peace justice and strong institutions essay

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On SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

When the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted, Goal 16 was seen as truly transformative, formally linking, for the first time at the United Nations, development, peace, justice, and good governance. Some of its more ambitious targets include significantly reducing all forms of violence, ending abuse and violence against children, promoting the rule of law, reducing illicit financial flows and corruption, and developing accountable and transparent institutions.

But Goal 16 was not adopted without controversy. Many countries argued against the intrusion of peace and security, and even more so justice, considerations into the development sphere, and would have preferred that the goal be dropped altogether. Other countries maintained that this goal was central for them and that their support for the 2030 Agenda hinged upon it.

Nearly three years later, progress on Goal 16 is uneven, and there is considerable doubt that it can be achieved at its current implementation rate. Challenges arise in all countries, including Canada, and are likely to become more acute given current trends, particularly those related to violence.

Violence worldwide is on the rise and becoming increasingly complex and multidimensional. Almost half the world’s people have been affected by political violence over the last fifteen years, with lower-income countries bearing a disproportionately high share of the burden of armed violence. Yet developed countries are not immune — in many parts of the developed world, different forms of violence are also on the rise. Canada itself faces domestic challenges in addressing issues of violence and homicide, particularly against women and children.

Canada is also facing challenges in other related areas of Goal 16. Issues of justice for Indigenous Peoples have been much debated but insufficiently addressed over the past four decades. Comprehensively combatting transnational organised crime and illicit financial flows are elusive goals for Canada as well.

The challenge will be linking these subnational priorities with national strategies.

A common impediment for countries attempting to implement Goal 16 is the yawning gaps in reliable data, making it difficult to measure progress in meeting the goal’s targets. Fragile and conflict-affected states, in particular, often have incomplete, imperfect, or a total lack of data. The countries of the world vary hugely in their capacity to collect, monitor, and track indicators.

Moreover, obstacles to reaching the goals of SDG 16 are increasingly encountered in urban areas. Populations in cities are expected to increase to almost 70 per cent by 2050, and cities register higher homicide rates than rural areas. The challenges found within ‘fragile cities’ — characterised by rapid, unregulated urbanisation; high levels of inequality, unemployment, and violence; poor access to key services; and exposure to climate threats — mean that Goal 16 must be addressed at the subnational level.

In this context, one possible approach to accelerate the pace of implementation is to link national and local-level policies, providing greater support to subnational governance institutions. Local and regional governments in many countries have already recognised this, arguing that new institutional arrangements and channels of coordination need to underpin more effective, accountable, and transparent institutions, as well as more responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision-making. This is necessary for local governments to become more responsive to their communities, and for states to deliver on Goal 16.

Positive initiatives are currently underway that illustrate how this is happening. New forms of participatory decision-making — such as in budgeting and in enhancements to city housing, service delivery, and slum conditions — have led to improvements in public security and urban safety. Local governments have been working internationally and nationally to share relevant information and innovative, frequently data-driven, solutions.

The challenge will be linking these subnational priorities with national strategies. For example, Canada’s progress in implementing its Federal Sustainable Development Strategy 2016–2019, which focuses on the environmental aspects of the SDGs, does not sufficiently account for Goal 16, even though one of the aims of the strategy is to build safe, secure, and sustainable communities. However, at the provincial level, many strategies overlap with the SDGs — without specifically mentioning them — focusing on employment, education, and environmental concerns, but less commonly on violence and justice.

Achieving implementation of Goal 16 is a daunting task globally, for poorer countries in particular. The plethora of targets and indicators aiming to guide them tends to create white noise. Some countries have been felt disempowered by the ambition and wide spectrum of the 2030 Agenda, as much as they have been able to harness its potential for energising society. This has represented an obvious downside in practice to the United Nations’ otherwise admirable effort to design an all-encompassing agenda.

National governments will get to showcase their achievements at the United Nations High Level Political Forum, which is reviewing Goal 16 in 2019. Until then, greater effort is required nearly everywhere to achieve implementation of national policies towards this goal. Improved links between the national and subnational levels will move us all in the right direction.

This essay is part of Awakening — a collection of essays and artwork exploring sustainable development, organized by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Canada.

