So I started off without even a sound.
I was saying good afternoon.
Colleagues will still be joining, but I want to start because we have a limited time.
I'm Jan Begle Director General of IDO and I welcome you very warmly to the second panel of our conference on peace, justice, and effective institutions, the Transformative Impact of SDG 16.
For those of you who were with us this morning, we heard earlier in the stock taking session the stark reality of where we stand on SDG 16.
And we know that the gap between ambition and implementation is quite wide.
But today, this afternoon, we're shifting the focus from challenges to solutions, from assessment to impact.
It's been mentioned by several speakers that SDG 16 is an essential enabler for the 2030 agenda.
So this panel is really to show rather than to tell.
It will explore how successful interventions in peace, justice, and effective institutions can drive change across the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable development.
So IDO focuses on helping our partners to develop targeted rule of law solutions to address their most pressing challenges and to advance their priorities.
Depending on the needs and the context, we engage at every level driving change from laws and policies and institutional capacity to community level support.
I just wanted to give you a couple of examples of what that means in practice.
For example, in the Sahel, we work in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to improve communities access to justice and particularly their trust in criminal justice institutions.
We pair immediate operational support with reforms in the systems to address weak accountability, prolonged pretrial detention, and the improper treatment of detainees.
In Niger, for example, justice sector reforms have reduced pre trial detention, which in some cases had lasted as long as 16 years to under one year for more than 70% of detainees.
In Uganda, our work to strengthen survivor centric approaches to gender based violence has helped lift conviction rates 20-70% in just the last few years.
In Kenya, by making justice fast, affordable, and local, small claims courts have transformed access to justice for small businesses and informal traders, many of them led by women.
In 2025, these courts resolved over 150,000 cases, achieving a 98% clearance rate with most cases resolved in less than eight weeks and releasing back into the economy several billion Kenyan shillings that would have been tied up in litigation.
Together, these results represent conflicts averted, development accelerated, and lives transformed.
They also help to rebuild the most precious and the most fragile asset any society has public trust.
Because people judge institutions by the solutions they deliver in everyday life.
As I said earlier today, results are the most powerful currency of trust.
While at a time of global crisis, it is easy to lose sight of positive shifts, there are many such examples, and I'm very pleased to introduce a panel of distinguished speakers who are leading transformations driven by SDG 16 in very different contexts and from very different perspectives.
They are Mr.
Jesus Crispin Romua, the ombudsman of the Republic of the Philippines, Mr.
Simon Krivos, Director of the National Anti Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
Miss Leoni Moni, coordinator of the African Center of Excellence for Access to Justice, Mr.
Martin Tungon, Secretary-General of the Interpliamentary Union.
Miss Claudia Fuentes Julio, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York, and Mr.
Arturo Herrera Gutierrez, Global Director for Governance at the World Bank.
I welcome all of you here today and very much look forward to hearing their views.
I'm asking our panelists to limit their interventions to a maximum of 5 minutes so we do have time for some interactive dialogue.
So I'm first pleased to welcome our first speaker, Mr.
Jesus Crispin Rula, the ombudsman of the Philippines.
He has a very distinguished career in law and the public service, having previously served as Secretary of Justice and bringing extensive experience in justice reform, governance, and institutional strengthening.
For us in Adio the Philippines is one of our founding member parties, and we have a longstanding partnership with key justice institutions.
So Ombudsman Rmula, many countries today, we see a growing lack of public trust in institutions and your office plays a vital role in addressing this challenge through its mandate to promote integrity, combat corruption, and strengthen accountability.
Could you share with us how the work of your office has helped to improve integrity in the public sector and how this has translated into better services and greater trust amongst citizens? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Moderator.
Let me begin by thanking the organizers for bringing us together for this very important discussion.
The topic before us today is about institutions.
But ultimately, institutions are about people.
Because at the end of the day, the true measure of justice is not found only in our laws, our procedures, or our offices.
It is measured by whether ordinary citizens feel that government works for them.
In the Philippines, our experience has taught us a very important lesson.
Corruption is not only a legal problem, it is a developmental problem, the development problem.
It is an economic problem, and more importantly, a problem of trust.
When corruption weakens institutions, people lose confidence.
Investors hesitate, communities suffer.
Public resources that should create opportunities are wasted.
That's why our approach at the Office of the Ombudsman is very clear.
Accountability must be certain, but reform must also be systemic.
We cannot investigate our way out of corruption alone.
Of course, those who abuse public office must be held accountable.
This is our constitutional duty, but we will continue to perform that duty without fear or favor.
But if we truly want lasting change, we must also ask the more difficult questions.
Why did corruption happen? Where did the system fail? And how do we make sure it does not happen again? This means looking beyond individuals and examining the systems that allow corruption to grow, weak controls, unclear processes, lack of transparency, and gaps in accountability.
That's why we are strengthening prevention together with enforcement.
We are reviewing our internal systems, we are improving processes.
We are advancing digital transformation, and we are strengthening partnerships across government and with international institutions.
Before coming here to New York, I wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines requesting the inclusion of the Office of the Ombudsman in the justice sector Coordinating Council.
This reflects a very simple principle.
The fight against corruption cannot operate in isolation.
Corruption cases move through an entire justice ecosystem from investigation, prosecution, adjudication, and ultimately the delivery of justice.
If one part of that system is weak, the entire system is affected by strengthening coordination among justice institutions, while fully respecting the independence of each institution, We can build a more integrated, cohesive, and effective approach to uphold the rule of law and deliver accountability because justice is not the work of one institution alone.
It is the responsibility of the entire system.
Our objective is simple to make integrity easier and corruption harder.
That is why SDG 16 is so important.
Sometimes peace, justice, and strong institutions are viewed as separate development goals.
But in reality, SDG 16 is the foundation that allows every other goal to succeed.
You cannot have effective health systems without accountable institutions.
You're going to build sustainable infrastructure without transparency.
You cannot create inclusive economic growth without trust, and you cannot achieve lasting development if people no longer believe in the institutions created to serve them.
Today, the Philippines is facing significant governance challenges, including complex investigations involving public infrastructure projects.
These are difficult moments for any country.
But I believe that moments of challenge can become moments of reform.
When weaknesses are exposed, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to correct them.
Because the goal is not simply to push or not simply to punish the mistakes of yesterday.
The greater responsibility is to build better institutions for tomorrow.
As we move closer to 2030, the governments must move faster.
We need less discussion about why integrity matters and more concrete action on how integrity can be delivered.
The work is not easy because institutional reform never is.
But if we want citizens to trust government, government must first prove that it deserves a trust.
That is the commitment we bring from the Philippines to pursue accountability and to strengthen institutions and to ensure that the public service remains exactly what it should be a service to the public.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ombudsman Rema.
I think you have put it down very clearly.
Moments of challenge can be moments of reform.
I'm going to give the floor now to our next speaker, Mr.
Simon Grovones, who is the Director of the National Anti Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
He is a lawyer and public administration expert with a distinguished career spanning anti corruption enforcement, governance reform, legal advisory services, and institutional leadership.
Since 2015, IDO has been pleased to partner with Nabu and other key institutions to promote integrity in Ukraine's public sector, and we're extremely pleased to have him with us today.
We know that Ukrainian institutions continue to operate under extraordinary pressure and that Nabu itself continues to play a critical role in safeguarding the credibility of anti corruption efforts.
Mr.
Krovans, why has anti corruption remained a priority for Ukraine even during wartime? And how have Nabu and other anti corruption institutions work to build and maintain public trust under such challenging circumstances? Madam Moderator, thank you for the floor and it's an honor to be on this panel.
When the full scale invasion began, many expected Ukraine to put the fight against corruption on powers.
The logic seemed obvious when a country is fighting for survival, everything else can wait.
Opposite happened, and I went to explain why because I'm convinced that the Ukrainians measured contribution to today's discussion.
We talked a lot about the rule of law, about institutions, and about following laws.
But before any law, there is something deeper, a social contract.
First, society agrees among itself on what kind of state it wants to see, what values it's ready to defend, and for what purpose it is ready to unite.
Only then do laws and institutions appear to bring this common will to life.
In many countries, the fight against corruption is a government program, just one of the directions of reform.
In Ukraine, it has become part of the social contract itself.
Ukrainians see the fight against corruption, not just as a matter of justice.
They see as a matter of the state survival and its future.
For us, anti corruption is not just about good governance.
It's about nation building.
That is why the war did not weaken the public demand to government accountability.
It strengthened it.
The reason is simple.
When a country is at war, every resource has a price measured insecurity.
Every stolen dollar, every stolen gv in defense procurement is undelivered equipment.
Udelivered equipment means lost lives.
During the war, corruption stops being an economic problem and becomes a direct threat to national security.
Our institutions answered this demand.
Despite the war, despite air attacks, miscelleous attacks, strikes of infrastructure, and colleagues on the front line, Nabu and our partners continued investigation at the highest level.
We investigated members of parliament, ministers, judges, heads of state enterprises, and representatives of various political forces.
No position proved to be too high.
Can you imagine that a few days before the former head of Supreme Court who been detained red handed in the bribery case, he has sentenced five years in the prison.
Our institutions and here I want to speak directly.
You read a lot of news about corruption investigations in Ukraine.
Some concludes it means that Ukraine is corrupt country.
I suggest reading it in the exact opposite way.
You don't see the similar investigation coming from auterritorial states and not because there is no corruption there.
Independent investigation, open court trials, and verdicts against top officials.
This is what a country that is successfully overcoming corruption looks like.
The new news you see is evidence of work, not evidence of failure.
What makes this possible? One word, our independence.
Our experience shows that communication campaigns cannot create distrust.
It only merges when citizens see that institution can act without political interference.
Nabo, the special anti corruption prosecutor Office and the high anti corruption court we built as a system of checks and balances, independent of each other and the political power.
It is the institutional architecture that allows the anti corruption system to work during the hardest moment of the war.
This also has an international dimension.
Effective and independent anti corruption bodies act as a validators of trust of our partners.
So what is Ukrainian's lessons for this audience? Democracy and accountability are not peacetime luxuries.
They are strategic assets during the war.
Strong institutions are not built after a crisis passes.
They prove their true value when the crisis is at its peak.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm sure it's inspiring to hear of achievements under such very difficult conditions, but I really like strong institutions, our strategic assets.
Thank you so much.
It's my pleasure to introduce Leone Montone, coordinator of the African Center of Excellence for Access to Justice and Director of programs at the Legal Aid Forum in Rwanda.
She has extensive experience in legal aid, community based justice, and people centered justice reforms across Africa and she plays a key role in bridging community level justice needs with national policies and localizing the 2030 agenda.
IDO is proud to have played a part in the establishment of the African Center of Excellence for Access to Justice, which emerged from the 2017 Continental Conference in Kigali.
We're also pleased to work closely with miss Moni and with many of you here today in the global working group on customary and informal justice and SDG 16 plus, which is coordinated by IDL.
Miss Moni, how can legal empowerment and community based dispute resolution mechanisms dramatically scale up access to justice and benefit local communities and what recommendations does civil society have to share? Over to you.
Thank you very much, Madam Moderator.
We have been talking a lot about institutions today, and I just want to pivot a little bit to what is the reality for communities on the ground.
Often when we talk about access to justice, we tend to imagine the formal system.
We think courts, we think judges, lawyers, prosecutors.
But when you look at where people actually go, when they have a legal problem, the picture is very different.
Reality on the ground and research has consistently backed this up, is that most people search for justice in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, and other parts of the world, the search does not begin in a courtroom.
They seek assistance from the paralegals in their village, from community elders, from local mediators, and other customer and informal structures because these structures are accessible, they are affordable, and they are trusted.
They also play a critical role in community legal empowerment.
And I want us to understand in this room that when we talk about legal empowerment, it's not some abstract concept.
It is really about giving ordinary people the skills, the knowledge, and the support they need to understand, use, and shape the laws that affect their lives.
And you might wonder, how does this actually work? And so, first and foremost, it educates.
A community paralegal will tell people what the law says and what it means for them, that their land cannot be taken away without due process, that a detained person has to appear before a judge in a certain amount of time, that a woman has inheritance rights, that there is a legal aid office where they can get support.
And for millions of people, this is information that they have never had access to, not necessarily because it's hidden, but because nobody has brought it to them in a way that they can understand and use.
