Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16 or Global Goal 16) is one of the 17

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

established by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in 2015, the official wording is: "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels". The Goal has 12 targets and 23 indicators. SDG 16 has ten ''outcome targets'': Reduce

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

; protect children from abuse, exploitation,

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

and violence; promote the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

and ensure equal access to

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

; combat

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

and illicit financial and arms flows, substantially reduce

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

; develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions; ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making; strengthen the participation in

global governance Global governance (or world governance) refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnationality, transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly ...

; provide universal legal identity; ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms. There are also two ''means of implementation targets Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License'': Strengthen national institutions to prevent violence and combat crime and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

; promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies.United Nations (2017) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
A/RES/71/313

Background

The

are a collection of 17 global goals set by the

. The goals are interrelated though each has its own targets to achieve. The

SDGs The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

cover a broad range of social and economic development issues.United Nations (2015) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
A/RES/70/1
SDG 16 addresses the need to promote peace and inclusive institutions. Areas of improvement include for example: reducing lethal violence, reducing civilian deaths in conflicts, and eliminating human trafficking. Several of the SDGs and targets focus on marginalized people and "seek to increase inclusiveness and to foster justice". SDG 16 has a strong focus on inclusive societies and institutions. At the global level, SDG 16 could have steering effects on inclusiveness in

, in particular for the

least developed countries The least developed countries (LDCs) are developing countries listed by the United Nations that exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development. The concept of LDCs originated in the late 1960s and the first group of LDCs was listed b ...

. However, a meta analysis in 2022 has shown that "rhetoric and action do not match when it comes to the impacts of the Sustainable Development Goals on inclusiveness within and between countries".

Targets, Indicators and progress

SDG 16 has twelve targets and twenty-four indicators. Three of the targets specify their agenda by the year 2030. Below is the list of all the targets with a short version and a long version of the titles.United Nations (2017) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
A/RES/71/313
Ritchie, Roser, Mispy, Ortiz-Ospina
"Measuring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals." (SDG 16)
''SDG-Tracker.org, website'' (2018) Text was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
/ref> No data is available yet for the following indicators: 16.4.1, 16.4.2, 16.6.2, 16.7.1, 16.7.2, 16.b.1. For all the other indicators, data and world maps are available to visualize progress.

Target 16.1: Reduce violence everywhere

Long title: "Significantly reduce all forms of

and related death rates everywhere." This target has four indicators: * Indicator 16.1.1 Number of victims of intentional

homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

per 100,000 population, by age. * Indicator 16.1.2 Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population, by age and cause. * Indicator 16.1.3 Proportion of population subjected to (a) physical violence, (b) psychological violence and (c)

sexual violence Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted Human sexual activity, sexual act, an attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion, or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of ...

in the previous 12 months. * Indicator 16.1.4 Proportion of population that feel safe walking alone around the area they live. Honor based violence (HBV) is classified as not only murder or violence, but rather a heroic attainment of religious beliefs, typically committed by a male family member. The United Nations estimates that around 5,000 women are killed annually in relation to HBV. However, the actual number is several times higher due to weak administration of these crimes. Authorities are reluctant to report statistics that could potentially affect their international reputation or are bribed in order to protect the family's reputation. Target 16.5 indicates instills the concept of bribery further, and Target 16.2 portrays the lack of crime reported. Where conflict strikes, men are more likely to die on battlefields, but women will be targeted for sexual violence, exploitation and other violation. UNICEF, as well as indicator 16.1.3, classifies violence into three categories: physical, psychological, and sexual. Save the Children, a non-governmental organization aimed to help vulnerable adolescents in Bolivia who fit at least one classification of violence through modules as follows: * Module 1- Self-esteem, personal empowerment, and leadership * Module 2- Sexual and reproductive health * Module 3- Entrepreneurial skills and economic empowerment * Module 4- Basic competences; math and literacy The program was found to have had a positive effect for success for females, with an improvement in bargaining power within the household and reduction in income-related stress. Additionally, this program may be a factor that led to the decrease in violence against girls in Bolivia. The UNODC reports that in 2017 alone, around 464,000 people were victims of intentional homicide and homicide rates were 6.1 per 100,000. Two thirds of global homicides occur in Latin America and the Caribbeans or sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty, economic inequality, proximity to the United States’ readily accessible firearm supply, and high youth unemployment are some of the major reasons behind the high homicide rates in Latin America. The UNODC found that, homicides are four times morel likely to occur in regions with high economic disparity than those that have economic equity, which helps to explain the high homicide rates in some Latin American regions. Although homicide rates have been seeing a reduction the past several years, the progress on SDG 16 has been reversing. If current global trends continue, it is estimated that all forms of violence will increase by 10-46 percent by 2030.

