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  Why does it matter?

  Why does it matter?

  • By addressing underlying societal and institutional frameworks, SDG 16 serves as a key enabler for achieving broader sustainability goals essential for progress. The goal encompasses 12 targets and 24 indicators, focusing on key areas such as reducing violence, ending abuse and exploitation, promoting the rule of law, reducing corruption, ensuring responsive governance, and enhancing access to justice and legal identity for all.

    Collectively, these measures support critical sustainability objectives such as achieving a just net zero transition, protecting human rights, including those of First Nations and Indigenous peoples, and combating modern slavery and human trafficking. Peace, justice, and strong institutions underpin sustainability efforts that might otherwise be undermined by conflict, inequality, and lack of enforcement mechanisms.

    Targets for this goal are:

    • Developing effective, accountable, and transparent institutions
      
      
    • Ensuring responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision-making at all levels
      
      
    • Broadening and strengthening participation of developing countries in global governance, to support fair policy, regulatory, and legal frameworks.

    These are crucial for achieving an energy transition where the benefits and burdens of climate change are shared equitably.

    Other targets include:  

    • Promoting the rule of law and ensuring equal access to justice
      
      
    • Providing universal legal identity
      
      
    • Ensuring public access to information and protecting fundamental freedoms, essential for safeguarding human rights, including those of First Nations and Indigenous peoples.
      
      
    • Protecting children from abuse and exploitation
      
      
    • Combatting organised crime and significantly reducing illicit financial and arms flows
      
      
    • Substantially reducing corruption and bribery

    These efforts directly address the root causes of modern slavery and human trafficking, supporting initiatives to dismantle the criminal networks involved in these crimes.

    Despite its lofty ambitions, progress to date on SDG 16 has been concerning. The 2023 Global Progress Report indicates that human rights commitments are not being met, violence is increasing, inequality continues to hinder inclusive decision-making, and corruption is eroding the social contract. Since 2015, one-third of the targets globally showed 'fair' progress, while one-quarter 'stagnated or regressed.' Disappointingly, more than 40 percent of the targets lack sufficient follow-up data for tracking progress.

    The UN Refugee Agency’s global trends report shows that as of the end of 2024, 123.2 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide. Human trafficking is also now more concealed, with an 11% reduction in the detection of victims between 2019-2020, according to the Partnership Forum of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Pandemics, ongoing conflicts, and the growing climate emergency are further escalating threats to global peace and inclusivity.

    Achieving SDG 16 requires robust multi-stakeholder partnerships and integrated solutions involving governments, the private sector, civil society, especially youth, and international entities. A whole-of-society approach is essential to address inequality and exclusion, invest in national statistical systems, and strengthen institutions to detect and monitor corruption, while considering gender and cultural aspects. Without addressing the deep-seated causes of inequality and exclusion captured within goal 16, there will not be a full accomplishment of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

• Supporting initiatives

  Supporting initiatives

  • Data availability remains a key challenge for SDG 16. In 2023, for the first time, data became available for all SDG 16 indicators globally. However, country coverage is still limited, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where 58 countries and territories lack data on six indicators. These significant data gaps hinder interventions and tracking progress, impeding evidence-based national policymaking, and reducing transparency and accountability to citizens. Since 2015, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as custodians of 18 of the 24 indicators, have been working closely with national institutions and experts to develop the methodologies and increase the availability of nationally relevant and globally comparable data.

    Recently, the organisations jointly launched the SDG 16 Survey Initiative, endorsed at the United Nations Statistical Commission's fifty-third session in 2022 and piloted in nine countries. The cost-effective tool collects data on SDG 16 indicators through a comprehensive questionnaire and manual, helping to fill data gaps for national monitoring and inform the design of evidence-based policies and programs.