And of course, you cannot claim a right that you do not know.
Um, second is that legal empowerment approaches meet people where they are.
A court is in a city, a paralegal is in your village, a court will speak the language of the law, a local mediator will speak your language literally.
So community based dispute resolution mechanisms are accessible geographically, culturally, and linguistically, and of course, they reach people that the former justice system often overlooks.
Think about internally displaced person.
Think about undocumented migrants.
Think about women in context where Um, appearing before male authorities is not an option.
Third, legal empowerment approaches, they save time and they save money.
For example, a land dispute in a former court can take years to resolve, but a community based paralegal can resolve this within days and that land will immediately be back in use.
Of course, we know that these mechanisms, they don't cost money.
You don't have to pay court fees, you don't have to pay transports to go to a city far away to find a legal aid service provider, and there's no wages lost because you have had to take time off work.
And these are the reasons that most people never or are discouraged to pursue justice, and community based dispute resolution mechanisms, they remove these barriers entirely.
And I would like to stress that these mechanisms actually complement the former justice system because we know that courts are overwhelmed, correctional detention facilities are overcrowded, judges are stretched thin.
These community based actors, they are resolving disputes long before they have to reach the former court system.
If I can give an example from the Legal Aid Forum just last year, our paralegals handled 8,000 cases.
These are disputes that never had to reach the court.
When it comes to recommendations from civil society organizations, we now all know that yesterday in this very building, launched the 2026 civil society Declaration on SDG 16, and in it, we make the case that justice should be financed as the public good that it is.
The evidence is there, the frameworks are there.
What has been missing is the political will to fund them.
For example, the Justice Financing Framework, which is commissioned by the Justice Action Coalition, and drew lessons from the health sector.
They show us what it actually would cost to deliver universal community centered justice.
It turns out it's $35 per person in lower income countries.
Just think about that, $35.
This is less than primary health care.
This is less than primary education, which we have both agreed that as a global community, they're worth the investment.
We have trained the teachers, we have trained the nurses, we have built the infrastructure.
We have not done this for justice.
We need to ask ourselves why and we need to fix it now.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm turning now to Mr.
Martin Chung, the Secretary-General of the interparliamentary Union.
I think he needs no introduction.
He has four decades of distinguished experience in parliamentary development, democratic governance, and conflict resolution, and he's been a champion for strengthening parliaments as central actors in sustainable development, inclusive governance, and peace building.
And I We say he has also been a very dynamic chair of the International Gender Champions.
I must say on a personal note, as a longstanding friend and partner, I'm especially glad to welcome him to this SDG 16 conference in the last month of his mandate.
The Interparliamentary Union has consistently highlighted the central role of parliaments in advancing democratic oversight, inclusive governance, and the promotion of gender equality as key enablers of sustainable development.
Secretary Ru Chung Gong, how can parliaments use their legislative and oversight powers more effectively to advance good governance, gender equality, and progress on the 2030 agenda more broadly.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Jan, for inviting me to this conference.
I'm always very pleased to be part of this conversation and to bring the voice of parliament to the table.
You did mention a moment ago the legislative and oversight role of parliaments, but I'd like for us to look at the role of parliaments in an integrated fashion.
We need to bring in the budgetary role that parliaments play and also generally the representational role of parliament.
For us, this is a package and you asked, how can we make parliaments more effective in this area? First of all, I think that we need to look at their role as a package.
We also need to be more strategic when we're talking about the SDGs.
We also have to see that parliaments are also taking action in evidence based fashion.
Of course, I think we have all said here that what matters is not what is being done, but what is being achieved impact.
If you let me, I will just mention four ways in which we think that parliaments can and I should say must play a more effective role in accelerating progress on the SDGs.
First of all, They need to look at their legal frameworks and see how these frameworks can identify and address loopholes in the implementation of the SDGs.
Look at how these legal frameworks are streamlined and complementary and set out priorities that are aimed at achieving the SDGs.
I think this is very important, including in the area of promoting gender equality and Of course, we all agree that laws are unquestionable, laws are necessary, they are very powerful, but they need to serve effective legal frameworks that trigger, effective action.
For me, it is important, for instance, when we're talking about gender equality, that legal frameworks be able to address discriminations in the law and see how these discriminations can be addressed effectively through fixing targets like the IPU does when it comes to women's empowerment and objectives that work towards equality.
Number two, we want to make sure that oversight is systematic.
That is, each time parliament is examining a piece of legislation, they should be looking at this legislation through the lens of the SDGs.
Quite often we examine the SDGs in silos, but I think that we are now agreed that we should be looking at the SDGs as an interconnected package, and so the a as parliamentarians have to look at the bills and see whether the bills are achieving the immediate objectives or how these bills are helping to achieve the SDGs as a whole.
Who is benefiting from the actions of parliaments, who are those that stand the risk of being left behind? All of these we think we should be taken into account.
Let me just point and say maybe self promotion here.
The IPU has published a toolkit for parliamentarians on SDG informed scrutiny, meaning that parliaments are being encouraged to examine their laws through the SDG lens.
We do have, I think, Jan, you did say that we should mention good practice.
In Listo Litu is applying this toolkit in order to review its legislation when it comes to climate change, when it comes to sexual and reproductive health and rights and We also are seeing Namibia following suit.
There are parliaments that are working to ensure that they use their legislative and oversight powers through the SDG lens.
Then let me go to the budget.
I did mention that it is important that review the role of parliaments when it comes to budget oversight and there we should also we know SDGs being funded to a large extent out of the public purse and parliaments have a role to play in ensuring that the funds are being used in a very effective manner.
Policy commitments are being implemented rather than resources being wasted on issues that are not aligned with the SDGs, for instance.
We need to push parliaments and I think that's what we're doing to ask the right questions.
Who is benefiting from public spending? What are the resources reaching the people for whom they are intended? Are women and men, young and old affected differently? These questions need to be answered if we want to be very effective.
We need to be seen to following the money, seeing where the money is being spent and whether the money is being spent wisely.
Lastly, the fourth for me way is for us to continue to help parliaments to make oversight more evidence based and results oriented.
As we have said here, it is not the action itself that counts.
It is the impact.
It is the results that have been achieved by the action.
And so We do push governments to look at their policies and see whether their policies are actually contributing to reducing inequalities, whether their actions are improving upon access to justice, just like Leonie mentioned a moment ago, and whether their actions are promoting good governance and public trust, public trust, which I think is very crucial.
So we see if we look at the practicalities of this, we want to promote parliaments that hold regular hearings on the SDGs.
We need to promote strong parliamentary committees.
We need to encourage parliaments to work in strategic partnerships, especially with institutions such as the Supreme audit institutions that have the potential to improve upon good governance, accountability and transparency.
But there are other bodies such as National Human Rights Commissions, women's commissions that parliaments need to be working together with.
And so If I can conclude, Jan, I would say that the common thread here is simple.
Legislation and oversight are most effective when they are informed by evidence, guided by the SDGs, and focused on outcomes.
We have now entered the final stretch towards 2030.
We think parliament should be more robust in seizing the opportunity using the powers that accrue to them.
Not simply to pass laws and scrutinize governments, but to accelerate progress towards more inclusive, accountable, and effective governance.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you very, very much.
I'm now turning to miss Claudia Fuentuo, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, and the head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights here in New York.
She's a seasoned diplomat and a former permanent representative of Chile to the UN in Geneva and bringing deep expertise in human rights, multilateral diplomacy, transitional justice, and I would say the links between human rights and sustainable development.
Adeo is pleased to enjoy a strong and longstanding partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
We're very pleased to welcome you as G Fuentuo to this conference in the first month of your mandate.
So human rights and the rule of law are mutually reinforcing and at a moment when both are under strain, your perspective could not be more timely.
So what do you see as a link between human rights and the 2030 agenda and what are some important ways in which we can address the backsliding and regain the momentum on peace, justice, and human rights? Thank you.
Thank you so much, Madam Chair.
It's always a pleasure to work with IDO and to have a partnership.
Of course.
Distinguished friends, colleagues, it is a pleasure to join you and share my reflections on the Agenda 2030.
Peace, justice, and effective institutions are not only goals in themselves.
They are what make all other development progress possible.
This is why this is my favorite SDG, SDG 16.
Allow me to begin with a simple point.
Institutions matter most when they deliver for people.
Not when laws exist on paper, but when people can access justice, participate meaningfully, and trust that institutions work for them.
This is where human rights come in.
Human rights are not separate from the Agenda 2030.
They are its foundation and its direction.
They provide a compass for governments, empower people to shape decisions, and ensure accountability for results.
As the High Commissioner normally says, human rights are the golden thread of the 2030 agenda.
But this threat is fraying.
We see rising inequalities, pressure on civic space, and declining trust in institutions.
Human rights are underfunding, undermined, and attacked.
We see global backsliding on women's rights and shrinking civic space.
The latest data available from my office, OCHR, Human Rights Count website, which was in fact released today, so this is really the latest development is alarming.
One human rights defender, journalist, or trade unionist is killed or disappeared every 10 hours.
Nearly every fifth person globally says they experienced discrimination in the past year.
Yet, we also see powerful moments for dignity, equality and justice.
We see people and institution taking action in cities, communities, classroom, and places of worship.
There is a growing demand for justice, dignity, and participation.
We need to invest in institutions that systematically uphold equality, dignity, and justice for all, in a stronger accountability and human rights data, in amplifying and listening to marginalized voices, and we need solidarity across causes, regions and institutions.
In this context, I wish to highlight the Global Alliance for Human Rights launched by the High Commissioner for Human Rights last week, which seeks to accelerate and amplify critical human rights work and engagement undertaking around the world on human rights and its decision making policy and leadership.
Experience shows that the most effective reforms are those that can close the gap between rights on paper and rights in practice.
Strong institutions can help advance all SDEs corresponding human rights, including economic, social, and cultural rights, and the rights to development.
For example, In Timor-Leste, investment in human rights and anti corruption training reached more than 500 civil servants and strengthened institutional culture and public service delivery.
In Georgia, the UN supported the Office of the Public Defender to develop human rights analysis and public policy recommendations on the right to water, which informed the work of the parliament, which we just spoke about and local authorities helping translate commitments into concrete progress.
In Liberia, our office in partnership with Peace Building Fund has contributed directly to the realization of SDG 16.
Through SIT funding by the Peace Building Fund, a dedicated OHCHR country presence was established during the transition following the crackdown of the UN mission in Liberia, enabled human rights advisory services, strengthening national human rights institutions and the rule of law.
Together, another example, Costa Rica, in a joint initiative with the Costa Rican Judiciary during the pro tempore presidency of the Central American Caribbean Judicial Council, OHESCart helped to strengthen understanding of the role of the judiciary in addressing organized crimes through the lens of SDG 16.
D's examples demonstrate that SDG 16 is an enabling goal.
When institutions are accountable, inclusive, and transparent, policies are more effective, resources are better used, and people are more willing to engage.
Without this, progress in health, education, climate action, or equality cannot be sustained.
Excellencies and colleagues, if we are serious about accelerating the 2030 agenda, we must it best in institutions that are fair, accountable, and truly responsible to people's right.
This is not only a governance issue, it's a development imperative.
Because peace, justice, and sustainable development are not separate goals, they reinforce one another and they're all dependent on human rights.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Our final speaker is Mr.
Arturo Herrera Gutierrez, the Global Director for Governance at the World Bank.
He's a distinguished economist and the former Minister of Finance of Mexico and brings extensive experience in public sector reform, public financial management, and governance from both the practitioner and the multilateral perspective.
IDL is very pleased to have partnered with the World Bank on multiple initiatives, including through the Global Partnership on Justice and the rule of law and participation in the World Bank's fragility Forum earlier this month.
So, Mr.
Coterz, the World Bank's governance work consistently underscores that strong institutions and effective rule of law and anti corruption mechanisms are closely linked to improved development outcomes and citizen trust.
So what roles do good governance and the rule of law play in advancing the World Bank's mission of a world free of poverty on a livable planet? And can you share with us some examples of how investments in SDG 16 generate broader multiplier effects across sectors? Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm really happy to be here.
I'm going to use my 5 minutes.
I promise to speak no more than 5 minutes dividing my comments in three brief sections.
The first one is, what does it means to talk about strengthening governance and public institutions in the current context, which is a context very different than when SDGs were adopted in 2015.
