SDG 16: Promote peaceful inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels


SDG 16 is an engine for progress and an enabling tool for all other Goals. Sustaining peace and development invariably requires meeting the various targets under Goal 16. UNODC's work contributes to all targets under SDG 16. 

Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death  rates everywhere

 

Target 16.2:  End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children

 

Target 16.3: Promote the rule of law at the national  and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all

 

Target 16.4: By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime

 

Target 16.5: Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms

 

Target 16.6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels

 

Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels

 

Target 16.a.1: Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime.

  

UNODC supports the establishment of effective, fair and humane criminal justice systems. It promotes penal and prison reform, as well as access to justice. These areas include a lack of: access to legal aid; alternatives to imprisonment; youth crime prevention programmes; offenders' rehabilitation; social reintegration measures; as well as the overuse of pre-trial detention.

In partnership with UNICEF, the Office supports countries to ensure that children are better served and protected by justice systems, and that measures are put in place to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children, supporting the achievement of Targets 16.2 and 16.3.

UNODC is also well placed to monitor Target 16.3 through its annual United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) and its annual report on 'World crime trends and emerging issues and responses in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice' to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

UNODC offers Member States a full spectrum of tools to strengthen anti-money laundering legal frameworks and develop capacities of national agencies to investigate money laundering and terrorism financing, disrupt illicit financial flows and support the recovery of stolen assets. Further, it carries out research and data collection in several areas connected to organized crime including firearms, drugs and other illicit markets, wildlife crime and trafficking in persons. 

Based on the United Nations Convention against Corruption, UNODC assists Member States in preventing, detecting, investigating and sanctioning corruption and in promoting international cooperation against corruption, as well as the recovery of proceeds of corruption, both domestically and internationally.

UNODC also supports efforts by States to develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions through the comprehensive implementation of Chapter II of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. UNODC facilitates the sharing of information on lessons learned and the adaptability of good practices on the prevention of corruption in public and private sector institutions, including accountability measures, strengthening professionalism and integrity, and promoting public access to information and the transparency of institutional functions and services. In addition, UNODC promotes transparency and the prevention of corruption in the private sector, in partnership with the United Nations Global Compact. 

Further, the Office encourages and facilitates the participation of a wide range of civil society organizations, contributing to an open, responsive and accountable decision-making process on crime- and drug-related matters at the international level.

Under SDG 16, UNODC is the international lead organization for compiling statistical indicators for a number of SDG Targets and plays an important part in measuring other Targets as well. UNODC's global collection of administrative and survey data on crime and criminal justice and the promotion of crime victimization surveys, provide the statistical evidence base for monitoring patterns and trends of crime and the criminal justice response to crime, and for evaluating policy interventions and crime prevention measures.

Furthermore, UNODC is consolidating its long-time global series related to homicide, trafficking in persons and criminal justice efficiency, among others, as well as refining the indicators to address new needs, while at the same assisting countries to strengthen their capacity to monitor SDG 16.