David M. Malone

Dr David M. Malone is Rector of the United Nations University and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Peace, justice & strong institutions

Violence across societies.

[goal: 16] calls for promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. Today, almost a billion people live in fragile and conflict-affected situations. In 2022, civilians across the world faced more than 116,000 violent events —a third of them in Ukraine.

↓ Read the full story

Deaths from homicide

The global homicide rate has been decreasing, albeit slowly, intentional homicides (per 100,000 people).

Source: [link: https://www.unodc.org/ UNODC], World Development Indicators ([link: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5 VC.IHR.PSRC.P5])

Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America & the Caribbean have the highest number of victims

Victims of intentional homicide (number, total).

Source: [link: https://www.unodc.org/ UNODC]

In a few countries, the homicide rate changed significantly in the first year of the pandemic

Intentional homicide: change in rate and total number of victims (2019-2020), the gender dimension of homicide, the male homicide rate is higher in most countries, intentional homicides (per 100,000 people), by gender, 2020.

Source: [link: https://www.unodc.org/ UNODC], World Development Indicators ([link: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.FE.P5 VC.IHR.PSRC.FE.P5]), ([link: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.MA.P5 VC.IHR.PSRC.MA.P5])

Men account for most homicide victims

Victims of intentional homicide (number, by gender), more men are arrested for homicide than women, persons arrested/suspected for intentional homicide by sex (total), 2020, causes of death and interpersonal violence, a large share of male deaths in latin america & caribbean are caused by interpersonal violence, causes of death (%), 15-49 years.

Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, [link: https://www.healthdata.org/gbd Global Burden of Diseases]

War and conflict

Many people die as a result of armed conflict, number of reported fatalities from organized violent events (2018-2022).

Source: [link: https://acleddata.com/ ACLED]

Impact of the war in Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of ukraine has claimed many lives, number of reported fatalities from organized violent events, the war in ukraine has pushed many to seek refuge outside of the country’s borders, number of refugees from ukraine.

Source: [link: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine UNHCR]

The war has had a devastating impact on Ukraine’s economy

Source: World Bank. World Development Indicators [link: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG]), Global Economic Prospects (NYGDPMKTPKDZ)

Fragile and conflict-affected situations

Almost a billion people live in fragile and conflict-affected situations (fcs), number of people living in fcs.

Source: World Bank. [link: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviolence/brief/harmonized-list-of-fragile-situations Classification of Fragility and Conflict Situations for World Bank Group Engagement]

By the end of the decade, extreme poverty will be concentrated in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS)

Poverty trends in fcs and other economies, 2000-30.

Source: World Bank. [link: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/3c335532-5484-51a4-a16f-78399ab2f025 Fragility and Conflict: On the Front Lines of the Fight against Poverty] Washington, DC: World Bank. (updated data as of February 2023)]

In poor countries most people facing food insecurity are in fragile or conflict affected situations

Number of people facing food insecurity in low income countries.

Source: World Bank Group,[link: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/59695a57-f323-5fa8-8c6f-d58bfa8918cd Global Economic Prospects (January 2023)]]

Yemen is facing dire levels of food insecurity

Inadequate food consumption (share of population, by governorate), march 2023.

Source: [link: https://dataviz.vam.wfp.org/version2/reports/yemen/yemen-food-security-and-market-monitoring-dec-2022 The World Food Programme]

Learn more about SDG 16

In the charts below you can find more facts about SDG {activeGoal} targets, which are not covered in this story. The data for these graphics is derived from official UN data sources.

SDG target 16.a

Many National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) worldwide are not fully compliant with the Paris Principles.

Existence of independent nhris in compliance with the paris principles by accreditation status, 2021.

* The [link: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/principles-relating-status-national-institutions-paris Paris Principles] are internationally recognized standards used to evaluate the credibility, independence, and effectiveness of national human rights institutions.

Source: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Retrieved from [link: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataportal/database UN SDG Portal (16.a)]. DOWNLOAD

SDG target 16.5.2

Bribery is more prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, but variation exists within income groups.

Bribery incidence (% of firms experiencing at least one bribe payment request), most recent value in 2017-21.