The second one is what is novel about the World Bank approach to governance and institutional issues.
Third very quickly to provide some examples about it, it I mean, after SDGs were signed, the world has gone through multiple crises Copy the most recently the conflict in the Middle East, which increased the prices of oil and increase of interest rates, et cetera, and all of them have shrink the fiscal space.
Countries require more resources around the world, but this is not only a technical issue, it's not only a fiscal issue.
It's not about how to find the right tax rates and the proper budget allocations.
It's also an issue about trust and it's an issue about the social contract.
At its basic fiscal configurations in a country are an agreement about what people are willing to pay what kind of services are received from the state.
Trust is critical on this matter.
The second issue which is different is that is becoming more and more important to reactivate the economy and to create jobs for everybody.
The World Bank released the global economic prospects last week and it estimated that mainly to the conflict in the Middle East, the global economy is going to shrink 0.4%.
0.4% seems to be a little bit, but 0.4% in the global context means half $1 trillion.
That's equivalent of the size of the Colombian economy.
That's a little bit more than all the resources the government needs to allocate on a yearly basis to fight climate change.
So what are we trying to do to face through these issues? One thing that we have recognized and many people have pointed to that today is the need to anchor public institutions and government reforms on evidence.
So let me tell you what are we going to do it.
I'm going to use a recent example of what we have been doing to illustrate it.
A couple of months ago, we launched a report about public workforce performance.
That means trying to understand how many people work for governments and how to make them work better.
There are two interesting features coming from that report.
The first one is just basic statistics, which we didn't know before that.
How many people work for governments? If you're curious about it, is 400 million people.
That's 4.5% of all the population in the world, that's 11% of all the people who have a job in the world.
Given that governments are predominantly hiring people in the formal market, that means that a large percentage of the formal jobs, particularly in fragile, conflict violent settings are in government, up to 60% in Sub Sahara Africa.
But also we are finding things that we find also in the private sector, for example, a gender wage disparity between male and female, but tends to be smaller than in the private sector.
Now, that's an example of this new approach of bringing numbers to our reforms.
Let me very quickly refer to those reforms that we have been working recently.
When it comes to justice, and that's a topic very close to your heart, Jean, we have a new approach which analyzes along three very specific dimensions how governments are doing, and it's about access, efficiency, and quality, and that provides very specific maps about how to implement reforms.
We have implemented this already in South Sudan, in Ethiopia, and we are currently on the assessment part in Paraguay and Dominican Republic.
But one area in which we really have very high hopes it's the new developments on the anti corruption front.
This is relatively innovative because it was not too long ago when someone would ask about World Bank, what do we do to fight corruption, they would say, accountability and transparency.
But that's not enough.
Corruption happened to very specific channels, so we need very specific measures.
So we have developed a battery of tools working on anti money laundering, strengthening supreme auditing institutions, access to transparency, but very important, a pillar based on what we call GovTech, which has been showing to be very promising.
Let me give you quickly, and with that, I will finish an example of how does it work? Now, when a country which are using this approach, try to identify potential events of corruption, start to crossing different databases.
For example, it crosses a database of procurement with a database of social benefits and find out that the owner of a company which is bidding for a contract for $200 million is at the same time the recipient of an anti poverty program.
So very likely that means that this is a straw person across that information with public registry and find out that company, it was created just a month before.
So with this kind of approach based on evidence and on information, we are now in a position to try to tackle those issues in a much more precise way.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I think that has been a fascinating panel.
I'm going to open floor.
I have quite a lot of people who have asked to speak and I'm sorry that not everyone will be able to because I do want to give just a minute or two to each of the panelists at the end just for a last thought.
I'm going to ask, please if delegates could please limit to 2 minutes and I'm going to start with the representative of Croatia, please.
You have the floor.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Let me begin by congratulating our hosts for convening this conference for the seventh consecutive year.
It remains a vital space for advancing SEG 16 without which progress on all other goals is impossible.
As an active member of the Peace Building Commission and its current vice chair, we see a clear pattern across regions.
The most effective reforms are people centered, prevention oriented, and rooted in national ownership.
Evidence is consistent.
Reforms work when they combine independent justice institutions, digital services, and community level legal empowerment.
Anti corruption efforts deliver most when they link transparent public finance, open data, and strong oversight bodies that safeguard reforms beyond political cycles.
Investing in SDG 16 is a multiplier.
Peaceful and inclusive societies create the conditions for development and countries with stronger governance show higher SDG performance, greater resilience, and faster crisis response.
With only four years to 2030, SDG 16 must accelerate delivery across the agenda, especially the SDG 16 and review at the 2026 HLPF.
Advancing SDG 16 drives progress on poverty, education, gender equality, climate resilience, peaceful societies, and partnerships.
Croatia, which ranked 19th globally in SDG implementation, focuses on five priorities under SDG 16.
First, judicial reform, shorter court proceedings, digital transformation, and stronger judicial independence.
Second, effective public administration, the third corruption prevention, fourth, civil society and volunteering, and the fifth national coordination.
Finally, partnerships are essential.
Progress on SDG 16 depends on cooperation among governments, the international financial institutions, civil society, academia, and the private sector.
As we approach UN 80, we must reaffirm that justice, integrity, and effective institutions are not technical sectors.
They are foundation of a peaceful, resilient, and sustainable future for all.
I thank you.
I thank you very much and for keeping to the time.
Now very pleased to give the floor to the ambassador of Morocco.
You have the floor, sir.
Thank you very much, Madam Moderator, Disturg panelists, Excellencies.
At the outset, Morocco extend its sincere appreciation to the government and paramount mission of Italy.
To the United Nations, UNA, and the International Development Law Organization, EO for convening the 2026 Conference on SDG 16.
I also thank the panelists for their valuable insight and thought provoking contributions.
This conference is crucial opportunity to follow up on key multilateral frameworks, notably the Pact for the future and the Doha Political Declaration on Social Development, both which underscore the urgent needs to advance SDG 16.
Morocco's perspective, protecting and promoting human rights, investing in peace, justice, and song institutions is not sectoral choice.
It is backbone of our development model.
Our justice reforms, the empowerment of independent institutions such as the National Human Rights Council and strengthen anti discrimination legislation have expanded Civic space and improved access to justice.
In this context, the National Initiative for Human Rights END is considered as a space for constrictive social dialogue and citizen participation, allowing social inclusion and the anchoring of the feeling of responsibility of recognition, and of dignity.
Colleagues, as chair of the Peace Building Commission, have the firm conviction that prevention of conflict is both possible and essential and that prevention becomes real only when it is done via nationally owned action, national institutions resilience, and public trust.
It is precisely in this space that Sustainable Development Goal 16 find its most natural and powerful expression.
Peace is not merely the silence that follow conflict.
It is the patient constriction of institutions that are just, accountable, and inclusive, institutions in which every citizen can recognize their rights, exercise their voices, and claim genuine stake in the future of their nation.
In conclusion, and with only four years remaining until 2030, Morocco believes that SDG 16 must serve as a catalyst for the entire 2030 agenda.
Three lessons stands out.
First, institutional reforms must go hand in hand with social and economic policies that address inequalities and reinforce social integrations.
Two, independent institutions, parliamentarians and civil society are indisponsable partners in translating commitments into tangible results for citizens.
Three, achieving SDG 16 requires stronger international cooperation through experience sharing, capacity building, and greater alignment between financing and governance reforms.
Finally, Building trust remains at the heart of our collective efforts.
Trust between citizens and institutions, trust among communities and trust among nation is indispensable for peace, social cohesion, and sustainable development.
I thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Turkmenistan.
Thank you, Mr.
Moderator, at the outset, Turkmenistan expressed our sincere appreciation to the permanent mission of Italy, UN DSA and IDO for organizing this important conference and for the continued efforts to advance the implementation of SDG 16.
For Turkmenistan, peace, justice, and effective institutions are not only development objectives in themselves, they are indispensable foundations for achieving all SDGs.
Guided by its policy of permanent neutrality, Turkmenistan consistently promotes dialogue, preventive diplomacy, and confidence building as practical tools for strengthening peace and creating favorable conditions for sustainable development.
Our experience demonstrates that peace is a prerequisite for economic growth, social progress, and environmental sustainability.
In this regard, Turkmenistan attaches particular importance to the role of preventive diplomacy through close cooperation with the United Nations Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, Our region has developed valuable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation that contribute to stability and sustainable development.
We also believe that effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions are essential for implementing national development strategies and ensuring that the benefits of growth reach all segments of society.
Strong institutions build public trust, improve governance, and enhance resilience to emerging challenges.
The recently adopted General Assembly resolution on the role of the policy of neutrality in the maintenance and strengthening of international peace, security, and sustainable development reaffirms the importance of dialogue, mediation, and peaceful cooperation as key instruments for advancing both peace and development.
As we approach 2030, we must recognize that progress on SDG 16 accelerates progress across the entire agenda.
By investing in peace, justice, effective institutions, and international cooperation, we create the conditions necessary for achieving sustainable development for all.
Turkmenistan remains committed to working with all partners to promote a culture of peace, trust, and dialogue, and to support collective efforts aimed at realizing the objectives of the 2030 agenda.
I thank you.
I thank you.
I can just take two more and ask people if they could please give you the time.
The next speaker is the distinguished representative of Algeria to be followed by the representative of the Netherlands on behalf of the Justice Action Coalition.
You have the floor.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
First, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Italy and organizers for convening this timely and important conference dedicated to SDG 16.
Madam Chair, our commitment to the 2030 agenda and the Pact for the future stems from an urgent need for peace, strong institutions, and respect for the rules we have agreed upon including the right to development.
In this context, Algeria is convinced that peace, justice, and good governance are key pillars of development.
Therefore, steady progress is being made towards consolidating peace, peace and security, modernizing justice, fighting against corruption, enhancing digitalization, and strengthening participation by all.
As a result of these efforts, Algeria is ranked among the top performing countries in North Africa for the population's sense of security and safety in 2025, exceeding the global Safety Index average of 73%.
It also maintained its position among the top ranking in Africa in the 2025 Human Development Index for High Human Development.
Madam Chair, peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but a necessity for progress and prosperity.
Justice is not only about law, but also about commitment to human rights and social justice.
Just word is within our reach if we act together.
I thank you.
I thank you very much.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of the Netherlands on behalf of the Justice Action Coalition.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Justice Action Coalition, a multi stakeholder cross regional partnership of countries and organizations committed to advancing equal access to justice for all under SDG 16.3 and beyond.
Madam Chair, this conference takes place at a moment of compounding challenges, deepening inequalities, eroding trust in institutions, protracted conflicts, and democratic backsliding.
Among these challenges, justice remains a powerful under leveraged tool for prevention, accountability, stability, and social cohesion.
Billions of people around the world lack meaningful access to justice.
Unresolved legal problems drive poverty, fuel grievances, and erode trust between people and a state on which peaceful and inclusive societies depend.
The theme of this conference, driving transformation and coordinated action captures precisely what the Justice Action Coalition was built to do.
In our new phase, we are intensifying efforts to translate global ambition into tangible results.
That is scaling justice solutions that work, closing implementation gaps, building quality evidence across demographics, and expanding frontline justice financing.
Access to justice is a cornerstone of prevention.
When justice systems address people's needs early, ensure accountability before grievances escalate into violence or instability, they protect developmental gains, strengthen resilience, and restore trust within communities and between them and the state.
These are foundational conditions for strong democracies.
Madam Chair, people's legal problems do not exist in a vacuum.
Transformation requires coordination.
Nationally, this means connecting justice actors with health, education, housing, and labor sectors.
Because justice problems and their solutions cut across institutional boundaries.
We must design services around people's lived experiences rather than institutional convenience.
Regionally, the coalition is strengthening its work in coordination with the African Alliance for People Center Justice and Ibiro American Alliance for Access to Justice to pilot innovative tools such as the Justice Financing Framework, helping governments identify sustainable funding resources, set clear priorities, and ensure resources reach the people who need them most.
In this spirit, Madam Chair, we call on all partners to undertake four actions.
One, advance people centered justice reforms that respond to the legal needs of those individuals most often left behind, ensuring they receive the full respect and protection of their human rights.
Two, strengthen data and evidence on justice outcomes so that policy is driven by people's needs rather than institutional assumptions.
