2024 has been a record-breaking year in the worst possible ways: It’s already the hottest year in history, with ocean temperatures soaring to new highs every day. Conflict, climate disasters, and displacement have reached unprecedented levels while human rights, especially for girls and women, are being rolled back worldwide. The UN’s 2024 SDG Report underscores the need for turbocharged action, revealing that a dismal 17% of the Global Goals’ benchmarks are currently on track for 2030.
The upcoming 79th UNGA session, which starts on September 10th, marks a crucial milestone in the global effort to accelerate progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The highly anticipated Summit of the Future, to be held during UNGA at the end of September, will underscore the urgent need for enhanced international cooperation to address pressing challenges – such as climate change, poverty and inequality – while also tackling the impacts of ongoing conflicts and global health crises.
Two milestone high-level meetings will take place during UNGA 79. The first is the High-Level Meeting on Sea-Level Rise and the second is the High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). Both meetings will convene global leaders, experts, and stakeholders to address urgent matters around rising sea levels and the threat of AMR.
Focusing on SDG 16
Although much of the focus of the upcoming UNGA will be around accelerating efforts to meet the targets of the UN SDGs, there is no doubt that world leaders will also turn their attention to the ongoing crises in the war-torn states of Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine. The adoption of Global Goal 16 — Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions — was a hard-earned effort. It marked the first time that promoting the rule of law, expanding access to justice for all, and making institutions more accountable and transparent were universally recognised as a global path to peace with development targets.
“Most of the other goals had controversial elements, but Goal 16 was the only goal that many delegates didn’t think belonged in the framework at all,” said Elizabeth Cousens, President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation, in remarks delivered at an SDG 16 event on the sidelines of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2024 (HLPF) at the United States Mission to the UN in July 2024. As we’ve already seen since UNGA 78, new wars and old tensions have erupted, escalating humanitarian crises in some of the world’s most impoverished areas. These global events exacerbate suffering, hinder sustainable development, and serve to widen the gap for access to justice, despite it being a fundamental human right.
The UN’s 2024 SDG Report puts some of the statistics around justice — or lack of justice — into perspective. For example, the global prison population increased from 11.1 million in 2015 to 11.5 million in 2022. A third of that global prison population — 3.5 million people — was held in pretrial detention or had not yet been sentenced. With government budgets strained by a confluence of factors from political instability to inflation and volatile global prices, the ability swiftly to administer justice is severely affected.
This distressing data underscores that the path to global peace and security, which is key to sustainable development, has been complex — and must change. It’s why SDG 16 and all its targets are pivotal to reversing these trends.
It’s Time for Change
We have less than six years’ left to meet SDGs, and this is a key time for world leaders to come together and draft a pathway for peace and prosperity.
We urge supporters to write to their MPs in advance of UNGA 79, calling for the following:
- The UK must conduct an updated Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the SDGs: the last time the UK presented a VNR to the UNGA was in 2019 and there have been significant political changes since then as well as a global pandemic, which tore through communities in the country. It is vital that the UK upholds transparency with regards to demonstrating progress towards meeting the goals.
- The UK should invest more in youth and civil society: young people in the UK are the future. They are the ones who will be affected the most by the decisions made today by world leaders. They simply cannot be ignored as we countdown to 2030. Civil society organisations are powerful entities aimed at transforming the lives of the most marginalised in communities. They hold the power to advocate for change as well as support the elderly, poor and those with disabilities.
- Women’s contributions are integral in all stages of peacekeeping: we must integrate a gender perspective into all components of peacekeeping missions, including preventing – and responding to – Conflict Related Sexual Violence. Gender-responsive conflict analysis and technical gender expertise are critical to mission effectiveness, including in transition planning. The UN should commit to ensuring that the WPS (Women, Peace, Security) agenda plays a central role in all peacekeeping plans, including drawdowns and withdrawals.
- The UK must uphold the norms of International Humanitarian Law. 2023 was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers and 2024 is forecast to be even worse with ongoing attacks on aid workers in areas such as Gaza, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. World leaders should take urgent action to ensure the protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers, in conflict zones. The UK should immediately halt providing military equipment to countries violating international law by engaging in attacks disproportionally killing innocent civilians.
Global reform is often difficult and incremental. The upcoming UNGA 79 is an important stepping stone in our path to build a greener, prosperous and more peaceful world for all. Let’s ensure it is well used!
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