Source: World Bank. Retrieved from World Development Indicators ([link: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.FRM.BRIB.ZS IC.FRM.BRIB.ZS]). DOWNLOAD

UNICEF Data : Monitoring the situation of children and women

GOAL 16: PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Goal 16 aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Peace, stability, human rights and effective governance, based on the rule of law, are central to the realization of child rights, and a prerequisite for sustainable development. Governments can offer the first line of protection: birth registration systems give children claim to vital social services, equitable justice systems and other forms of child protection.

No child should ever be exposed to violence. Yet, globally, millions of children continue to face violence in their homes, schools, communities and online. Violence takes many forms: emotional, physical and sexual. Witnessing or experiencing violence erodes a child’s health, well-being and potential.

UNICEF’s contribution towards reaching this goal centres on ending the multiple kinds of violence children face around the world by supporting governments to build stronger child protection systems and challenging existing norms related to violence. UNICEF is custodian for global monitoring of two indicators that measure progress towards Goal 16: 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; and Indicator 16.2.3 Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18. UNICEF is also co-custodian for global monitoring of Indicator 16.9.1 Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority by age.

Child-related SDG indicators

Target 16.1 significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere, number of victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population, by sex and age.

• Indicator definition
• Computation method
• Comments & limitations

Violent death is widely seen at the international and national levels as the most extreme form of violent crime and gives insight into the levels of security in a given country. Monitoring intentional homicides is necessary to better assess their causes, drivers and consequences and, in the longer term, to develop effective preventive measures.

In several countries, two separate sets of data on intentional homicide are produced, respectively, from criminal justice and public health/civil registration systems. When they exist, figures from both data sources are reported. When data are not available from either criminal justice or from public health/civil registration, modelled estimates are used.

The indicator is defined as the total count of victims of intentional homicide divided by the total population, expressed per 100,000 population.

As per the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS), intentional homicide is defined as the unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury.

Numerator: Number of victims of intentional homicide in a given year. Denominator: Resident population in the same year.

Producing accurate counts on the number and causes of death among children and adolescents is particularly difficult. Such deaths may not be systematically recorded by criminal justice or vital registration systems, or age disaggregated data may not be available. Data on victims are often compiled in broad age categories that do not allow for the calculation of specific statistics on children. Additionally, determining cause of death, particularly when victims are very young, can be challenging even in countries with advanced and well-functioning health and registration systems. Registration systems that are operating effectively compile vital statistics on the occurrence of births and deaths during a given period. These data are then combined with figures obtained through medical and police records resulting from the certification of causes of individual deaths and the investigation of criminal cases. However, in many countries, administrative data pertaining to intentional injuries and deaths are not systematically collected, may not be accessible or may not be adequately compiled across sources. Calculating reliable figures from these basic counts is often not possible due to weaknesses in data collection systems, such as incomplete coverage or misrepresentation of the events.

Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population, by sex, age and cause

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development seeks to strengthen universal peace and commits to redouble efforts to resolve or prevent conflict. It recognizes that there can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development. Counting deaths occurring in situations of armed conflict is therefore essential to the measurement of the Agenda, including and beyond its Goal 16.

This indicator measures the prevalence of armed conflicts and their impact in terms of loss of life. Together with the indicator 16.1.1 on intentional homicide, they measure violent deaths that occur in all countries of the world (intentional homicides) and in situations of armed conflict (conflict-related deaths).

This indicator is defined as the total count of conflict related deaths divided by the total population, expressed per 100,000 population.

Conflict is defined as armed conflict in reference to a terminology enshrined in international humanitarian law and applied to situations based on the assessment of the UN and other internationally mandated entities. Conflict-related deaths refer to direct and indirect deaths associated with armed conflict. These deaths may have been caused by (i) the use of weapons or (ii) other means and methods. Deaths caused by weapons include but are not limited to those inflicted by firearms, missiles, mines and bladed weapons. It may also include deaths resulting from aerial attacks and bombardments (e.g., of military bases, cities and villages), crossfire, explosive remnants of war, targeted killings or assassinations, and force protection incidents. Deaths caused by other means and methods may include deaths from torture or sexual and gender-based violence, intentional killing using starvation, depriving prisoners of access to health care or denying access to essential goods and services (e.g., an ambulance stopped at a checkpoint).