Three, mobilize justice financing by applying the Justice financing framework as appropriate to national context and priorities.
F and last, integrate access to justice into prevention and peace building frameworks.
Madam Chair, to sum it up, there can be no sustainable peace and development without justice.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm going now in our last minute to turn back to our panel and ask each of them for a final thought.
I'm sorry, I have to limit you really just to 1.5, 2 minutes each.
Otherwise, we'll be into the next panel.
But I just would like to give everyone a chance for a final thought and I'm going to start with you, Martin.
Yeah.
I just want to make a couple of points.
One, I think that what we need now is commitment.
I think that the various institutions that are represented in this room today and out there that are called upon to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs do have the power to make that contribution.
What we need to do is to master commitment.
I speak from the parliamentary vantage point and I know that this is a major challenge that we're facing.
Secondly, We often assume that these institutions are effective in and of themselves.
I think that many of them are struggling.
We need to accompany them, provide the capacity, help them forge the partnerships that can make them more effective.
That it brings me to the last point about partnerships.
We have to make sure that all these institutions are working together.
And not just working in silos and the IPU are promoting the ecosystems approach, which means that polymers don't function in a vacuum.
They work with other partners in a galaxy that contributes to effectiveness.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Clarida.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
Maybe one important takeaway of this very rich discussion is once again that peace, justice, inclusion, and sustainable development are not separate objectives, they reinforce one another and depend on integrated approaches grounded always in human rights.
I would like to also add because many of the permanent representatives and Also points to these are the importance of the rule of law and access to justice.
Once again, justice systems that are accessible, timely, people centered helped reduce exclusion, strengthen social cohesion, and create conditions for sustainable development.
When people can resolve disputes, secure documentation, protect land rights, or challenge discriminations, outcomes improve not only for SDG 16, but also for poverty reduction, education, health, gender equality, and social inclusion.
Thank you, Mr.
Kavans.
There are three key takeaways that I would like you to bring home from Ukraine the fight against corruption is a foundation of the modern social contract.
In Ukraine, it stands above any single government program because society demands it.
The second Ukraine is not a corrupt country, a country that is successfully fighting corruption and we can share our experience with our partners also.
And the third effective and independent corruption bodies are tool for building trust between Ukraine and our international partners.
And the Strong institutions are not built after crisis pass.
They prove their worth, their value when the crisis is at its peak.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Roma.
For those of us working in accountability institutions, our mission is not only to find out what went wrong.
Our greater mission is to help build systems that can do what is right.
Because the ultimate success of anti corruption work is not measured only by the number of cases filed or convictions secured.
It is measured by whether we help create the government that works better for its people.
So as we approach 2030, let's remember that SGD 16 is not just about building stronger institutions.
It's about the building the relationship between governments and its citizens.
Thank you.
Thank you, Aioni.
Thank you very much.
I would like to close by highlighting two recommendations from the civil society Declaration that we've been talking about.
One, two governments, recognize community based and informal justice mechanisms in your national laws and policies.
Martin made a good point earlier saying that legal frameworks are the foundation of enabling environments.
Recognize these mechanisms and allocate domestic budgets, not just donor funding and to the donors, the research is there, the organizations doing the work are there.
The frameworks are there.
Fund them and not on short term project cycles, but through the multier flexible core funding that actually allows for scale learning and sustainability.
I want to say that justice has always been underfunded, which has made no sense because it is the bedrock for rule of law and democracy and everything we've been talking about.
But over the past few years and last year, especially we have seen funding go significantly down for key actors like grassroots justice organizations and legal aid providers, and multiple of them have had to close their organizations.
Those who didn't close had to scale back significantly on operations and the critical work that they are doing.
So there really is no better time than now to recommit to meaningfully supporting this work because the mechanisms I mentioned earlier, they are cost effective, they are scalable, but they still require funding.
And this is why we're asking you all today to stand with civil society and stand up for SDG 16.
Thank you.
Thank you.
At.
Let me conclude by sharing an observation and a concern.
Almost everywhere I have been, I'm listening similar observations like the ones here today, talking about governance and strengthening institutions a necessary catalyst in order to advance the IDG agenda.
But almost immediately, I also listen and observations and comments around the following.
How does a reform for better governance or better institutions look like? I think this is really where the challenge is.
We don't need to convince people that governance is necessary.
We need to convince people that there are effective reforms based on data and evidence that could be implemented.
Well, thank you.
Thank you to really everyone in the room.
I'm sorry for those of you who didn't have a chance to speak in the very short time that we had, I want to thank all of the panelists.
Everyone will have their own takeaways, obviously, and I'm not going to try to summarize this rich discussion.
I just would want maybe to give a few of the main takeaways that I had.
Clearly, everybody agrees SDG 16 is a multiplier.
It is transformative.
But I hear that we need to be more strategic, that what matters is results and impact and particularly at the local level, and that we really need action and results to build trust.
There are many great experiences around to share and that we can learn from and what we see that works is people centered, evidence based, grounded in human rights, clearly integrated approaches and approaches that bring together multiple partners, whether it's Hall of society, Hall of government across the board.
Gender equality and empowerment of women undoubtedly key and also recognizing custom and informal systems.
I think we have heard also that none of this is only about peacetime, that strong institutions and anti corruption efforts are a strategic asset, a strategic work, including in times of conflict.
Perhaps I would like to end with a couple of the points that really struck with me and one of them is clearly what Martin said about follow the money.
Because I think that all of us know, as Leonie just said, that keeping the rule of law, access to justice, these issues high on agendas is not just a matter of political will, although that's incredibly important.
It's also a matter of financing, and it's obviously at a time when there are a lot of priorities and there are shrinking budgets.
This is not always on the top of people's agenda, and I think it's really important that we look at this, and as Leonie has said, particularly also at the grassroots level, I think that the issue Um, of building systems that do what is right.
I think that is a really nice way to end.
So I'd like really just to echo what our civil society friends have said, S for SDG 16, and the time is now.
So thank you all very much.
I Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to request you to kindly request you to find your seats so that we can start the last and very exciting panel of the day.
Okay.
I'm going.
There's a lot going on.
But okay, dear colleagues, distinguished delegates.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this third panel of the SDG 16 Conference of 2026, this panel titled Partnerships and Collective Action to Build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies.
The exchanges that we've heard throughout the day have emphasized how coordinated whole of society approaches are required to build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, and that progress on SDG 16 cannot be achieved by governments alone, but will rather depend on the active engagement of all relevant actors, including academia, private sector, civil society, local communities.
Partnerships and collaborative approaches are essential for tackling the complex global challenges that the world is facing by mobilizing knowledge, resources, and innovation.
In this context, This panel will explore how multi stakeholder cooperation, innovative partnerships, and coordinated action can accelerate progress on SDG 60, strengthen institutions and foster social cohesion while ensuring that no one is left behind.
Specifically, we will explore three key questions.
What are examples of innovative partnerships that have proven effective in strengthening the rule of law, improving access to public services, increasing access to justice, and fostering social cohesion? The second, how can participation, inclusion, and whole of society approaches be strengthened through multi stakeholder actions on SDG 16? And the third question, how can partnerships be strengthened and resources mobilized to scale up collective action and accelerate progress on SDG 16 in the remaining few years to 2030? To delve into these issues, we have with us a distinguished panel representing different regions, different levels of governance, and sectors of society, from national governments to local authorities, to academia, to civil society, young leaders.
Each of the speakers on the panel possesses unique experiences and insights on how partnerships and collective action can advance SDG 16 and help build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies.
Just some small housekeeping note before I invite the panelists to share their experiences with us.
Each of the panelists will get about 5 minutes for an initial intervention.
When we've heard from all of them, I'll open the floor for statements and questions from the audience.
In the interest of time, I'd like to, first of all, well, actually in the interest of having a good exchange, let me encourage all of you to participate in the discussion, but in the interest of time, let me also encourage you to be succinct and focused in your interventions.
I would like to be able to return to the panel and give each of the panelists a minute or two to respond to what we've heard from the audience before we close at 5:30.
So without further ado, I am very pleased to introduce our first panelist, Mr.
Ibraga Balde, coordinator, program for supporting the modernization of the administration, Ministry of Public Service from Senegal.
So thank you so much for being with us today.
I would like to ask you, Mr.
Balde, what recent measures has Senegal undertaken to modernize public administration and strengthen institutional effectiveness, including through civil service reform.
Digital transformation and results based governance.
Mr.
Balde, with that, you have the floor.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
With your permission, I would like to speak French.
And I would like to start by thanking this August gathering via the organizers, you, sir, the permanent Mission of Italy, Alo endesa for the invitation to share with you Cerngl's experience on the SDGs.
I will start by saying quite simply, Madam, That the reform of the administration for the provision of public services to the people is not a new subject in Senegal, as is the case everywhere.
I think it's important to state from the outset As we take stock of things, even if there have been many high ambitions since independence, today, our results are not satisfactory.
And starting then from that observation, we see that our people want more justice, more equity, better living conditions in a safe environment.
And this is the catalyzing aim of the SDG many people have been saying since this morning, I think all the SDGs can be brought together knowing that peace and justice are sought by our societies and guarantee any form of development or better standards of living.
So we wish to contribute and expand our modernization in Senegal.
There are three very important elements to this end so that we can ensure that modernization is effective so that people realize what's been done.
First of all, we have to have a basis, a basis for government for the country.
That means inclusive governance, based on consultation, bringing people together, accelerating the availability of legal texts which are intended to bring about lasting reforms and so that we have this solid basis there has to be a relationship with law that is one of confidence that stands back from electoral deadlines and ensures accessibility.
And lastly, we have to look at people and look at our targets demographically and looking at needs, young people, that is women, and ensure that we have specific approaches which are tuned to our ends.
So if we have this basis, we can look at strategy, when it comes to the second point of actions to be done because we don't have immense means, we have to prioritize a rapid response.
How can we do this? First of all, basing ourselves on administration, finance, and justice.
These three pillars make it possible for everyone to consider that the government's ambitions may strike home.
There are new technologies, digital inclusion for better access, greater safety, and something that works for people in rural environments, away from towns.
Then we need to ensure that human resources are professionalized, because today, the greatest challenge is to realize how those working for the state really are aiming for a mindset for quality and how can we involve our people so that they can make their contribution to these ends.
Then lastly, the country is organizing around a method made of increased coordination and greater digitalization.
We need coordination with a delegation of missions to the services, to the private sector and to civil society.
A coordination that sticks to international law and ensures effectivity, transparency, as we look at the SDGs and the 2030 agenda, people working in the public sector have to be responsible for what they do.
We have to improve matters and ensure that it's possible to replicate things for the benefit of our community.
Madden, so that we really can modernize things effectively so that resources can provide a systemic transformation for our people.
We need a strong basis, a government based on law and the respect of our legal texts.
We need an agenda strengthened effectively and inclusive by new technologies.
We need high quality and indeed quantity when it comes to human resources, with high performance, we need to involve the private sector, civil society, and we need also to involve international bodies.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Balder, for sharing very relevant experiences and also for setting a good example when it comes to keeping the time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
With that, I am now very pleased to introduce our second panelist, miss Geraldine Fraser Malachetti, former chancellor of the Nelson Mandela University of South Africa.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
I would like to ask you whether you could share some examples of how partnerships between governments, universities, civil society, and communities have helped forge more ethical, accountable, and inclusive public institutions in line with SDG 60.
Miss Fraser Mochetti, you have the floor.
Thank you very much and good afternoon everyone.
Yesterday, we marked 50 years since the June 16th uprising in South Africa.
Half a century ago, young Africans paid the ultimate price to demand justice, inclusion, and the dismantling of oppressive system.
Their legacy reminds us of a profound historical truth.
Institutional accountability is rarely gifted from the top.
It is forged from the ground up.
Action seven of the Pact for the future commits us to building peaceful, just, and inclusive societies.
But as the legacy of Stu proves, this cannot be achieved through top down state centric models alone.
It demands us to bridge SDG four and SDG 16.
We cannot build strong, accountable institutions without civic capacity and critical consciousness generated by equitable education.
Ethical public institutions are built through a deliberate four pillar model of partnerships.
Governments hold the mandate to execute policies, universities anchor the partnership with independent evidence.
