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The present input draws on the deliberations of IDLO’s Assembly of Parties and its Standing Committee, as well as the consultations with governments and partners for the elaboration of IDLO's Strategic Plan for 2021-2024 adopted by IDLO's Member Parties at the meeting of the Assembly in November 2020.
In line with IDLO’s mandate to promote the rule of law to advance peace and sustainable development, these consultations and deliberations within IDLO's governance focused during the past year on the pandemic's impact on SDG 16 and its broader implications for progress on the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
A. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on progress towards SDG 16 and the 2030 AgendaThe following considerations guided the deliberations and directions imparted to IDLO's work by IDLO's governing bodies in contributing to the global response to the pandemic:
- As highlighted by the SDG Summit in 2019, the world is not on track to achieve the 2030 Agenda. COVID-19 and its impact threaten not just to interrupt progress on the SDGs but also jeopardize the hard-won gains across many different aspects of the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable development.
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – particularly Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and its emphasis on the rule of law as an enabler of peace, justice, and inclusion – provide an essential roadmap to achieve stronger institutions, reduce inequalities, and promote more successful government action for preventing and mitigating disease outbreaks such as COVID-19.
- The values and principles enshrined in SDG 16 and Agenda 2030 remain highly relevant to overcome the ongoing crisis and ensure a just, equitable, and sustainable recovery for all.
- The socio-economic and human rights crises spawned by the pandemic have exacerbated inequalities, undermining development gains, public trust and confidence in institutions.
- Conflict and fragility pose one of the most significant challenges to sustainable development. A report by the World Bank estimated that by 2030 over two-thirds of the world’s poor may be living in fragile and conflict-affected States. COVID-19 is exacerbating existing fault lines in societies and generating grievances that if not addressed could lead to greater fragility, instability, and violence.
- Even before COVID-19, approximately two-thirds of the world’s population lacked the ability to meaningfully access justice. While the business case for investing in justice is clear and compelling, justice sector allocations have declined in both national and development assistance budgets. Justice systems have been hard hit by the pandemic, as new restrictions on physical access to courts and tribunals have coincided with a sharp rise in the need for legal protection and services.
- Justice systems can help tackle inequalities by constraining the arbitrary and unfair exercise of power and ensuring everyone is able to enjoy their human rights, including persons in marginalized or vulnerable situations. They are also essential for upholding democratic principles, and challenging the discriminatory laws, policies, social norms, and stereotypes that hold people back from realizing their development potential.
- The rule of law can play a key role in sustaining peace by helping to address the root causes of conflict and insecurity, which often lie in discrimination and marginalization, lack of respect for human rights, unequal distribution of public goods and services, corruption, impunity, and lack of accountability.
