Turning the Tide: Scaling SDG 16 for the Future, Reinforcing Access to Justice, and Advancing Democracy

Organizer: United States of America

Cosponsors: International IDEA, UNDP, Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, CIC-NYU, Justice Action Coalition, the Netherlands, IDLO, NYU School of Law’s Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, American Bar Foundation, UNODC, ILF, Namati, UN Foundation, and World Justice Center.

This High-Level Political Forum event will demonstrate the United States’ strategic support for United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 – 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 – as a critical foundation to strengthen democracy and economic prosperity at home and abroad. The event will spotlight the sustainable, resilient, innovative, and people-centered solutions and approaches that governments and stakeholders are employing to advance implementation of UN SDG 16, drawing upon President Biden’s Memorandum on Access to Justice and U.S. rule of law commitments undertaken through the Summit for Democracy. The event will also provide a forum for deliverables to be announced related to SDG 16 (e.g. USAID’s new people-centered justice programming and its Rule of Law IDEAS Lab and DOJ’s civil legal needs survey pilot), promote the connection between access to justice and countering corruption, promote the Meeting of Experts on Access to Justice to be convened by UNODC in accordance with GA resolution 78/227, and affirm U.S. support for SDG 16 as instrumental to implementation of other SDGs, including SDG 1 (poverty eradication).

Background

This United States official side event at the upcoming United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) will take place in July 2024 in New York. The official theme of the HLPF is “Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of crises: the effective delivery of sustainable, resilient, and innovative solutions.” Every year, the HLPF highlights five UN Sustainable Development Goals. This year, the SDGs in focus at the HLPF include: SDG 1 (poverty eradication), SDG 2 (food security), SDG 13 (climate), SDG 16 (peaceful, just and inclusive societies), and SDG 17 (means of implementation).

According to the United Nations, SDG 16 is one of the SDGs with the least amount of data. And while democracy and the rule of law continue to recede around the world, momentum is increasing to advance access to justice globally. In 2023, the United Nations and Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) adopted by consensus new tools and principles to advance access to justice. At global level, the General Assembly adopted the first ever resolution on Equal access to justice for all (GA/78/227 of 19 December 2023) upon recommendation from the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. At the national level, governments around the world are also undertaking bold steps to advance access to justice. In the United States, the Office for Access to Justice in the U.S. Department of Justice was restored in 2021 to advance domestic reforms related to legal assistance, addressing systemic barriers to justice for historically marginalized communities, promoting economic justice, supporting public defense, advancing language access, and undertaking a whole of government approach to access to justice through the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable. In line with SDG 16.3, which is specifically focused on access to justice, the Department of Justice will soon launch a first-ever civil legal needs survey to assess justice needs across the country. U.S. cities and states are also now reporting on SDG 16, including Los Angeles and Hawaii. In Ghana, last year the Legal Aid Commission launched a first-ever Public Defender Division, and Brazil established a new Secretary of Access to Justice. In line with SDG 16.5, the United States will also reiterate the importance of countering corruption as an enabler for access to justice.

Agenda

Keynote speaker: Isobel Coleman, USAID Deputy Administrator

Welcoming Remarks: Rachel Rossi, ATJ Director Department of Justice

Moderator: H.E. Martin Kimani, Executive Director of NYU Center on International Cooperation (Kenya)

Panelists: 

• Veronica Valdez Cabe, Nuclear and Coal-Free Bataan Movement (Philippines)
• Alvaro Herrero, International Open Justice Network (Argentina)
• Andrews Kananga, Legal Aid Forum (Rwanda)
• Mumba Malila, Chief Justice of Zambia (Zambia)
• Jhody Polk, NYU Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative (US)