22 September 2016: An alliance to support governments in reporting progress towards peaceful, just and inclusive societies was launched at a high-level event organized by the Permanent Missions of Cabo Verde, Mexico, Norway, Qatar, Sierra Leone and Tunisia. UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Peter Thomson welcomed the Alliance as an “important first step to building a partnership for action on SDG 16.”

The Global Alliance for Reporting Progress on Promoting Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies was established to build new forms of partnership to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It aims to support “effective and meaningful reporting” on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and its interlinkages with the rest of the 2030 Agenda, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development, and respecting national policies and priorities. SDG 16 calls 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.’ The UN Development Programme (UNDP) serves as facilitator for the Global Alliance.

Ahead of its formal launch, the Alliance held a partners meeting on 11 July 2016, on the sidelines of the 2016 session of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), according to a UNDP newsletter. At that meeting, partners endorsed the Alliance’s terms of reference and called for Steering Committee nominations. The Steering Committee, as presently composed, includes governments, private sector and civil society: Cabo Verde, Mexico, Norway, Qatar, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia; Deloitte, LexisNexis and White & Case; and the Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAP) Network, the New York University (NYU) Center for International Co-operation, and the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA). The Steering Committee will guide the work of the Global Alliance including helping to determine its priorities, work plan and criteria for membership.

The high-level event on ‘Peaceful, just and inclusive societies for sustainable development: Delivering on the 2030 Agenda’ convened in New York, US, on 22 September 2016, on the sidelines of the 71st UNGA. In opening remarks, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said the Alliance will encourage Member States to conduct voluntary reporting on “all forms of progress” towards building peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, and that this includes recording and sharing the “human stories behind the statistics.” She noted the needs for additional reporting capacity, both to achieve this expanded approach to reporting, and because of the breadth of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. To meet these reporting capacity needs, Clark said, the Alliance aims to match governments’ needs with resources from Alliance partners.

In a keynote address, Mary Robinson, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation, highlighted linkages between SDG 16, SDG 10 (reduced inequality) and SDG 5 (gender equality), and stressed these three Goals’ role in achieving all of the others. She said sustainable development is not possible without action on climate change, and vice versa. But in addition, she stressed, “neither is possible without the rule of law and access to justice, for all. For me, climate change is fundamentally a question of justice.”

The event also included statements from several foreign affairs ministers (Qatar, Cabo Verde, Sierra Leone, Tunisia), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other high-level officials, and a high-level panel featuring: Ibrahim Gambari, Co-Chair, Commission on Global Security, Justice, & Governance; Marcia Balisciano, RELX Group; Savio Carvalho, Amnesty International and TAP Network Steering Committee; and Mahmoud Mohieldin, The World Bank.

Thomson concluded the launch event by stressing the importance of participatory decision-making for implementing SDG 16. He said the Alliance provides a needed approach to partnership, in which Member States, civil society and the private sector are brought together in a collaborative way. He said that by communicating stories of progress from the grassroots level, in addition to assisting Member States with statistical reporting under the SDG indicators, the Alliance will help to create a “clear understanding of what is needed to achieve peaceful, just and inclusive societies.” [UNGA President’s Remarks] [UNDP Administrator Remarks] [Mary Robinson Centre Press Release] [UNDP Newsletter] [Meeting Webcast] [Event Details]