    The Global Alliance for Reporting on peaceful, just and inclusive societies is the UN’s first multi-stakeholder decision-making forum and coordinating platform aimed at enabling evidence-based, nationally-driven collective action on SDG 16. The alliance supports member states in reporting and monitoring through a combination of research and knowledge products, peer learning, technical support, advocacy, and collaboration efforts.

    The UN Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, mobilises companies to align their strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. Key resources for the private sector include:

    • SDG 16 Business Framework: Inspiring Transformational Governance: provides guidance for companies on strengthening business culture, ethics, and performance while supporting public institutions and laws.
      
      
    • SDG Industry Matrix: offers case studies and collaboration opportunities.
      
      
    • Responsible Business Advancing Peace: guide developed by the UN Global Compact and KPMG to help companies understand their role in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and anti-corruption efforts.
      
      
    • SDG Business Hub: an online platform by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) that hosts a variety of resources covering the latest insights, developments, and trends to support companies navigating the SDGs.

    Learners and practitioners can benefit from the SDG Academy, a program of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which provides high-quality resources and guidance on education for the SDGs. The academy offers 48 open online courses covering a wide range of topics related to SDG16, such as human rights, ethics, environmental security, and peace, reaching learners across over 193 countries and territories.

• Importance for actuarial practice

  Importance for actuarial practice

  • Goal 16 recognises the far-reaching consequences of conflict and violence for development outcomes. Actuaries play a role in assessing and managing financial risks related to conflict and violence, especially in insurance and investment sectors, contributing to SDG 16 in the following ways:

     

    1. Disaster risk financing enables humanitarian agencies to quickly deploy funds after disasters occur.  These funds help communities to recover and rebuild quicker, save lives, alleviate suffering, and restore human dignity.  Some of these disaster risk financing efforts involve insurance public-private partnerships that centre on risk transfer solutions.

    • Context: Centre for Disaster Protection: Pre-arranged disaster risk financing accounts for only 2.7% (USD 1.9 billion) of the USD 71 billion in international crisis financing flows.  In practice, this means that most emergency funds are raised and deployed weeks or months after crises occur, contributing to greater losses and suffering.
      
      
    • Example A: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) Insurance solution in partnership with Aon, the Centre for Disaster Protection, and Lloyd’s.  IFRC national societies access DREF for short-term emergency funding.  Once the allocated funding for natural hazards is reached, the insurance solution refills DREF’s reserves.  Funding for product development and premium financing has been provided by the UK government and the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) while capacity has been provided by three members of the Lloyd’s Disaster Risk Facility - Hiscox, Chaucer, and Renaissance Re.
      
      
    • Example B: Practical Action is an international NGO that works in developing countries.  It is currently piloting an ‘Index-Based Flood Insurance’ solution for smallholder farmers in Nepal to complement its disaster risk reduction and prevention efforts.
      
      
    • Example C: The Start Network is a network of more than 80 global NGOs working to revolutionise the global humanitarian system.  Its Start Ready financing mechanism enables funds to be released quickly when disasters occur, including the use of insurance multi-stakeholder partnerships. 

     

    2. Disaster risk reduction and prevention initiatives seek to minimise the impact of disasters. 

    • Context: The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) estimates that every $1 USD invested in risk reduction and prevention activities can save up to $15 USD in post-disaster recovery while every $1 USD invested in making infrastructure disaster-resilient saves $4 USD in reconstruction costs. 

    Traditionally, humanitarian agencies have focused their efforts on post-disaster supports; however, an increasing number of organisations are investing resources into pre-disaster efforts guided by the Triple Nexus.  The Triple Nexus describes the interlinkages between humanitarian, development, and peace efforts with risk reduction and prevention initiatives falling under the development category.

    As we know, most insurance solutions centre on financial risk protection, but (re)insurers are also developing risk management solutions and collaborating with NGOs and humanitarian agencies on these.