Indirect deaths are deaths resulting from a loss of access to essential goods and services (e.g., economic slowdown, shortages of medicines or reduced farming capacity that result in lack of access to adequate food, water, sanitation, health care and safe conditions of work) that are caused or aggravated by the situation of armed conflict.

By definition, these deaths should be separated from other violent deaths, which are, in principle, not connected to the situation of armed conflict (e.g., intentional and non-intentional homicides, self-defense, self-inflicted), but are still relevant to the implementation and measurement of SDG target 16.1.

Population refers to total resident population in a given situation of armed conflict included in the indicator, in a given year. Population data are derived from annual estimates produced by the UN Population Division.

Numerator: The total count of conflict- related deaths. Denominator: The total population, expressed per 100,000 population.

Discrepancies might exist between national definitions, international statistical and legal standards, coverage and quality of data, according to the mandate, methods and capacity of data providers.

In situations of armed conflict, a large share of deaths may not be reported. Often, normal registration systems are heavily affected by the presence of armed conflict. Additionally, actors on both sides of an armed conflict may have incentives for misreporting, deflating or inflating casualties. In most instances, the number of cases reported will depend on access to conflict zones, access to information, motivation and perseverance of both international and national actors, such as UN peace missions and other internationally mandated entities, national institutions (e.g., national statistical offices, national human rights institutions) and relevant civil society organizations.

Disaggregating data by characteristics of victims and by causes of death is particularly complex and may result in limited data availability for children.

TARGET 16.2 End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children

Percentage of children (aged 1-14 years) who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers.

• Explore the Data

Violent discipline at home is the most common form of violence experienced by children. While teaching children self-control and acceptable behaviour is an integral part of child rearing in all cultures, many caregivers rely on the use of violent methods, both physical and psychological, to punish unwanted behaviours and encourage desired ones.

Regardless of the type, all forms are violations of children’s rights. While children of all ages are at risk, experiencing violent discipline at a young age can be particularly harmful, given the increased potential for physical injuries as well as children’s inability to understand the motivation behind the act or to adopt coping strategies to alleviate their distress.

Proportion of children aged 1 to 14 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression at home in the past month. The rationale for using a proxy indicator for SDG 16.2.1 is because comparable data are currently only available for a subset of children aged 1 to 14 years.

The following definitions come from the MICS programme, the principal source of data for this indicator:

Physical (or corporal) punishment is an action intended to cause physical pain or discomfort, but not injuries. Physical punishment is defined as shaking a child, hitting or slapping him/her on the hand/arm/leg, hitting him/her on the bottom or elsewhere on the body with a hard object, spanking or hitting him/her on the bottom with a bare hand, hitting or slapping him/her on the face, head or ears, and beating him/her over and over as hard as possible.

Psychological aggression refers to the action of shouting, yelling or screaming at a child, as well as calling a child offensive names, such as ‘dumb’ or ‘lazy’.

The term violent discipline encompasses any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression.

‘Past month’ typically refers to the 30 days prior to the interview/data collection (in other words, has the child experienced violent discipline at any point in the 30 days prior to data collection). ‘Caregiver’ refers to any adult household member with caregiving responsibilities for the child (not just the primary caregiver or the respondent to the questionnaire).

Numerator: Number of children aged 1 to 14 years who have experienced any physical punishment and/ or psychological aggression by caregivers in the past month.

Denominator: Total number of children aged 1 to 14 years in the population.

In the third and fourth rounds of MICS, the standard indicator referred to the proportion of children aged 2 to 14 years who experienced any form of violent discipline (physical punishment and/or psychological aggression) within the past month. Beginning with the fifth round of MICS, the age group covered was expanded to capture children’s experiences with disciplinary practices between the ages of 1 and 14 years. Therefore, current data availability does not capture the full age range specified in the SDG indicator since data are not collected for adolescents aged 15 to 17 years. Further methodological work is needed to identify additional items on disciplinary practices relevant to older adolescents.

Click on the button below to explore the data behind this indicator.

