At the 70th United Nations General Assembly, the Sustainable Development Goals, for the first time, make a critical link between conflict, poverty, justice, and peace.
World leaders gathered in New York this week for the 70th United Nations General Assembly. This was a momentous occasion where the international community came together and approved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which sets up an agenda for the next fifteen years of measurable progress toward tackling some of the world’s most pressing concerns such as extreme poverty, access to healthcare, hunger and other development concerns.
Notably, the SDGs, for the first time, makes a critical link between conflict, poverty, justice, and peace. Goal #16 outlines the international community’s intent to:
The SDGs resulted from an extensive consultation process that began in 2012 at the RIO+20conference where participants from governments, private sector, NGOs and other agencies gathered at Rio de Janeiro to advocate for “(a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.”
Goal 16 challenges the international community including the United States to acknowledge our interconnectedness and move towards a vision of shared security.
As members of the national and global community, we must hold each other accountable for choosing peace over war by building strong governmental structures that support civilian peacebuilding. This is why FCNL lobbies Congress to fully fund the crucial peacebuilding and conflict peacebuilding programs that are carried out by USAID and the State Department.
And you can help translate these goals into actions by joining FCNL in our efforts to move our world towards a pathway to peace by lobbying Congress for effective legislation that prioritizes the prevention of violent conflict and atrocities.