Civil society acts as a watchdog driving accountability and communities, especially our youth and women who have historically anchored our peace processes provide the lived reality to ensure solutions work on the ground.
But we are attempting to build these institutions in a multipolar reality, a world where global powers increasingly use capital as geopolitical leverage.
To survive this, we must radically redefine how our partnerships operate and how we protect the research that guides them.
So tactical program and systems learning in terms of that, multi stakeholder cooperation must move away from tokenism.
We cannot invite civil society simply to validate a policy after it is written.
True partnerships mean co creation.
We've seen tactical progress of this when all four pillars operate in reality.
And at the Nelson Mandla University and its pioneering hubs of convergence, these are not traditional civil Ivory Tower research centers.
They are active spaces where the university partners directly with local government alongside grassroots organizations, citizens, and women's networks.
Critical pillar of this is the African Youth Hub.
We understood that the true whole of society inclusion requires centering those who actually drive structural change.
The hub intentionally positions young people and grassroots women leaders, not as passive subjects of academic research, but as architects of accountability.
Through these hubs, we practice systems learning a continuous dynamic feedback loop.
Where SDG four and 16 intersceptt.
We don't just generate reports, we host difficult conversations.
We put municipal managers, young citizen auditors, and women leaders in the same room to confront the hard truth with our political theater.
Critically, the university ensures data sovereignty.
In an era of rapid digitalization, the university provides the technological infrastructure, harnessing open source AI and civic tech to process massive amounts of grassroots data.
So onto the threat of weaponized funding, we cannot talk about co creation or maintaining these vital spaces for systems learning without talking about the institutions we rely on to provide the crucial as evidence.
To be completely honest, universities are not sterile, neutral observers.
They are battlegrounds of political and financial pressure.
We must define the fundamental difference between accountability and coercion.
And accountability ensures that the grant achieves its stated developmental or scientific purpose.
I've heard the bell.
I want to make one point.
So if you want a glaring example of this, we do not need to look at authoritarian regimes.
We only need to look at the crisis at Columbia University.
In recent times.
In an attempt to suppress campus protests and dictate political alignment, the federal government abruptly canceled $400 million in federal research grants.
Let me be clear about what was canceled.
Funding for Alzheimer's prevention, cancer research, and maternal fetal health.
This vital scientific work was out hostage to force Columbia into political settlement.
If funding can be switched off the moment a university's research contradicts a donor's geopolitical alignment, that university is not a sovereign institution, it's a proxy.
I do have recommendations, but I'll mention that in the 2 minutes in closure.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, miss Frazier Malachetti for that intervention.
With that, I'd like to turn to our third panelist, miss Margaret Williams, who is the Associate Director, SDG 16 plus Pathfinders for peaceful, just, and inclusive societies.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
I would like to ask you whether you could please share some global lessons, some evidence on effective SDG 16 partnerships that integrate justice, inclusion, peace, and institution building across sectors and levels of governance.
Miss Williams, over to you.
Thank you so much, Madam Chair and to the organizers and to everyone in the room.
It really is an honor to be here.
It means a lot and particularly to be here on this panel that's focused on the power of innovative, adaptive, and people centered partnerships.
That's how I interpret it a particularly critical topic in this time for SEG 16.
So I don't want to belabor it.
We've already discussed this today.
But perhaps it does it's worth mentioning one more time, the degree to which the world continues to be hit by a convergence of crises and mega trends, as norms erode, as was so eloquently just highlighted, and the global order of things rapidly shifts and reorganizes with centers of power moving and changing, the rise of regionalization, and a greater focus on localization, with 70% of the global population predicted to live in cities by 2050.
These shifts in geopolitical, economic and technological landscapes are placing enormous and growing strains on governance systems to deliver.
At the heart of navigating these navigating crises, managing this change, and perhaps even ultimately landing better is SDG 16 and partnerships.
In speaking specifically to this panel, allow me to provide a few examples, the subject of this plan, allow me to provide a few examples from my own organization.
But just before, allow me to also pay tribute and give a quick shout out to the SEG 16 plus group and my colleagues, all of which are sitting right there in a row in front of me.
So, Pathfinders, as I think many of us know, is itself across regional member state led, and multi stakeholder action platform committed to advancing SEG 16.
By definition, we are partnerships based.
We work with a number of actors at all levels of governance, often leaning into the strength of others in pursuit of common cause.
And while our organogram might take a second to wrap your head around if you ever so choose to see it, it is actually precisely between and within these dotted lines that partnerships are formed and that innovation, adaptability, and delivery can be baked in.
So a few more specifics on what these actually may look like.
We already heard earlier today from the Justice Action Coalition, but this is one of the coalitions that's part of the larger Pathfinders Network.
We are Secretariat, and the way it is structured is important.
Its board incorporates member states, international organizations, civil society, and at all levels of governance, which represents a tested architecture for integrating innovation on the rule of law, people centered justice, and institution building into a single coalition.
The further pairing of the Justice Action Coalition with something called the Global Alliance on Inequality, one focused on people centered justice, the other on structural inequalities reflects an emerging partnership model that treats these as inseparable dimensions of the same governance challenges, requiring coordination rather than parallel action.
At the regional level, the Abir American Alliance, the African Alliance for People Center Justice and the Gender Equality Network for Small Arms Control demonstrates how regional coalitions can bridge global commitments to national and local realities.
I should also say that these are, uh, These are coalitions, these are networks, many of those in the room today, and including our hosts, IDO, is part of some of these, and that's part of the beauty and the power behind them.
I am I already blinking? Okay.
Then very quickly, I would also like to mention the peace in our city's network, precisely because it works as a city to city peer learning network focused on violence reduction.
These are all examples of partnerships.
So then when you look at cities themselves, many of the cities that we work with have something called Offices for Violence Prevention, and they deliberately focus on cross sectoral partnerships among government, law enforcement, civil society, and private sector actors to sustain violence reduction efforts beyond political cycles.
What these types of partnerships speak to is perhaps both the value of multi stakeholder collaboration, integration, cooperation, but also shifting governance structures.
Oh, it's okay.
I'm going to take my cue from her down there one more minute.
I And this is important because these shifting governance structures are ones that need to be that partnerships reflect and that need to be met by the wider approach that we take to both challenges and opportunities.
This speaks to multi level governance as well as the hybrid governance.
In an era of disruption, what may be most urgent are systems that are resilient, equitable, and solvent, governance grounded in peace, justice, inclusive institutions, capable of managing today's crises, preparing for tomorrow's.
Capable of bridging silos across the UN pillars for results and capable of delivering impact that drably improves people's lives.
SEG 16 is often called the canary in the coal mine, a barometer of institutional health, social trust, and national resilience.
But it's also how you sustain progress, how you make development stick, how you catalyze inclusive growth, you de risk public and private investment, and you bridge the peace development nexus, so critical in this area, particularly in this era of UN reform with its impact on country teams and the need to do more with less.
How can we be more resilient, anticipatory, and adaptive, such that we can not only respond to, but perhaps even leverage systemic shocks and change.
Partnerships allow that to happen.
Partnerships are what make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
There are a lot of milestones ahead of us.
Next week is peace building week, then it's HLPF.
We're in a period of leadership transition at the UN next year, the SDG Summit, the year after that, the 2028 Pact for the future Review and we're in a moment of UN 80.
But all of these massive shifts also really do present an opportunity, an opportunity for us to realize the power of SEG 16 beyond rhetoric and as anchored in national development plans and inclusive of various levels of governments and various partners.
So earlier today, we all stood for SEG 16.
And for me, that was actually one of the most powerful moments I've ever had in this room.
I would assume that we would all stand for partnerships.
Both of those things are what are required to meet the moment today and tomorrow.
And I thank you for your attention and for the privilege of being a part of this community.
Thank you very much, miss Williams, for sharing those important reflections.
So let's now hear from our next panelists, Mr.
Enzo Romero, young leader for the SDGs, mechatronics Engineer, Bionic Innovator, and founder of LT Bionics in Peru.
So I would like to thank you for sharing the perspective of young leaders on this panel.
And I would like to ask you what your experience has been in leveraging innovation and assistive technologies as pathways to inclusion, dignity, and equal participation.
So Mr.
Romero, you have the floor for your 5 minutes.
Let me turn on my mic.
Is it on? Yeah, beautiful.
Thank you once again, Madam Chair.
When I first received the invitation to be here, I have to be honest, it was not immediately easy for me to connect the word peace or SEG 16 with my own work.
My work is in prosthetics, in upper limb amputations, in assistive technology, in engineering, design, and rehabilitation.
At first, I asked myself, what is the direct relationship between peace and a prosthetic hand? And then a news article I had read months ago came back to my mind.
It was published by UN News, and it has said that one of the consequences of war and conflict is injuries that lead to the loss of limbs.
It also reported that Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita anywhere in the world.
The highest number of child amputees per capita anywhere in the world.
Suddenly, the connection was no longer abstract.
Peace is not only about the absence of war.
Peace is also about the possibility of living with dignity after violence, after exclusion, after loss, and after systems have failed to protect people.
And for many people, especially people who have lost a lim, inclusions begin with the very concrete questions.
Can I return to school? Can I work? Can I move through the city? Can I take care of myself? Can I participate in my community? Can I be seen not only as a victim or as a patient, but as a person with a future? That is where assistive technology becomes deeply connected to technity.
For me, this is also personal.
I was born without my right hand.
Even before I became an engineer, before I entered a laboratory, and before I found the lab biionics, I already understood something very basic.
The world is not equally designed for all bodies.
Growing up with a lien difference meant learning how to adapt every day.
Sometimes the challenges were practical, tying shoelaces, carrying objects using tools, or finding my own way to do ordinary things.
But often, the hardest barrier was not physical.
The hardest barrier was the assumption that disability mean lean possibility, less possibility.
That experience shaped the way I understand innovation.
Innovation is not only about creating something new.
Innovation should also be about collecting exclusion.
It should be about asking who has been left out, who cannot access the existen solutions, and who is being forced to adapt to systems that were never designed to be them in mind.
A lot Bionics, I have met people who waited years for epsis not because they didn't need one, but because the available options were too expensive, too far away, or not adapted to their bodies, their work, their income, or their daily lives.
And when a person finally receives a prosthesis that fits, the impact is not only technical.
It can mean entering a job interview with more confidence.
It can mean returning to work.
It can mean holding an object just in public transport, cooking, studying, or participating in family or a community life with greater autonomy.
A prosthesis is made of materials, mechanisms, sensors, and design decisions.
But in real life, it is also connected to confidence, identity, and participation.
At Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, my work as a researcher allows me to bring these questions into the laboratory.
We work with treaty printing, artificial intelligence, electromyographic signs, personalized sockets, and validation protocols.
But the goal is not to make technology look impressive.
The real question is, does it work for people? Can it be affordable? Can it be manufactured locally? Can it be repaired? Can it be adapted to different bodies? Can it support real daily life activities? Can it be evaluated with evidence and not only with good intentions? Because innovation without access can reproduce inequality.
A high tech solution that only few people can afford is not enough.
A prototype that works in a laboratory but not someone's home is not enough.
A device designed without listening to users is not enough.
For me, assistive technology must be a pathway to equal participation.
That means people with disabilities should not be included only as patients, beneficiaries, or inspirational stories.
We must be included as users, designers, researchers, workers, and decision makers.
This is why the connection with peace is so important.
If conflict, violence, poverty, and exclusion can produce disability, then justice must also include the systems that allow people with disabilities to live with dignity afterwards.
Peace must include rehabilitation.
Peace must include accessibility, peaces include assistive technology.
This must include the right to participate equally in society.
That participation cannot depend only where someone was born, how much money they have, or whether a thesis is available in their country.
The kind of innovation, I believe it begins with listening.
It is shaped by evidence.
It is built with users, not only for users.
It understands affordability as part of dignity.
In the end, my work is not only about building better path hands, it is about building better conditions for life.
Because every person should have the possibility to study, work, move, care for themselves, contribute to their community, and make decisions about their own future.
And when assistive technology helps make that possible, it becomes more than innovation.
It becomes inclusion, it becomes dignity, and it becomes one of the many ways we can build peace.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, Mr.
Romero, for that.
It is now my pleasure to introduce our final panelists today, Mr.
Zia Ur-Rahman, who is the Director and Secretary-General General of the Asia Development Alliance.
