Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+

4 June 2019 News TAP Network, Namati, CSPPS & GPPAC

GPPAC joined other civil society organisations at the Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies Conference in preparation for HLPF 2019 in a call for all actors to come together and take much greater action towards the implementation of SDG 16. In many countries and communities, progress towards peaceful, just, and inclusive societies is backsliding. Together with many other civil society actors, who were unable to come to Rome, we demand committed, urgent, and meaningful action by governments, international organisations and private sector and commit to take this forward ourselves. We will use this to jointly push common demands ahead of the HLPF and the SDG Summit in September. GPPAC will also develop more specific advocacy points with its members ahead of the HLPF.

The 2030 Agenda is for people, prosperity, and planet – and its accompanying 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and represents indivisible and interrelated components of the entire sustainable development framework. SDG16, however, is both a stand-alone goal as well as a foundational underpinning to all of the other SDGs. As a result, SDG16 is now commonly referred to as “SDG16+” – reflecting the interdependence of peace and development as well as linkages to other goals and targets, such as gender equality in SDG5 and reducing inequalities in SDG10 that embody broader commitments to peace, justice, and inclusion. Delivery on the targets of SDG16 impacts the world’s overall ability to achieve sustainable development.

As civil society, we call on all actors, including Member States, UN bodies, multilateral agencies, donors, the private sector, CSOs, think tanks, research institutions, and others to collectively accelerate and increase efforts across all relevant SDG goals and targets to address structural inequalities, gendered, racial, and other forms of discrimination, and violence.

Taking stock of global progress towards achieving SDG16+ is an important part of determining future focus. With SDG16 being reviewed for the first time at the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) and the SDGs being reviewed for the first time at the SDGs Summit during the opening of the 74th United Nations General Assembly, 2019 marks an unprecedented opportunity to scale up our collective efforts towards SDG16+ implementation. To contribute to this, civil society organizations (CSOs) from around the world met in Rome, Italy on 26 May 2019 in the context of the SDG16 Conference (Rome Conference) after a series of in-depth consultations, convened by UNDESA, IDLO, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Italy in preparation for the 2019 HLPF. The resulting Civil Society outcome document –Amplified Commitment and Partnerships for Accelerated Action: The Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+ (Rome Declaration) – highlights key civil society priority areas, recommendations, and an urgent call-to-action to achieve the real transformative potential of SDG16+.

As civil society, we call on all actors, including Member States, UN bodies, multilateral agencies, donors, the private sector, CSOs, think tanks, research institutions, and others to collectively accelerate and increase efforts across all relevant SDG goals and targets to address structural inequalities, gendered, racial, and other forms of discrimination, and violence. These forms of exclusion and marginalization are structural obstacles to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda that must be addressed for its realization.

We are now looking at having as broad a support for this call for action as possible. You can endorse and share the declaration with other colleagues also!