report calls for action by governments and all stakeholders to accelerate progress on SDG 16 or risk failing all the SDGs.

The joint UN report uses regional and global data to assess internationally agreed SDG 16 indicators to enable governments to adjust or develop policy solutions to meet SDG 16 targets. Even with increased data availability in recent years, the UN report calls for more investment in improving data from more countries to strengthen evidence-based research to support policy implementation to help progress on SDG 16.