I would like to thank you for sharing the perspective of civil society from SDG 16 plus on this panel.
And my question to you is given the trend of shrinking civic space and funding challenges for civil society today that I think we've also heard about in previous panels, how can participation and meaningful inclusion of civil society in governance and SDG implementation be strengthened through action on SDG 16? Mr.
Oman, you have the floor.
Thank you very much indeed for having me here.
I Since I represent Asia Development Alliance, which is the alliance of almost 33 national platforms and 12,000 grassroots level civil society organization.
So my perspective would be based upon the aspirations of the community that I represent, and, uh, When I will be talking about the civic space and the challenges, I will give you some of the perspective which could be a little different.
Today, we live in a world where less than 20% population lives under the democracy.
And less than 20% of the world is enjoying rightful spaces and choices of life, whereas 80%, more than 80% do not have that.
The reason is that we do not have this liberty of actually enjoying this facility and having a public discourse on democracy, fundamental freedoms, and human rights.
In most of the global majority countries, and because of that, the civil society actually doesn't have that ability because of the lack of the civic spaces and lack of the civic infrastructure that we do not have because of the democratic challenges in our countries.
And when I talk about civic infrastructure, it means the parliaments.
In our previous session, we had this opportunity to listen from the president of the interparliamentary Union, and he was talking about the importance of the parliament.
The parliaments are really very important when they are the true representatives of the people.
Unfortunately, in most of our global majority countries and in some of the global northern countries, we see that the parliaments are under corporate capture, the judiciary is subservient to the executives, the media is compromised, and therefore, There is nobody to speak for the rights of the civil society and we see that there is a growing challenges for the civil rights and spaces in our countries.
That was why we face the challenges of raising voices for the rights of the people and hence the civil society organizations having these quite stringent regulatory frameworks which are introduced by those parliaments, the National Commissions on the human rights are not independent as it should be under the Paris Agreement.
But most of the National Human Rights Commissions, National Commission on the status of women, National Commission for the rights of children, they are under resourced, they lack the human resource, and they also lack the financial support from the executives.
And that was why they are not supporting the kind of discourse that civil society has been promoting for the rights of the people at large.
So When we talk about the SDG 16, most of the SDG 16 targets are related to fundamental freedoms, human rights, inclusive societies, supporting the local agendas.
But those targets are really not being accounted for because the national level, what we see is that the indicators related to the SDG 16 are not being mired appropriately.
This is quite unfortunate.
Why they are not being mired appropriately, not only by the states, but also by the civil society organizations.
The states do not have that capacity and they actually do not want to me those indicators because they lack the implementation over those indicators.
But they don't allow civil society organizations uh, because they want that they think that the civil society is bringing a kind of challenge for the state authorities, highlighting the progress which is not appropriate at all.
This is another challenge.
In most of the countries, what we have seen is that the local governance is not active and where there is a local government is not active.
In fact, what happens is that the localization of the SDG 16 and particularly the indicators which are directly related to the communal rule of law and justice, they are not being implemented appropriately.
These are some of the challenges.
When we see the financing, unfortunately, we see that at the broader perspective, the ODA is being cut, and we have noticed that very recently, 24% of the bilateral funding is being cut in the very recent time and 12.7% of the multilateral funding is being cut.
And when it comes to the local civil society organizations, we see that the most of the funding, which is very much related to the human rights based organizations, those who are working on rights based agendas, the funding is not reaching to them.
So that's why we actually have these challenges of implementing SDG 16 targets at the grassroots level.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Ram.
It's terrible to have to shorten these very interesting interventions.
But I would like to now thank all the panelists and for this round and open the floor for interventions from the audience.
I have a list here of different member states and organizations that have asked for the floor.
Again, since we are on the clock, I'm going to try to manage it so that we hear as many interventions as we can until we get to about 5:15 so that we have time to turn back to the panelists to ask each of them to respond or give additional reflections just for one or 2 minutes before we wrap up.
To enable as many interventions as possible, I will stop there and the first speaker that I have on my list is Venezuela.
Is Venezuela here? If not, the next speaker on the list I have is the representative of Colombia and after that, the representative of the European Union.
I'd like to invite the representative of Colombia to take the floor.
You are here.
So.
Thank you very much, Madam Moderator.
I'd like to also to thank the distinguished panelists for having shared their experiences and thoughts with us.
Colombia acknowledges that building peaceful, just and inclusive societies as per SDG 16 requires endeavors that embrace the whole of society No single actor can face or resolve the current challenges.
We have increasing poverty, the climate crisis, and institutional change against this backdrop, Columbia, looking at SDG 16 views it as an enabler for the entire 2030 agenda.
Without peace and solid institutions, it's impossible to cut poverty, achieve economic growth, or social welfare.
Therefore, Colombia has decidedly aimed at multi actor cooperation.
An example of these partnerships is the fact that my country participates in the platform before G to move public and private partnerships, mobilize resources, ensure transparency, acknowledgment, and change institutions so that they can meet the global challenges such as climate change, energy transitions, et cetera.
We believe that we need to have exchange with different countries as does our foreign ministry.
We have 1,200 young people from various municipalities.
Using sport as an instrument for peace and preventing violence and promoting SDG 16, providing opportunities for young people in areas where there is violence.
We have to look at the possibility of recruitment and other negative influences.
Your Excellency, we, looking at 20:30, believe in this debate it is vital to strengthen participation in decision making involving particularly young people and local communities.
Then when it comes to public private partnerships and international alliances, we need these mobilize resources, and we need rules based on corporation solidarity, inclusion.
We need an inclusive approach, a political commitment, and a transformative partnerships.
Colombia wishes to work in this direction to ensure that nobody is left behind.
So I thank the Representative of Colombia.
I have a slightly revised list in front of me.
I'll just reference to the next four speakers.
So the next, I would like to invite the representative of Namibia, followed by the European Union, Congo, and Mexico.
I would like now to give the floor to the representative from Namibia, please.
If the representative.
Thank you.
Madam President, we align ourselves with the principles of the PEC for the future, which calls for a renewed multilateralism, inclusive governance, stronger institutions, and meaningful participation of all sectors of society in advancing sustainable development.
As democracy founded on the principles of peace, human rights, and the rule of law, Namibia recognizes that achieving SDG 16 requires partnerships that bring together governments, civil society, youth, academia, the private sector, and international partners.
In this regard, through the implementation of the SDGs, Through our sixth National Development Plan, NDP six, Namibia is strengthening accountable institutions, expanding digital public service, promoting citizen participation, and enhancing access to justice, particularly for women, youth, and vulnerable communities.
We have learned that effective partnerships are those that place people at the center, leveraging innovation and ensuring that communities are active participants rather than passive beneficiaries.
A notable example is Namibia's collaboration with international partners, research institutions, and law enforcement agencies to combat environmental crime.
The recent establishment of the Wood Identification and Screening Center, the first of its kind in Africa, demonstrates how science, technology, and multi stakeholder cooperation can strengthen the rule of law, improve enforcement capacities, and combat illicit trafficking in wildlife and forest products.
Looking ahead, Namibia believes that Aclerating progress on SDG 16 requires three priorities.
One, increasing the investment in institutional capacity and digital governance.
Two, creating more opportunities for youth and civil society participation in decision making, and three, strengthening international cooperation and knowledge sharing to address transitional challenges including corruption, organized crime, and environmental crimes.
Finally, Namibia remains committed to working with all partners to build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, ensuring that the commitments of the PEC for the future are translated into tangible benefits for the present and future generations.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much to the representative from Namibia and I now give the floor to the representative from the European Union.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, and thanks to the organizers and the panelists.
The EU has been an unwavering advocate of SDG 16 and put multi stakeholder coalitions at the center of its work on the goal because we believe that to ensure that no one is left behind, genuine partnerships and collective action are required.
The Team Europe Democracy Initiative, in short, the TED, and in particular, its working group on support to democratic forces and civic space, provides the framework that links concrete initiatives on the ground with broader democracy support by the EU and its member states by fostering joint analysis, shared priorities, and coordinated programming around SDG 16.
TED, the EU and its member states, civil society and the democracy support organizations align their approaches and pool resources to scale up action on democracy worldwide.
As we speak, actually, over 100 representatives from the EU, member states and partner country organizations are meeting in Brussels to discuss cooperation on support to democratic governance at the TED annual event.
Let me provide you with two concrete examples.
First, the EU's human rights defenders mechanism, protect defenders dot e, supported an average of 849 defenders per month in 2025 in more than 90 countries.
80% of assistance is implemented in high risk or repressive contexts by consortium of specialized international and regional NGOs who bring together their expertise in legal aid, emergency relocation, psychosocial support, training, and advocacy.
Similarly, through the Initiative for Transitional Justice in Africa, the EU supports the African Union Commission, IgGad governments such as Ethiopia, Lesoto, and the Gambia, and victim groups with implementing the EU Transitional justice policy.
To complement such regional initiatives with global efforts, the EU further works with the ICC, OHCHR, and the Global Center for the responsibility to Protect to close accountability gaps and support survivors.
These coalitions prove that cooperation and strong partnerships between a multitude of stakeholders who pool their mandates, resources, and expertise are crucial for delivering on SDG 16, including to create the enabling conditions for sustainable investment to achieve the SDGs in line with the Global Gateway strategy, which is built on international partnerships.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, the representative of the EU.
It's my pleasure to now give the floor to the representative of the Republic of Congo.
Is the representative of the Republic of Congo in the room? I think you have the floor.
Maxima.
Thank you.
Madam Moderator.
Thank you for giving us the floor.
I didn't request the floor, actually.
Thanks.
Well, thank you, sir, for your honesty.
Sorry about that.
I had you on my list.
That means that I can give the floor to the representative of Mexico and after Mexico, I will give you an FBA to take the floor.
Mexico, you have the floor.
Good afternoon and congratulations to the panel.
For what they've shared with us this afternoon and obviously from Mexico, we want to say that for us, one of the most important partnerships is with our citizens.
We need to work very closely with all our citizens, there's men and women who are organized, but also with just everybody because it's very important when we talk of partnerships, particularly within society, we need to be able to go beyond them.
This means, how can we just have partnerships which go beyond dialogue and lead us to very specific situations? For example, today, I would like to describe to you two experiences of citizen partnership and participation which have helped us to have stronger institutions, for example, an issue of public procurement.
You are all aware that very often this is corrupt.
We have a model with citizen witnesses, citizens and civil society organizations who take part in public procurement purchases.
So this means that they can report very effectively any irregularity.
So this means that all institutions get used to having witnesses in public procurement, but also our institutions are strengthened and we have a much closer relationship with them.
Then we have another mechanism As you are aware in Mexico, we have many important social programs, but we have a mechanism which is, as it were, controllers or auditors.
Programs are organized, and here we have those who ensure that they deliver on time.
They are, as it were, vigilantes who ensure that things work, they monitor matters with their dialogue channels of dialogue, they're not ambiguous models.
These are real dialogues that have been ongoing now for more than 20 years in Mexico and have taught us a lesson that the most important partnership is with citizens and that these structured models provide us with an opportunity of having much stronger institutions.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much to the representative from Mexico.
I'll give the floor to sorry I I would like before I give the floor to UNFPA, let me check whether the representatives of Romania, Poland, and Costa Rica are still here and whether you would like to speak to Romania, Costa Rica, or Poland.
Please indicate if you would like the floor.
I don't see either of those asking for the floor, so that means we will proceed with the list.
I will give the floor to the representative of UNFPA to be followed by Interpol.
UNFPA, you have the floor.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the government of Italy, Una and IDA Law for convening us.
UNFP contributes to SDG 16 by addressing the root causes of instability through demographic data, human rights, access to services, and youth empowerment.
There can be no just institutions if people remain invisible.
By partnering with governments and academia to generate high quality disaggregated population data, we use data as a tool for equity, ensuring that marginalized groups displaced populations and adolescent girls are never left off the map.
Accessing essential services is a matter of governance and rule of law.
When women and youth in all their diversity can safely access sexual and reproductive health services and find protection from gender based violence, it does more than save lives.
It rebuilds the social contract and fosters institutional trust.
True progress requires championing the agency of young people.
Bodily autonomy is the absolute precondition for their leadership.
This is why ending female genital mutilation, for instance, matters for the realization of the SDG 16.
