Chapter 8: Recommendations: A call-to-action for urgent commitments to SDG16+ at the halfway point to 2030
This chapter provides key recommendations from civil society partners working on SDG16+ at all levels. Many of these proposals have been a centrepiece of civil society’s advocacy and calls-to-action since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, which highlights the urgency for governments and the international community to act upon these recommendations at this critical halfway point to 2030.
These recommendations are aligned with many joint civil society and SDG16+ community insights from these first seven years of implementation of SDG16+. This includes important linkages with the Rome Civil Society Declarations on SDG16+ from 2019 to 2023, the #SDG16Now Campaign’s mobilisation objectives, the 2023 Global SDG16+ Survey, the 2023 Global SDG16+ Coalition Joint Statement, and inputs from several years of consultations and work within the TAP Network with its hundreds of members and partners.
In light of the overall downward trend in progress towards SDG16+ which has been outlined in previous chapters, the recommendations from this report have been compiled to include the most urgent and action-oriented areas for immediate action and attention from governments, the UN system, the private sector, civil society and the wider international community at-large.
I. Make bold and transformative commitments to SDG16+ at all levels at the 2023 SDGs Summit
“At this halfway point to 2030, the 2023 SDGs Summit represents a pivotal and indispensable moment for governments and the international community to bring SDG action and implementation back on track. It is therefore critical for governments to come to the SDGs Summit with concrete commitments to action around SDG16+, which outline specific actions they will take to deliver on the SDGs in this second half of implementation towards 2030.”
– 2023 Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+
A. Governments must come to the 2023 SDGs Summit with targeted, focused and transformative commitments to SDG16+ action
- This builds upon the UN Secretary-General’s call for Member States to convey ‘National Commitments to SDG Transformation’ at the SDGs Summit.
- These commitments to act on SDG16+ must fit the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound) criteria, and should be clear, verifiable and quantifiable actions that outline how governments will deliver on their existing SDG16+ obligations.
B. Governments must include civil society at all stages of the commitment-making process at the national level
- This will help to ensure that any commitments brought to the SDGs Summit or beyond are people-centred and responsive to the needs of citizens themselves. Governments must also include civil society in the follow-up from these commitments, including through the Voluntary National Review (VNR) processes going forward.
- Civil society and other stakeholders should also be encouraged to outline similar commitments to action, and these commitments should be featured alongside government commitments at the 2023 SDGs Summit.
C. Any commitments made around the 2023 SDGs Summit must be adequately compiled and tracked to ensure accountability
- The UN Secretariat must feature these commitments in a transparent and inclusive web-based platform. This could also include adding these commitments to an existing registry such as the UN SDG Actions Platform.
D. Reform the HLPF to provide an action-oriented platform for commitments and accountability
- Member States must raise the level of ambition for the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) through the HLPF modalities review in 2024, including by building the ‘National Commitments to SDG Transformation’ into the preparation and programme of the HLPF going forward.
- Particularly in this second half of implementation of the SDGs, the HLPF should provide a platform for action and commitments, ensuring that the HLPF is action-oriented towards addressing any insights from the VNRs in any given year, or any shortcomings in progress to date.
II. Ensure robust financing for SDG16+ at all levels
“A lack of financing and investments for SDG16+ across the board has thus far had devastating impacts on a government’s ability to deliver people-centred results across the entire 2030 Agenda. Decades of neglect for investing in institutions has left critical governance processes unable to respond to the urgent crises facing governments and their people today, and weakening their resilience to future global crises. It is therefore critical that financing for SDG16+ should be a top priority for governments and the international community.”
– 2023 Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16
A. Governments and the international community must come to the 2023 SDGs Summit with transformative financial commitments
- We strongly support the Secretary-General’s call for an ambitious ‘SDGs Stimulus Plan’, which calls for an additional $500 billion per year towards sustainable development financing.
- For national governments, this includes commitments to domestic resource mobilisation and budgetary commitments to deliver on the SDGs and SDG16+.
- For donors, this also includes financial commitments towards SDG16+ and the 2030 Agenda, which can also play a key role in helping donors meet their commitments to 0.7 per cent of GDP for development cooperation.
B. Donors must develop and invest in a comprehensive donor-collaborative “Global SDG16+” to ensure investments into SDG16+ are prioritised and coordinated
- Reiterating calls from the 2022 and 2023 Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+, the establishment of a Global SDG16+ provides a critical opportunity for donors to double-down efforts to support SDG16+ and help ensure that civil society and grassroots groups are supported at all levels, around areas that have been desperately underfunded in recent years.