Explore the data

Proportion of young women and men aged 18-29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18

Sexual violence is one of the most unsettling of children’s rights violations. As such, it is the subject of dedicated international legal instruments aimed at protecting children against its multiple forms. Acts of sexual violence, which often occur together and with other forms of violence, can range from direct physical contact to unwanted exposure to sexual language and images. Although children of every age are susceptible, adolescence is a period of pronounced vulnerability.

Although estimates can be found of the number of children who have experienced sexual violence, one of the biggest challenges in this field is underreporting, which stymies efforts to generate accurate statistics. In fact, most victims do not disclose experiences of childhood sexual abuse until adulthood, while many others (a number impossible to quantify) remain silent for their entire lives.

Proportion of young women and men aged 18 to 29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18. This indicator is always reported on separately for women and men.

Sexual violence is often used as an umbrella term to cover all types of sexual victimization.19 According to General Comment No. 13 on the CRC, sexual violence against children “comprises any sexual activities imposed by an adult on a child against which the child is entitled to protection by criminal law”.20 Sexual violence is operationally defined in the indicator as sexual intercourse or any other sexual acts that were forced, physically or in any other way. This indicator captures all experiences of sexual violence that occurred during childhood (i.e., prior to age 18) regardless of the legal age of consent stipulated in relevant national legislation.

Numerator: Number of young women and men aged 18 to 29 years who report having experienced any sexual violence by age 18 Denominator: Total number of young women and men aged 18 to 29 years in the population

The availability of comparable data remains a serious challenge in this area as many data collection efforts have relied on different study methodologies and designs, definitions of sexual violence, samples and questions to elicit information. Data on the experiences of boys are particularly sparse. A further challenge in this field is underreporting, especially when it comes to experiences of sexual violence among boys and men.

TARGET 16.9 By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration

Percentage of children under age 5 whose births are registered.

Birth registration is a first step towards safeguarding individual rights and providing every person with access to justice and social services. Thus, birth registration is not only a fundamental human right, but also key to ensuring the fulfilment of other rights.

Birth registration is an essential part of a functioning civil registration system that produces vital statistics, which are essential for sound government planning and effective use of resources. In this way, target 16.9 is linked to targets 17.18 and 17.19, both of which concern statistical capacity-building support to developing countries.

Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority.

Birth registration is defined as the official recording of the occurrence and characteristics of births in accordance with the legal requirements of a country.

Civil authorities/registrars are the officials authorized to register the occurrence of vital events, including births.

Numerator: Number of children under age 5 whose births are reported as being registered with the relevant national civil authorities.

Denominator: Total number of children under age 5 in the population.

Substantial differences can exist between CRVS coverage and birth registration levels as captured by household surveys. The differences are primarily because data from CRVS typically refer to the proportion of all births that have been registered (often within a specific time frame), whereas household surveys often report on the proportion of children under age 5 whose births are registered. The latter (the level of registration among children under 5) is specified in the SDG indicator.

Data from household surveys like MICS or DHS sometimes refer only to children with a birth certificate. UNICEF methodically notes this difference when publishing country-level estimates for global monitoring.

One of the most common pitfalls with questionnaire design involves respondents’ misunderstanding of the actual registration process. For example, respondents might be unaware of the specific authorities legally tasked with birth registration and might therefore misinterpret the act of notifying a church or village chief of a birth as formal registration. To address this ambiguity, household survey questionnaires are often customized to include reference to the specific national authority responsible for registration. Similarly, respondents might confuse a birth certificate with a health card or other document and thus inaccurately report children as registered. Despite attempts to resolve such issues, confusion about the process of birth registration might still exist and result in erroneous reporting.

To mitigate risks during the pandemic, governments must prioritize maintaining and adapting critical prevention and response services to protect children from violence and ensure their access to justice, as part of their public health response.  UNICEF has three key asks of governments towards Goal 16:

• Peaceful societies – to protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse.
• Just societies – to ensure that every child is fully respected, protected and fulfilled.
• Inclusive societies – to engage all children in processes and decisions that affect them and society more broadly.

