New report: Regional indicators are crucial for the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa

Burkina Faso
The Danish Institute for Human Rights provides, in partnership with the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, an analysis of security reform in Africa and the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the UN in September 2015, represents a broad and ambitious framework by introducing peace, security and justice to address the root causes of poverty. The challenge is now to develop a methodology and process to ensure a comprehensive and practical approach to the implementation and measurement of the SDGs.

With the new report “Justice, security and the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in Africa”, the Danish Institute for Human Rights is aiming at resolving a part of that challenge. The report finds that it is crucial to develop national and regional indicators in order to release the great potential of linking peace, justice and security to the SDG implementation in Africa.

It is our hope that the report will serve to inspire other National Human Rights institutions, governments, rights holders and security and justice actors to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Linking justice and security to the SDGs

In the report, DIHR and APCOF discuss the opportunity to draw the link between justice and security as both an ‘outcome’ and an ‘enabler’ of sustainable development. The report argues that policymakers, civil society organisations and implementing state institutions jointly need to establish national and regional indicators to promote implementation and monitoring of the justice and security goals in order to pave the way for a practical achievement of the SDGs in an African context.

The report focusses on the following key points:

  • The justification for urgent action to link and integrate justice and security in development planning.

  • The identification of the role of justice and security sector institutions in relation to the transformative potential of the SDGs.

  • Reflection on the Common African position to the 2030 sustainable development agenda.

  • A proposed methodology and process for national and regional indicator development.

On a strategic level, we find human rights and security to be a stabilizer and a driver of transparency and good governance – not least in relation to the implementation of the sustainable development goals. If the people do not trust security forces, instability arises and grievances can lead to unrest, civil war and human flight in the affected countries.

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