Italy has been a steadfast champion and key supporter of the joint UNFPA UNICEF program on ending female genital mutilation, helping to protect millions of girls.
To turn all of this into measurable impact, we must focus on building inclusive intergenerational coalitions.
UNFPA actively supports youth led movements and networks, expanding their decision making spaces.
This is why we continue to champion youth peace and security agenda.
Today, emerging digital risks threaten peace and justice.
Technology facilitated gender based violence affects nearly 60% of women globally, chilling public participation, yet less than half of the world is legally protected.
Traditional justice must adapt.
In response, UNFPA, UNDP, and UNODC have launched the first UN wide joint program on technology facilitated gender based violence, combining UNFPA survivor centered expertise across 150 countries with UNDP's digital governance leadership, and the UNODC criminal justice mandate.
We invite member states and partners to invest in the scalable mechanism to expand accountability.
Thank you.
Thank you very much to UNFPA.
Sorry, just making sure that we cover the list.
In the interest of time, I'm going to ask Interpol to take the floor, but I'm going to close for the speakers after that.
I know there are other representatives here in the room who were expecting to speak and I apologize that we will not be able to accommodate that, but I would like to invite you to submit your statements or messages to us and we'll make sure that they're made available so that your message is not lost in this important discussion.
With that, let me give the floor to Interpol.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Excellence is distinguished delegates.
At Interpol, our close collaboration with 196 member countries, in addition to our strong partnership with the United Nations is our greatest asset.
This global network is foundational to our work, facilitating international police cooperation in support of the vision enshrined in SDG 16.
However, our work continues to be plagued by complex criminal threats and interconnected crises.
Crimes that transcend national borders are growing in prevalence.
These cross border threats demand coordinated solutions.
Interpol is answering this call by providing operational and technical support to our member countries to promote the rule of law.
Our secure global communication channels enable police to cooperate in real time on investigations.
Our tailored capacity building programs entrench proper procedures in law enforcement and strengthen national institutions.
And our innovative policing tools, including criminal databases, global notices, and intelligence capabilities, support police to combat cross cutting fields of transnational organized crime.
For instance, Interpol Silver Notice supported by Italy is strengthening the global tracing of criminal assets with the ultimate goal of seizing, recovering, and returning those assets to communities affected by crime.
Similarly, Project ICN funded by Italy and Germany is supporting countries to investigate and disrupt mafia type organization, particularly the drug datata.
Most importantly, our work is grounded in a firm commitment to the rule of law and human rights.
We aim to not only provide technical support to member states, but to do so in a transparent and accountable manner.
Excellence is the path to achieving SDG 16 is not walked alone.
Interpol remains committed to acting as a bridge between law enforcement agencies worldwide, turning our collective vision of peace and strong institutions into a tangible reality.
I thank you.
I'd like to thank the representative of Interpol.
We've had some quick diplomacy in the meantime.
I'm going to allow the last three organizations that had asked for the floor to give your statements.
I'd like to ask you to be succinct.
I'll then after that hand back to the panel.
You will get your 2 minutes each, and then we will close.
The three organizations that we will have the pleasure now of hearing from is the Global Partnership of Education.
I also have on my list, Alliance for Peace Building and the TAP Network.
So let's start with the Global Partnership for Education.
You have the floor.
Thank you.
Many thanks to the permanent mission of Italy, IDLO and DSA for inviting GPE to speak today.
The Global Partnership for Education, GPE, is committed to helping build peace, justice, and inclusive societies through partnerships and collective action to fully realize SDG four.
As indicated by its name, GPE is a partnership.
It is also a fund.
It has a multi billion dollar grant portfolio that helps children in lower income countries through funding, but also by bringing together ministries of education, ministries of finance, development partners, and civil society to strengthen and facilitate partnerships to ensure successful joint efforts that reduce fragmentation and align diversified financing behind country led education priorities.
GPE works to support governments to design and implement national strategies to advance inclusive education and ensure access to equitable quality education for all girls and boys and children with disabilities.
Excluding children with disabilities from education and training results in a loss of one to 7% of GDP.
Limiting girls education.
The cost of limiting girls education stands 15-30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings.
Conversely, inclusive education has a multiplier effect.
GPE also works across the humanitarian peace and development access.
It supports over 90 lower income countries, many of whom are experiencing crisis and conflict because we know that it is essential to ensure continued access to education no matter what, and that quality learning helps tackle the drivers of violence, build resilience to extremism, and foster more cohesive, equal and stable societies.
GPE believes everything starts with domestic financing in a country led approach.
But to unlock sufficient resources, investments from donor governments and the private sector are essential.
This belief is at the heart of GPE's current financing campaign, multiply possibilities, and we are proud that the governments of Italy and Nigeria are co hosts of that campaign.
Italy reaffirmed Italy.
Well, I'm sure Italy does as well, but GPE reaffirms its dedication to support the world's most marginalized and vulnerable children through funding and partnerships that can help realize access to inclusive quality education for girls and boys across the conflict crisis and development settings.
I thank you.
Thank you to the representative of GPE for that statement and I would then like to invite Alliance for Peace Building to take the floor for your statement.
Yes.
Right here.
Hi.
Thank you so much for this discussion and for allowing me to give a brief intervention.
I would just open by saying, we're in a building whose founding vision was one of peacemaking.
I want to re up the SDG 16 declaration that was published today.
I know we talked about it earlier during the morning sessions.
I would really encourage everybody in this room, everybody attending to go through that document in detail.
It is very practical.
It is very detailed.
It devotes more space to recommendations than analysis, which I really appreciate.
And I want to just give kind of a very brief overview of the section focused on peace building and conflict prevention.
I think that we really need to re up and focus on making sure that any foreign assistance budget from a member state or a government has a sizable portion devoted to peace building and conflict prevention.
I want to see peace building positioned as a necessary investment for the success of any agenda.
Earlier today, we heard remarks saying, Without trust, any other development goal is impossible.
But I ask, What about peace? What about without peace? Peace, especially needs to be treated as central to the entire 2030 agenda, as a means of addressing underlying drivers of instability rather than just its symptoms.
Finally, I would say having women peace and security, the Women's peace and security agenda be treated as central to peace and security and not just a tick the box or add on exercise.
Finally, we need to build connections between local organizations in different regions to promote cross learning and solidarity.
And so I would just call on the speakers and everybody here in this room to really seize this moment of opportunity.
We have UN Peace Building Week next week.
I appreciate all of the banners outside in the lobby.
We have UN AD Initiative.
We have an opportunity to make very practical reforms to move beyond declarations and statements and really focus on getting resources and funding to the grassroots organizations who are working at the nexus of all the issues that have been outlined today.
So I thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you to the Alliance for Peace Building for that message.
And with that, I give the floor to the last speaker from the audience, and that is Tap Network.
You have the floor.
Thank you.
Thank you all for your insights.
Both throughout the day today and also yesterday during the SDG 16 Civil Society Forum made possible by the permanent Mission of Italy, Idiieo and Donsa.
As we have heard, the compounding challenges the world is currently facing are inextricably interconnected.
Therefore, solutions need to reflect the complex and tangible nature of these realities.
The five interconnected priorities of the Civil Society Declaration, highlighting the necessary steps to combat rising authoritarianism, growing mistrust in institutions, threats to media freedoms, the reduction in civil society space, and rollbacks on human rights commitments and their funding.
Importance of highlighting organizations run by marginalized communities, especially women and girls, people with disabilities, indigenous populations, and youth led movements, cannot be overstated as these are the groups disproportionately impacted by rising conflicts, lack of access to justice, and the climate crisis.
That being said, including frontline rights defenders and peace builders and international dialogues and change making initiatives is not necessarily easy or convenient.
But requires understanding of organizational needs and capacities and adjusting the expectations that civil society functions must fit and conform to complex and cumbersome processes and applications for participation.
We're fortunate that this conference has provided us with the opportunity to bring so many members of civil society together with you all in meaningful dialogue.
But I do want to acknowledge that many of our colleagues have not been able to participate due to exorbitant and prohibitive costs and issues accessing visas for travel.
While they cannot be here with us today, they continue to do the vital work of implementing SDG 16 in their contexts.
For the question, I asked, how can governments and civil society institute dynamic approaches to civil society inclusion that are not simply rooted in checking boxes, but ensure that even as political funding tides shift, possibilities for advancing human rights remain.
Thank you.
Thank you very much to the TAP network also for posing a question to our panelists and thank you to all of those who intervened from the floor for sharing your insights and comments.
I'm now going to turn to the panel.
I think I'll ask you to take the floor in the same order that we started with.
I'm going to have to be even more strict and ask you to spend 2 minutes.
We'll go a little bit over time, but I think we'll allow that.
I will go directly to Mr.
Balde.
2 minutes.
Closing reflections.
I have the floor.
Thank you very much, Chair.
I haven't got a huge amount to add, but I would just like to congratulate this assembly and I'm reassured that in this sharing of ideas in the community, I did hear a lot of very interesting examples, Colombia on this total inclusion strategy and the idea of prioritizing the most vulnerable groups in how they define their solutions.
I also heard from Mexico and what they were saying about citizen observers.
Partnership is the topic we're discussing and we also think about partnerships with our own communities.
So the idea of directions that we're taking and what the own challenges that we face and what our own opportunities and we need to decide how to improve our legislations not only according to some models that are relevant but inadapted, but we need to do that through our own thinking, our own creativity, and our own drive because often technology only represents its own institutional ideas and that not initiatives of our own citizens.
And so that's what Senegal is committing to do in its systemic transition in our administration, moving towards better performance.
Thanks very much.
Thank you very much, Mr.
B, for those closings.
Let me give the floor to Geraldine Fraser Mochetti.
Thank you very much.
As we close this afternoon, we do so recognizing that we're not discussing SDG 16 in a vacuum.
We navigating a rapidly accelerating multipolar world, and this shift brings both profound opportunities for new global solidarities, as well as deep risks for a new geopolitical competition.
So in this multipolar reality, the principles of SDG 16, peace, justice, rule of law, and inclusive societies, it's no longer just a domestic checklist.
They're the ultimate guarantor, if one can call it that of a nation sovereignty and agency.
Um, when state institutions are weak, exclusionary, or lack the trust of the people, the society becomes vulnerable.
We see this across the globe.
Institutional fractures become entry points for external actors to extract resources, fuel conflicts, or turn nations into proxy battlegrounds.
Conversely, when government partners authentically with its civil society and its universities to build citizen centered state institution, it builds an impenetrable social contract.
I hope that responds to the question that was raised as well.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for those reflections and answer.
Ig now to give the floor to miss Margaret Williams for your closing reflections.
Thank you so much.
Yes.
Thank you so much for all of the reflections from the floor.
I just wanted to quickly pick up on a couple of them from Columbia, the You highlighting of the value of SEG 16 in meeting the moment, particularly on crises around climate and energy transitions, I think was quite on point and something that we along with many others have looked into also because of the peace development nexus, links within regulatory frameworks, how those show up at HLPF this year in VNRsum and also as a means of, um, even strengthening enabling environments for investment, et cetera.
I thank you for those words and the words on inclusion.
I also was really appreciative of what Namibia had said earlier on the need for inclusive innovation and what you said, Enzo, which was innovation without inclusion is inequality.
That's, as I say, a key takeaway.
I really appreciate that.
The notes from the point from Mexico on citizen accountability, which, um, links to the Pac for the future that were made, different initiatives from Europe in support of either Team Europe democracy or the Gateway Initiative.
This is such a clearly valuable space.
So one 32nd last remark is to say thank you.
Thank you to TAP and to CSPPS for yesterday's Civil Society Day interactive dialogue.
The stand up for SDG 16 statement, incredible as Nick said, incredibly powerful and concrete.
And thank you to I'm not going to try to answer your question because I think Geraldine did a better job would do a better job than I would.
And massive thank you also to Italy, DSA, and IDLO.
This is clearly a space that people need and want, and it's coming at a critical time for all of us who care so much about the principles and within SEG 16, the following actions, but also the state of multilaterlism.
So thank you.
Thank you so much for that.
So let me now give for those very good reflections.
Mariana, I would like to give the floor to Mr.
Enso Romero for your closing 2 minutes.
You have the floor.
Okay.
First of all, thank you for having me.