Learn more about  UNICEF’s key asks for implementing Goal 16

See more Sustainable Development Goals

ZERO HUNGER

GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

QUALITY EDUCATION

GENDER EQUALITY

CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

REDUCED INEQUALITIES

CLIMATE ACTION

PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS

Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

• First Online: 13 April 2021

Cite this chapter

• Joel C. Gill 3 , 4 ,
• Amel Barich 5 ,
• Nic Bilham 4 , 6 , 7 ,
• Sarah Caven 8 ,
• Amy Donovan 9 ,
• Marleen de Ruiter 10 &
• Martin Smith 11  

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development Goals Series ((SDGS))

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Gill, J.C. et al. (2021). Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. In: Gill, J.C., Smith, M. (eds) Geosciences and the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38815-7_16

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Why Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions Matter

In Miami and the rest of the United States, it can be easy to take freedoms for granted. In not just the United States, not just Miami, there are communities with peace, just, strong institutions that have fair governmental structures. However, there are plenty of nations where citizens do not have basic freedoms like freedom of speech or freedom of assembly. Citizens simply have to sit back and accept the fact that they have no freedom, no power to fight against institutionalized oppression or violence. Peace, justice, and strong institutions matter, not only because every human should be guaranteed the right to safety, but because the human race will grow stronger if everyone feels safe and protected.

Weak Institutions

Corruption is the main feature of institutions that make them weak, lacking justice and peace. Additionally, oppression, whether of marginalized groups or of all citizens, weakens institutions and causes a lack of safety for entire communities of individuals. There are many countries that could be considered to have weak institutions, and many are developing countries that do not have established, independent, fair governments. Because it is often the responsibility of the government to do things like tax everyday people and use that money to fund projects within the community, in developing countries, corrupt leaders can take over and keep the money of the people for themselves, adding to their own personal wealth. Nations as a whole cannot be blamed for having weak institutions: instead, it is the fault of leaders who are willing to take advantage of people, incite violence, and generally prevent peace or justice.

The Lasting Impact of Violence

Violence in countries with weak institutions is common, whether they are developing countries, or fully established countries with war zones and common violent acts being performed. In countries that have a history of violence, it is common for people to flee and become refugees in other nations. Being surrounded by normalized violence and murder enacted by one’s own government is a natural reason to want to escape to a different nation. However, there is a large percentage of refugees who are sent back to their home countries and forced to remain in the violence because safer nations will not accept and house refugees. The only solution to this is to establish stronger institutions worldwide, so that less people will need to become refugees in the first place, and so that countries that accept some refugees are able to accept as many people as needed.

The Benefit of Strong Institutions

Establishing peace, justice, and strong institutions for every nation worldwide sounds daunting, but it is the sixteenth sustainable development goal of the United Nations. In order to promote a better, safer world, the United Nations hopes that strong institutions can be established by the year 2030. Strong institutions with peace and justice include laws protecting generally marginalized groups, removing all corrupt leaders from governmental office, protections of the rights and freedoms of individuals, and providing resources to citizens who are unable to have their basic human needs fulfilled. This goal matters because it will allow for the betterment of all societies on Earth, which is necessary as climate change grows worse.

A Future of Peace and Justice

For a near future of peace and justice worldwide, a lot of change must occur during this decade. The pandemic has hindered some efforts by the United Nations to accomplish some sustainable development goals, but statistics are still improving when it comes to the amount of impoverished people in the world. Putting in the effort for fair government and equal, equitable freedoms for all is necessary to accomplish, whether in this decade or in the next. Progress can be made if people in government dedicate themselves to accomplishing these goals, and prioritizing peace and justice for everyone. The future is largely determined by governmental decisions, so it is more important than ever to be politically involved, supporting peace and justice.

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GOAL 16: PEACE, JUSTICE, AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS

Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) point 16th, talking about peace, justice and effective governance. Those are keys to sustainable development, particularly in the development of people and society. However, today, peacefulness and justice are still not felt yet by some people. There are still people who live with a sense of fear and have not received justice that should be obtained. This is exacerbated by some governments that perpetrate arbitrary societies, such as violence, improper conduct of justice, disrespect for human rights, and anything else. In the perspective of Pancasila and citizenship, peacefulness and justice are of utmost importance in Indonesia. This can be seen from the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution, the second, fourth and fifth principles on Pancasila. As a knowledgeable human being and as an Indonesian citizen, it should be human to practice and apply the principles of life in accordance with Pancasila. By implementing Pancasila, community life will be according to what aspired by Indonesian ancestors.

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