SDG 16 - Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

By Ziad Abdel Samad and Bihter Moschini, Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)

In 2015, with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), governments acknowledged the mutually enforcing power of peace and development. The 2030 Agenda represents a paradigm shift in terms of universality and interlinked goals, including across borders and affirms the need for a rights-based approach to peace and security, one focused on prevention. At the same time, most governments [...]

by Prabir Purkayastha [fn] A longer version was originally published on https://newsclick.in/. [/fn]

Machine algorithms are taking over decisions that were made by governments, business and even ourselves.

Today, algorithms decide who should get a job, which part of a city needs to be developed, who should get into a college, and in the case of a crime, what should be the sentence. It is not the super intelligence of robots that is the threat to life as we know [...]

By IT for Change [fn] Extracted from the Submission to UNCTAD's Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-Commerce and the Digital Economy by members of the Research Network on Policy Frameworks for Digital Platforms – Moving from Openness to Inclusion, led by Anita Gurumurthy, Geneva, April 2018. The complete text is available at: http://unctad.org/meetings/en/Contribution/tdb_ede2018_c03_ITforChange_en.pdf [/fn]

In a platformizing economy, e-commerce platforms need to be understood not merely as marketplaces, but also as digital ecosystems that provide a new architecture for the [...]

By José Antonio Ocampo, Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) [fn] An earlier version of this text was originally published in International Union Rights, the journal of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights. [/fn]

The international system of taxing companies, which was designed in the early twentieth century by the developed world, has become obsolete in our current globalized world. These days, almost half of world trade takes place between parent companies and subsidiaries of [...]

New York, 18 July 2017: During the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) of 44 countries at the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, many civil society activists raised questions, criticizing government (in-)action as well as crippling framework conditions that slow down implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the national level.

Ziad Abdel Samad, Director of Arab NGO Network for Development, highlighted the situation in his region: “Foreign occupation, armed conflicts and wars are key challenges, even before talking about [...]

New York City, 14 July 2017: With the first week of deliberations at the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development coming to a close this Friday at the UN in New York, civil society activists are criticizing a piecemeal approach to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Especially worrisome to activists is a growing gap between aspirational goals and a lack of proper and comprehensive means of implementation.

On many occasions – during side-events as well [...]

New York, 10 July 2017: A global coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions presents today the report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017. It is published on the opening day of the High Level Political Forum at the United Nations in New York. The report provides the most comprehensive independent assessment of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

By Lou Pingeot, Global Policy Forum

The private military and security industry has been growing steadily since the mid-1980s. In 2009, the global security market was estimated to be worth about US$ 100-165 billion per year, with an annual growth rate of 7-8 percent. [fn]Abrahamsen/Williams (2009). [/fn] This means that the industry today is likely to be worth about US$ 170-300 billion. In addition, a 2011 study estimated the number of employees in the formal private security sector to be [...]

By Camilo Rubiano, Public Services International (PSI)

The UN estimates that US$ 1 trillion is paid in bribes per year, while more than twice that amount – US$ 2.6 trillion – is stolen annually through corruption. [fn]UNODC (2016). [/fn] This corresponds to more than 5 percent of global GDP. In turn, the findings of a recent study by the OECD indicates that fraud and wrongdoing are more likely to occur in organizations that are closed and secretive. [fn]OECD (2016). [/fn] [...]

By Ziad Abdel Samad, Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)

In September 2015, a universal commitment to achieving sustainable development for all and leaving no one behind was made with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Labelled as “one of the more controversial goals,” [fn]http://sdg.iisd.org/news/undp-administrator-discusses-post-2015-agenda-sdg-16-and-soft-means-of-imp…. [/fn] or that having “contentious origins” [fn]www.idlo.int/news/highlights/opportunities-and-challenges-implementing-goal-16. [/fn] SDG 16 took its place among the 17 goals, reaffirming that peace, justice, effective and accountable institutions as well as inclusive [...]