Target 16.2: Protect children from abuse, exploitation, trafficking and violence

Child Protection and Developement Center 2

Long title: "End abuse, exploitation,

and all forms of violence against and torture of children." This target has three indicators: * Indicator 16.2.1: Proportion of children aged 1–17 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers in the past month. * Indicator 16.2.2: Number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age and form of exploitation. * Indicator 16.2.3: Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18. One target is to see the end to

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Se ...

, forced labor, and all forms of violence against and torture of children. It is difficult to monitor this target though because there is insufficient data on some types of crime, for example violent punishment of children. Violence against children by their caregivers is widespread. The global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

has magnified the challenges of child protection and mental health services. With this occurring in the world currently, no country is on track to eliminate all forms of violence and to promote mental health and well-being as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development pledges. In 2017, the UN reported some progress on detecting victims of trafficking. Sexual exploitation numbers have declined, but forced labor has increased. SDG Target 16

Target 16.3: Equal access to justice

The full text of Target 16.3 is: "Promote the

at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to

for all." This target has three indicators: * Indicator 16.3.1: Proportion of victims of violence in the previous 12 months who reported their victimization to competent authorities or other officially recognized conflict resolution mechanisms. * Indicator 16.3.2: Unsentenced detainees as a proportion of overall prison population. * Indicator 16.3.3: Proportion of the population who have experienced a dispute in the past two years and who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism, by type of mechanism. Regarding indicator 16.3.2, a progress report from 2019 concludes that of the 149 countries with available data, 31 countries had "a rate lower than 15 per cent" and 62 had "a rate higher than 35 per cent." Asia and Oceania countries experienced high increases in rates during the years 2016–2018. Indicator 16.3.3 was added to the official indicator framework in 2020, when it was approved by the United Nations Statistical Commission. It measures the proportion of the population who have experienced a dispute in the past two years and who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism, by type of mechanism.

Target 16.4: Combat organized crime and illicit financial and arms flows

The full text of Target 16.4: "By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime." The target has two indicators: * Indicator 16.4.1: Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (in current United States dollars). * Indicator 16.4.2: Proportion of seized, found or surrendered arms whose illicit origin or context has been traced or established by a competent authority in line with international instruments.

Target 16.5: Substantially reduce corruption and bribery

The full text of Target 16.5: "Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms." The target has two indicators: * Indicator 16.5.1: Proportion of persons who had at least one contact with a public official and who paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials, during the previous 12 months. * Indicator 16.5.2: Proportion of businesses that had at least one contact with a public official and that paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials during the previous 12 months. Based on available data from 38 countries collected in years 2010-2020,

when accessing public services was least present (at an average rate of 3.7 per cent) in high-income countries and most present (at an average of 22.3 per cent) in lower-income countries.

Target 16.6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions

The full text of Target 16.6: "Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels." The target has two indicators: * Indicator 16.6.1: Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget, by sector (or by budget codes or similar). * Indicator 16.6.2: Proportion of population satisfied with their last experience of public services. This is the end.

Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making

The full text of Target 16.7: "Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels." The target has two indicators: * Indicator 16.7.1: Proportions of positions in national and local institutions, including (a) the

legislatures A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

; (b) the

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

; and (c) the judiciary, compared to national distributions, by sex, age, persons with disabilities and population groups. * Indicator 16.7.2: Proportion of population who believe decision-making is inclusive and responsive, by sex, age, disability and population group.

Target 16.8: Strengthen the participation in global governance

Share-voting-rights-international-organizations

The full text of Target 16.8: "Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of

." The target has a single indicator. Indicator 16.8.1 is the "Proportion of members and voting rights of developing countries in

international organizations An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own leg ...

Target 16.9: Provide universal legal identity

The full text of Target 16.9: "By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration." It has one indicator: Indicator 16.9.1 is the "Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority, by age". Different businesses are evaluating the addition of target 16.9 according to their priorities, categories include child protection, economic development, national security, social protection, public health, and so forth. Individuals without proof of legal identity, primarily women and the less fortunate are excluded from the economy. Target 16.9 overlaps with other SDG targets. For instance, Target 1.3 which implements social protection systems can not be nationally addressed without the vulnerable being able to identify themselves. This is also affiliated with SDG 3 in terms of healthcare and SDG 4 in terms of education. A lack of legal identity can prevent numerous measures that are put in effect to benefit individuals who require it most, creating higher rates of inequality. More than a quarter of children under 5 were unregistered worldwide as of 2015. People in high-income countries experience a lower prevalence of

when using public services compared to those in low-income countries.