    • Example A: The Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance is a multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to build community flood resilience in 21 countries via a portfolio of on-the-ground interventions.  There are 9 members: Zurich, London School of Economics, and a collection of NGOs and Humanitarian Agencies:  Concern Worldwide, IFRC, Mercy Corps, Plan International, and Practical Action.
      
      
    • Example B: The Insurance Development Forum, a public-private partnership orchestrator, is collaborating with the Start Network and Map Action on an Anticipatory Action and Disaster Risk Reduction initiative.  Supported and funded by Aon, AXA, AXIS Capital, Milliman, Swiss Re Foundation, WTW, and Zurich Insurance, this initiative involves Geographical Information Systems (GIS) training for NGOs and humanitarian agencies.
      
      
    • Example C: The Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) brings together stakeholders across the climate, humanitarian, and development communities with the aim of making 1 billion safer from disasters by 2025.  Its public and private sector members gain access to a global expert network across the full chain of early warning, early action interventions.

    
    

    3. Institutional capacity in the Global South is a barrier to create, grow, and regulate insurance markets.

    • Context: An important focus of the United Nations Development Programme Insurance & Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) is to address supply-side challenges related to the lack of / limited institutional capacity.
      
      
    • Example A: Milliman teamed up with the IRFF in 2022 to create the Global Actuarial Initiative (GAIN). The objective is to help developing nations to better understand and manage their risks by building actuarial capacity.  The IRFF had identified that the shortage of qualified actuaries in developing nations is a barrier to create and grow insurance markets, e.g. 35 actuaries working in Egypt, a country of 110 million. Milliman had separately recognised the same challenge. So, both organisations had independently viewed actuarial knowledge as a societal and commercial problem requiring solutions.  In 2023, 50+ Milliman “ambassadors” visited 10 IRFF programme countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These visits are part of IRFF roadmaps to build actuarial knowledge in these countries, forming part of a wider programme involving working groups, workshops, tutorial programmes, and mentorship programmes.
      
      
    • Example B: The Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF)  brings together global insurance supervisors and regulators to collaborate on sustainability challenges facing the insurance sector. The SIF is hosted by the UN and supported by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).
      
      
    • Example C: The Access to Insurance Initiative (a2ii) is the “implementation arm” of the IAIS, working with insurance supervisors and regulators to foster the growth of inclusive insurance solutions and work “to ensure that world’s excluded and underserved have access to insurance.”  Its Knowledge Hub contains useful material and case studies.
      
      
    • Example D: The Global Risk Modelling Alliance is democratising access to climate and disaster risk data and data analytics tools.  Approximately 15 organisations across the public and private spheres have teamed up to empower climate-vulnerable countries to combine global best practices with local expertise to develop climate and disaster risk financing and insurance solutions

• Relationships to other goals

  Relationships to other goals

  • SDG 16 is both a stand-alone goal and an enabler and accelerator for other SDGs. It addresses critical global challenges, including conflict, trust in institutions, and inclusivity.

    SDG 1: No Poverty - Peace and fair legal systems can reduce societal shocks that contribute to poverty

    SDG 2: Zero Hunger - A peaceful society aims to significantly reduce food insecurities

    SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being - Responsive governance and justice aims for fair and equitable healthcare access

    SDG 4: Quality Education - The rule of law aims to protect the child’s right to an education

    SDG 5: Gender Equality - The combatting of organised crime aims to reduce gender-based violence

    SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy - The development of transparent institutions will ensure that energy and water are distributed fairly.

    SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities - appropriate legal frameworks are needed to protect vulnerable groups.

    SDG 15: Life on Land - Strong and inclusive legal frameworks are needed for biodiversity protection and the use of sustainable resources

    SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals - Global peace fosters international collaboration and cooperation.

    Overall, investing in SDG 16 is essential for creating a stable and supportive environment where all other sustainability initiatives can thrive and succeed.

• Other

  Other

  • Further learning on SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions:

    United Nations SDG 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions | UN SDG:Learn

    Introduction to SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions | Coursera