Building Peaceful and Just Societies:

The Noble Purposes of Goal 16 between an Urgent Human Necessity and Global Challenges: A Reading of Goal 16 in Light of the Current Global Context

Mohamed Saer Rahal

 

Abstract: The Sustainable Development Agenda was embraced by the United Nations as an international pledge towards the realisation of peace and prosperity among people and the planet. In line with this, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 promotes the creation of peaceful and fair societies. This inevitably involves the construction of a rule-of-law state, both on the local and international levels. One should bear in mind that the sustainable peace envisaged by the SDG 16 objectives is not just internal but also international. The deterioration of international peace may cause the deterioration of domestic peace, thus compromising a decade of efforts in ensuring sustainable development. Here, SDG 16 plays a central role, and thus it is a necessary channel to fulfil all the other SDGs. Currently, SDG 16 faces a crisis due to the fragile local contexts of certain countries and the generally unstable regional and global situation, making the achievement of its Goals extremely challenging. Consequently, it is legitimate to ask: how can we speak of achieving the SDGs in general, and the peace principles of SDG 16 in particular, in a world dominated by conflicts, unrest, and human rights violations? This question, in turn, clarifies the main objective behind my choice of this topic, as it constitutes the central pillar of Goal 16 around which the other SDGs revolve. The particular importance of this study also becomes evident in light of the turbulent local context in some countries, as well as the tense regional and global situation.