Target 16.10: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms

The full text of Target 16.10: "Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements." The target has two indicators: * Indicator 16.10.1 Number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates in the previous 12 months. * Indicator 16.10.2 Number of countries that adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information. Rights to information is a fundamental piece of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2019, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) found that 125 countries have chosen to take up Right to Information(RTI), Access to Information(ATI), or Freedom to Information(FTI) laws or equivalent guarantees. Seventeen countries were found to not have any sort of laws or promises in favor of public access to information. Although a majority of countries globally have adopted RTI related policies, UNESCO identified an issue regarding the sustainability in monitoring and reporting practices on target 16.10. They called for the implementation of oversight bodies, specifically, giving them leadership positions on overseeing progress on the SDG's nationally. The importance of progressing target 16.10 can be seen through a quote by Nadia Al-Sakkaf, the Republic of Yemen's former Minister of Information, “If information is power then access to information is empowerment.”

Target 16.a: Strengthen national institutions to prevent violence and combat crime and terrorism

The full text of Target 16.a: "Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime." It has one indicator. Indicator 16.a.1 is the "Existence of independent national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles".

Target 16.b: Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies

The full text of Target 16.b: "Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for

." It has one indicator. Indicator 16.b.1 is the "Proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law".

Custodian agencies

Custodian agencies are responsible for monitoring and reporting of indicators: * Indicator 16.1.1:

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French language, French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention ...

(UNODC) and World Health Organisation (WHO). * Indicator 16.1.2: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) * Indicator 16.1.3 and 16.1.4:

(UNODC) * Indicator 16.2.1 and 16.2.3: United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) * Indicators 16.2.2, 16.3.2 and 16.5.1:

(UNODC) * Indicator 16.4.1:

(UNODC), and

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembl ...

(UNTAD) * Indicator 16.4.2:

(UNODC), and United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs * Indicator 16.5.2:

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

(WB) and

(UNODC) * Indicator 16.6.1: World Bank (WB) * Indicator 16.6.2 and for two indicators under Target 16.7: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) * Indicator 16.8.1: Department of Economic and Social Affairs-Financing for Development Office (DESA/FFDO) * Indicator 16.9.1: Department of Economic and Social Affairs-Statistics Division (DESA/UNSD) and United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) * Indicator 16.10.1, 16.a.1 and 16.b.1: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) * Indicator 16.10.2: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Monitoring and progress

High-level progress reports for all the SDGs are published in the form of reports by the United Nations Secretary General. The most recent one is from April 2020.United Nations Economic and Social Council (2020
Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals Report of the Secretary-General
High-level political forum on sustainable development, convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (E/2020/57), 28 April 2020 The International Programme for the Development of Communication is responsible for the follow-up of the SDG 16 through indicators 16.10.1 and 16.10.2. Every two years, a report containing information from the Member States on the status of judicial inquiries on each of the killings condemned by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

is submitted to the IPDC Council by UNESCO's Director-General. The journalists safety indicators is a tool developed by UNESCO which, according to UNESCO's website, aims on mapping the key features that can help assess the safety of journalists, and help determine whether adequate follow-up is given to crimes committed against them. The IPDC Talks also allow the Programme to raise awareness on the importance of access to information. The IPDC also monitors and reports on access to information laws around the world through the

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

global report on follow-up to

. A meta-analysis in 2022 investigated the political impacts of the SDGs, and in particular if the SDGs have "fostered a better inclusion and support of poor and vulnerable communities within countries". The researchers found that vulnerable people and the

are theoretically given priority in the implementation of the SDGs. However, existing norms and institutions for inclusiveness have not been improved by the SDG process.

Challenges

The global

is predicted to increase the frequency of conflicts as countries blame others for their situation. The

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

in 2022 has also caused a major setback, in particular accounting for most of the 53% increase in civilian conflict deaths that year.

Links with other SDGs

The Sustainable Development Goals are not taken as being completely independent one from the other, but rather as being closely linked. In this way, media development enhances

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

, peace, but also contributes to

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

, poverty eradication and human rights. Fostering peace and inclusive societies can help reduce inequalities ( SDG10) and help economies prosper ( SDG8). The 2012 outcome document of the

Summit on the 2030 Agenda considers that sustainable development can not be achieved without building peaceful, just and inclusive societies and addressing issues of corruption, poor governance, insecurity and injustice.

Organizations

The

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(UNDP) is the United Nations global development network which is concerned with SDG 16. Hence, the Program focuses on democratic governance and peace building. The UNDP also works on conflict prevention by empowering youth, especially women. Also, they aim at supporting the frameworks and structure and by acting as mediators.

References

External links

UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform – SDG 16

“Global Goals” Campaign - SDG 16

SDG-Track.org - SDG 16

UN SDG 16 in the US
{{Sustainable Development Goals Pages containing links to subscription-only content Peace Human rights Justice Freedom of expression Sustainable Development Goals United Nations documents 2015 establishments in New York City Projects established in 2015