Reflections on United Nations SDGs:
n.16 Peace, justice and strong institutions

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore has realized this insight through the written article of Claudia Rotondi, Full Professor in History of Economic Thought, and the video of Gloria Mussetto, Ph.D. student in Sociology

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 with the goal of providing a path for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. The core of the Agenda is represented by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which represent an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership to adopt strategies that aim to end poverty and other deprivations, improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth. The Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities is collecting insights from SACRU experts and students on the SDGs. This contribution is by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore on SDG n16:Peace, justice and strong institutions

 

Our antibodies: knowledge and accountability

Written by Claudia Rotondi, Full Professor of History of economic Thought and Development Economics and Coordinator of the graduate programme in international cooperation policies for development

We are often inclined to circumscribe the meaning of SDG 16 to opposing war. In doing so, however, we risk shutting ourselves off from active commitment to its achievement. For what can we personally, in our roles, do to stop a war, to stop ongoing wars? Let us then consider the targets into which the goal is divided: those of SDG 16 refer, among others, to child trafficking, rule of law implementation, and illegal arms trafficking. Even these aspects could lead us to a further frequent error: that of considering these targets as mainly, if not exclusively, concerning developing countries. And thus, again we would move away from a direct and personal engagement.

It must be remembered, then, that this objective has broader horizons: it aims to make peace and inclusiveness the basis of social coexistence; it links peace and inclusiveness to justice and the promotion of sound institutions, free from opaque and corrupt practices. So: what can it mean for a university to promote this objective? The university has the great opportunity to be able to create, through the dissemination of knowledge but also through the university community’s behaviour, the most favourable environment for the development of the antibodies suitable for counteracting those attitudes that prevent the attainment of goal 16 in everyday life.

On the one hand, academic knowledge, particularly knowledge of past and present history, teaches us how much of a part the lack of justice, inclusion and cooperation has played and still plays in fuelling conflicts and reinforcing the vulnerability of peoples and states. On the other hand, living in an accountable university community can show us that the way to achieve these ends passes through personal behaviours on which attention can and must be maximised: non-violence, participation, non-discrimination, the opposition to all forms of abuse of power, the centrality of honesty in our interaction with people and institutions.

Thanks to these antibodies, we can legitimately and with great awareness ask governments never to derogate from these principles.