- At a minimum, donors must ensure that their financial support and investments take into account all aspects of SDG16+, to ensure that financing efforts are aligned across the donor community, but also to help prevent of work around SDG16+ issues becoming siloed.
- Additionally, we call on governments to ensure continued investment and replenishment of other funds around specific SDG16+ issues, including human rights, such as the UN Peacebuilding Fund, Legal Empowerment Fund, the UN Democracy Fund, and ensure that increased core, flexible funds are provided to grassroots organisations close to communities.
III. Reform the international financial architecture to support SDG16+ objectives
“While the SDG Stimulus can be achieved within the confines of the current financial architecture, adequate long-term financing requires reforming the international financial architecture and overcoming the major structural barriers that predominantly serve wealthy countries and individuals. As a starting point, this calls for delivering on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and other international frameworks.”
– 2023 SDG Progress Report Special Edition
A. Governments and the international community must commit to supporting measurements of sustainable development ‘Beyond GDP’
- We support the call for expanding the measurement of economic progress to a ‘Beyond GDP’ model. This is of particular importance for SDG16+, as measurements Beyond GDP are critical for identifying where investments and actions for SDG16+ result in quantifiable, positive impacts for governments and their people.
- By looking beyond GDP and considering a broader range of indicators, such as measures of social inclusion, access to justice, peacebuilding or investment in institutions and governance systems, we can more accurately gauge progress towards SDG16+ and make informed decisions about how to allocate resources and address areas where progress is lacking.
B. Addressing the sovereign debt crisis with urgency and innovation, including by considering debt cancellation or restructuring
- Governments and the international community must make efforts to solve the increasingly urgent sovereign debt crisis. To do so, debt cancellation or restructuring must be considered, as well as other innovative mechanisms such as ‘debt swaps’ which will further incentivise action towards SDG16+ and the 2030 Agenda overall.
C. Governments must commit to establishing a ‘Global Tax Body’ through the UN
- We support and reiterate the call from many civil society groups for the establishment of a global tax body facilitated by the UN, to help the international community address issues around tax evasion, illicit financial flows, and stolen asset recovery and repatriation. Such a body is critical for ensuring transparency of the global tax system, and will help ensure fairness across the entire global economic system.
IV. Protect and expand civic space and recognise the indispensable role of civil society in delivery on SDG16+ at all levels
“Society is stronger and more resilient when women and men can play a meaningful role in political, economic and social life, contributing to policymaking that affects their lives, including by accessing information, engaging in dialogue, expressing dissent and joining together to express their views. This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
– UN Secretary-General’s “The Highest Aspiration: A Call to Action for Human Rights”
A. Governments must remove all barriers in law and practice that prevents civil society from accessing funding from international sources
- Governments must reform and remove any ‘foreign agent’ or foreign donation laws which place severe restrictions on the ability of civil society organisations in many countries to access funding from international sources. Such structural and legal barriers are a significant challenge particularly for many civil society groups working around SDG16+ issues in particular, and only weaken the delivery of the SDGs and undercut social accountability at all levels.
B. Governments and the international community must ensure the protection of human rights and other justice defenders
- In line with governments’ commitments to Target 16.10 as well as the 2016 UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Civil Society Space and other relevant international agreements, governments must not only protect these human rights and justice defenders, but create an enabling environment for the implementation of their work and actively support them and frontline responders at all levels.
V. Pursue integrated approaches to implementing SDG16+ as a means of improving delivery of the entire 2030 Agenda
“SDG16+ is critical for addressing the root causes of many of the world’s challenges. In a world plagued by violent conflicts, corruption, and widespread exclusion, greater action towards SDG16+ provides a high-yield opportunity for governments and the international community to address key challenges related to SDG implementation overall.”
–2023 Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+
A. Governments must commit to an annual thematic review of SDG16+ through the HLPF going forward
- We reiterate our long-standing call for SDG16+ to be reviewed annually at the HLPF going forward, including through the negotiations around the review of the HLPF modalities taking place in 2024.
- This affirms that SDG16+ strongly links with all other goals, in line with the integrated and indivisible nature of the 2030 Agenda. A thematic review of SDG16+ at each forthcoming HLPF will also help realise the Agenda’s universal vision with scale and ambition, balancing all dimensions of sustainable development and ensuring we leave no country and no one behind.
B. Governments and the UN must ensure that participation modalities at the 2023 SDGs Summit and 2024 Summit of the Future are as inclusive as possible
- Efforts must be made to ensure the inclusion of civil society voices from developing countries, as well as marginalised and vulnerable groups, and people living in fragile and conflict-affected.