Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy (IRDD) - The Role of Global and Regional Organizations in the Advancement of SDG 16

Tuesday, 13 March 2018 at 10.00 AM
Room IV, Palais des Nations

Secretary-General,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

A warm welcome to the Palais! And thank you to International IDEA and the Community of Democracies for bringing this important exploration of SDG 16 to Geneva.

You have come to the right place. Much as New York is the political center of the international system, Geneva is its operational heart. It is here that more than 100 international organizations, hundreds of NGOs, world-class academic institutions and a vibrant business community are together working hard on implementing everything concerning the 17 SDGs.

In a world fractured along multiple fronts – from geopolitical fissures, economic divides, and social rifts –; in a world where skepticism is the dominant response to grand narratives; in such a world, the value of the operational, technical, and often low profile work done here is increasing every day.

The work that brings us together today and that is encapsulated in Goal 16 – namely to promote peaceful, just and inclusive societies – is in many ways at the core of what we do here every day.
For justice – underpinned by strong institutions, codified by the rule of law, and brought to life by engaged citizens – is the foundation for everything else to flourish.

A society plagued by violence, run by corrupt officials and governed by arbitrary laws, that’s a society that will not work over the long term. Open the Pandora’s Box of injustice – and poverty, inequality, conflict and strife cannot be contained.

But just as the absence of justice is the root of much evil, its presence is the remedy. Bertrand Russell once observed that “in a truly just world, there would be no possibility of ‘charity’.” Abolishing the need for charity – is that not the ultimate aspiration of our 2030 Agenda?

This is why your meeting today is a critical step towards creating the conditions for the Agenda’s success. Looking around the room, I am impressed by the breadth of geography, professions and disciplines assembled here. This is precisely the spirit of cross-sectoral, multi-level collaboration – of erasing old divides and forging new partnerships – that we need to achieve meaningful progress. And it is especially true for SDG 16, which is both an enabler of development and a development outcome, and whose targets and indicators are interlinked with every other SDG.

Let me in particular welcome the many representatives of the major regional organizations from across the world.

You are a critical bridge between the local, national, and international. At your best, regional organizations can be more flexible than your global peers, and more in touch with local needs, but still retain the strength and power that only multilateral alliances can muster.

The challenges we face are global, but the solutions are always on the ground, which is to say they are local. Our common challenge is to calibrate our engagement accordingly: We need to better integrate along the vertical axis from the grassroots to the global level. And we need to improve our horizontal collaboration across civil society, academia, the private and the public sectors.

The better we are able to coordinate our response, to learn from each other across regions and complement each other’s strengths, the greater the benefit of this “multi-multilateralism” can be.

SDG 16 can serve as a powerful catalyst to promote policy coherence, strengthen the Whole-of-Government Approach and replicate impactful practices at scale. Because much as cultures, social, environmental and political realities may diverge between regions, we all agree on the importance of the rule of law, of security, of good governance.

The building blocks for deepened cooperation are in place:
̶ We have a common agenda – the Agenda 2030.
̶ We share a sense of urgency.
̶ And we have set our sights on the same destination – delivering for the people we serve, staying true to our ambitious goals, and making good on our collective pledge to leave no one behind.

I wish you every success in your discussions.
Thank you.