Thank you for allowing me to travel from Lima, Peru to be here addressing countries and several organizations regarding this topic that is really close to my heart.
I want to finish this with some sentences and a little bit of a statistic that I think is important for you to understand.
According to WHO, one in 70 people around the world has some kind of disability.
And the longer the humanity lifespan tends to get bigger, the bigger the necessity for assistive tech.
You could imagine yourselves.
To those of you who are wearing glasses right now, try to imagine doing your life the ways you do it without your glasses.
That would be impossible.
And probably someone might think that you are in sort of disability because you can read properly, right? So assistive tech, it is important.
To all country members, please double check that your person with disabilities national acts are working the way they say they should work, allowing assistive tech devices for everyone.
The slightest adjustment in your policy could represent the change of a lifetime to your citizens with disabilities.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for that message.
I now give the floor to Mr.
Zia or Rahman, who is last but certainly not least.
Thank you very much.
In the current context of shrinking civic spaces, declining development financing, and weakening trust in the institutions, participation and meaningful inclusion of civil society must be strengthened through a renewed commitment to SDG 16 plus.
The 2026 Civil Society Declaration on SDG 16 reminds us that peaceful, just, and inclusive societies cannot be achieved without those working on the front lines, local peace builders, human rights defenders, grassroots organizations, legal aid providers, women leaders, youth groups and communities affected by inequality and injustice.
SDG 16 plus provides a practical framework to move civil society participation from token consultations to structured, protected, and financed with continued, sustained and meaningful engagement.
This requires governments to protect civic space, review restrictive laws, ensure access to information, safeguard fundamental freedoms, and create formal mechanisms for civil society participation in SDG planning, budgeting, implementation, and review processes.
Meaningful inclusion also requires financing.
Civil society cannot contribute effectively to SDG implementation without flexible, long term, sustainable and core support, especially for local grassroots, woman led, youth led organization.
Donors and the governments must invest in civic space protection, legal aid, digital security, organizational resilience, community led monitoring, and independent civil society reporting.
I thank you.
Wonderful.
Thank you very much for that message.
And with that, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all the panelists once again for coming here and sharing your experience, your reflections, and your wisdom with us.
Thanks again also to all those who shared from the floor.
With that, I think I would just like to close this session.
Thank again, the conference co organizers for the opportunity to moderate this important discussion for bringing us together today, and again, the panelists and audience for your valuable contributions.
We will now close this panel and move to the closing session.
Before I gavel I don't know if we gavel in these meetings, but maybe we should.
I have a gavel.
Before I gavel the panel and close it, I would just like to ask the moderator and miss Beagle to come to the podium as we will get ready for the final session.
With that, thank you.
I know.
Thank you.
Okay.
Let's have a minute open.
Thank you.
Hello, good afternoon.
Excellence, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen.
Well, let me start by expressing our genuine appreciation and the satisfaction of the dynamic and constructive exchange across all panels.
The high number of interventions and the keen interest shown throughout our interactive dialogue have reflected both the urgency of SDG 16 and the shared commitment in this room.
As we come to the closing of the Saudi's seventh edition of SDG 16 conference, allow me to take a moment to highlight some of the themes that have shaped our conversation today.
Overall, our discussions reaffirmed that SDG 16 remains not only a goal in itself, but also vital enabler of progress across the entire 2030 agenda.
In the first panel, we took stock of where we stand.
While some progress was acknowledged, the message was clear global crisis, declining trust, and persistent inequalities are slowing down progress and with only 4 hours remaining to 2030, urgent action is needed to close the remaining gaps.
During the morning session, we were also honored to receive the 2026 Civil Society Declaration on SDG 16 plus, which calls on all of us to renew our commitment to strengthening civic space and inclusive development.
This outcome was discussed at length yesterday during the civil society forum, and I would like to thank again TAP and the CSPPS and their members.
For their constructive engagement.
In the second panel, we heard concrete evidence that investing in peaceful, just, and inclusive societies yields long term dividends, economically, socially and politically.
The transformative impact of SDG 16 was clearly articulated through national and local experiences and practical solutions from access to justice to the fight against corruption.
In our final session, we explored how partnerships across governments, parliaments, local authorities, civil society, and the private sector can build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, and how SDG 16 can accelerate progress on the goals under review at the high level political forum next month.
The role of multi stakeholder partnerships has emerged as a key component of this collective endeavor in line with last year's recommendations focusing on the importance to implement SDG 16, from the ground up anchored in communities and the national context, end quote.
As in the past editions, the main messages from today's discussion will be distilled into a final report which Italy will submit as an official input to the high level political forum carrying the voice of this conference into the heart of the multilateral process.
Excellence, distinguished colleagues.
Before closing, it is now my honor to introduce our two distinguished speakers for the final segment of this conference.
I don't need to introduce I've been here a new way, but I miss Bjork Sanker, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy coordination at the UN DASA and miss John Begl, old friend, Director General of International Development Law Organization.
Miss Sanker, I give the floor to you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The moderator.
It's been a long and very interesting day.
Excellency, distinguished delegates.
As we conclude this very interesting day, the SDG 16 Conference 2026, I would like to thank all the participants for the rich and thoughtful discussions that we've had throughout the day.
I think today's exchanges have reaffirmed a very central message that sustainable development cannot advance without peace, without justice, without effective institutions, and without inclusive governance.
So across all the sessions today, participants have highlighted both the scale of current challenges as well as opportunities of transformative action.
And I'm encouraged by the very active participation of delegations from member states, as well as civil society and other important partners, and I'm also encouraged by the frankness of the exchanges.
So there were several themes that emerged from the discussion.
I would just like to mention three that struck me.
First of all, the theme of trust that was mentioned by the moderator here as well, how important it is that we rebuild trust between people and institutions.
How important it is that public institutions are transparent, are accountable, are responsive, and capable of delivering tangible results for people.
To do that, we need to strengthen institutional capacity and we need to ensure meaningful participation.
A so eloquently brought to the table by several of the participants earlier today.
The second issue that I would like to mention is the issue of access to justice, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights and how they are not separate from development priorities.
They are enabling conditions for social cohesion, for resilience, and for sustainable development.
The third issue that I would like to pick up on is how participants emphasized both the opportunities and the risks that are linked to digital transformation.
We've heard how innovation and technology can strengthen inclusion and public service delivery.
But only if they are accompanied by safeguards that protect human rights and reduce inequalities.
We've also heard strong calls for more integrated approaches across institutions and across sectors.
Accelerating SDG 16 requires all of government and all of society engagement with governments, with civil society, with local authorities, with youth, with women leaders, with academia, and the private sector working together in partnership.
I was also encouraged by the presentation of the updated Civil Society Declaration on SDG 16 plus.
I think it was an important reminder of the indispensable role of civil society in advancing accountability, participation, and implementation on the ground.
So, ladies and gentlemen, this conference was convened not only to reflect on challenges, but also to identify practical pathways forward.
I hope that the recommendations and experiences that have been shared today will help to inform the high level political forum next month and that they will contribute to broader efforts to accelerate implementation of the 2030 agenda.
Because as we do enter that last stretch towards 2030, I think we are all painfully aware that stronger cooperation and concrete action is urgently needed.
So let's carry forward today's momentum, continue to work together to build those more peaceful, just, and inclusive societies for all.
Thank you.
Thank you, miss Ser, for your remarks, your inspiring words also for the future.
I give the floor now to miss John Bel director of the IDO, John floor.
Thank you so much.
Ambassad Maopodi, AG Center.
Well, distinguished delegates, friends, as we bring this year's conference to a close, I too would like to thank all the participants for the energy, the insight, and the spirit of cooperation that you have brought to today's discussions.
Obviously, I'm especially grateful to our co organizers, the government of Italy, and you and DSA for their continued partnership and leadership in advancing this important platform for dialogue and especially for action on SDG 16.
An ambassador and ASG.
It's truly a pleasure to work with you and with your teams.
I'd like also to give a special thanks to my IDO team in New York and in Rome.
So we heard throughout the day that progress towards the 2030 agenda remains under significant pressure.
But we also heard, I think, a clear and hopeful message that investing in peace, justice, and strong institutions can deliver practical solutions and tangible results, and that SEG 16 is central to changing the trajectory on the 2030 agenda.
It is a multiplier and it is transformational.
So For us, we see that we need action and we need results.
As I said this morning, results are the most powerful currency of trust and rebuilding trust and accelerating progress requires a focus on real improvements in the lives of the people and communities that we serve.
We did hear some great examples of action today.
We've seen the importance of empowering and investing in women and young people and the power of inclusive and multi stakeholder partnerships across governments, civil society, and international organizations.
I think we've seen clearly that action must be evidence based, people centered, and grounded in human rights.
Civil Society, as usual, has been a key part of this conference, been a key part since 2019 and always bringing fresh thinking and enthusiasm.
We thank them for their partnership in global and regional forums and especially in program countries.
Your 2026 Declaration makes a timely call to take a stand for SDG 16, and we stand with you.
Finally, IDO strongly believes that the rule of law is one of our biggest assets in this shared endeavor and I thank you as Chief, for emphasizing this.
We feel that the discussions here have demonstrated that while the challenges are immense, there is deep expertise, innovation, and commitment in the coalition for SDG 16.
This conference has always been a space for linking policy to action and action to results and we do have to double down on that focus.
A Ambassador Ma Pote emphasized, time is short and there is a need for urgent action.
And the road to restoring trust does not really begin in New York or Geneva.
It begins in communities, in courtrooms, and in custom and informal mechanisms in all parts of the world.
So we need to nurture new champions for SDG 16 by making it practical and visible in those spaces.
We must also continue to make the case for increased political commitment and financial investment in SDG 16.
Across all multilateral and national forums.
At IDL, we remain committed to working with all of you and our partners around the world to ensure that peace, justice, and strong institutions remain at the center of efforts to accelerate progress on the 2030 agenda and beyond and to build a more just, inclusive and sustainable future for all and leaving no one behind.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, miss Begl.
With this, we bring the SDG 16 Conference 2026 to a close give.
I would ask your indulgence for a couple of minutes where I would like to express some gratitude to a to esa and Id.
I said this morning in my opening remarks that I have worked as Director General for Development Cooperation in Rome, and I had the pleasure to establish a very good relationship with both organization, but not only a good relationship, something that I think that we have all of us together.
I think that we have tried to work on what we think in building a better society and trying to do it together.
I was very happy to work with you and with before.
I'm very happy to have the chance to keep working with both your organization now in my new duties in New York.
I also want to thank all those representative that have expressed gratitude to the government of Italy today for the efforts that we have made with this conference, for the task that we have been working on over these years with you and about again, about a world of peace, justice and fairness.
So thank you to all of you.
I want to thank my team, starting with my colleague, Daniella Tonon.
I think I do it now that this is unusual, but let me say that this is the last day of Daniella Tonon in New York.
She will start, I think that in a couple of days, she will take on new duties in Rome.
Actually, I convinced the ministry to leave her here a couple of weeks longer for this conference.
So thank you, Danielle and to my team, Ernesto, that is behind me and Francesca, thank you to all of you for the efforts that you have made.
And in conclusion, I know that this also might sounds unusual, but allow me to thank two Italian friends that I'm seeing in this conference room tonight and I'm doing it because they are both retired.
They have dedicated their lives to the UN.
They have really dedicated their lives to multilaralism.
And they are here despite the fact that they are retired, they keep working on these UN issues.
Thank you to Patriz Sivli and thank you to Paolo Gali that are here with us.
So I finish with this.
Thanks to all of you to all the participants, the panelists, the partners who made this event today a success.
Let us carry forward the momentum generated here and work together to advance peace, justice, and strong institutions for all.
Thank you.
M&E
Meetings & Events
(Part 2) SDG 16 Conference 2026
The SDG 16 Conference 2026 on "Driving transformation and coordinated action for sustainable development " held on Wednesday, 17 June 2026 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Description
Second panel session: Peace, justice and effective institutions: the transformative impact of SDG 16
Third panel session: Partnerships and collective action to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies
Closing of the conference
The SDG 16 Conference provides a global platform for all SDG 16 stakeholders - including governments, the UN system, intergovernmental organizations, academia and civil society - to address the transformative contribution SDG 16 can make in accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its outcomes inform reviews of progress at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) as well as other intergovernmental processes.
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