Know your SDGs
Michel Nussbaumer, Director, Legal Transition, EBRD ([email protected])
At EBRD we are used to shaping our operations with reference to the 6 transition qualities which underpin a vibrant market economy. We sometimes forget that there is a whole world out there which uses a different system. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put in place by the international community in 2015 are used by many development actors to achieve a better world for all. The SDGs run until 2030 and the UN is now embarking on a vast assessment to see how much has been achieved so far. Each SDG is undergoing its own review. I was invited to participate in a global conference assessing progress on SDG16, sometimes referred to as the ‘Rule of Law SDG’. SDG16 is about peaceful societies, access to justice and accountable institutions.
The event, held at the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Rome, was jointly organised by our partner organisation IDLO (International Development Law Organisation) and the UN DESA (United Nations Department for Social and Economic Affairs).
The conference included many stakeholders from international organisations, governments and civil society. For three days, we brainstormed on progress to date and challenges ahead. I contributed some lessons learned from our Legal Transition Programme, in particular in the field of public procurement where the Open Government concepts can bring about real change and reduce corruption.
One speaker impressed me more particularly. Albie Sachs is an activist and a former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He had an arm and eye blown off by a car-bomb in 1988 due to his opposition to Apartheid. I was fascinated by his examples of cases where the Rule of Law had made a real difference in peoples’ lives. For example, he mentioned a case where he was able to refuse to evict poor people from a piece of land by invoking their constitutional right to housing and make it prevail over the right to private property of the land owner. This was also a good reminder that the Rule of Law can sometimes be on the wrong side of Justice (example of Apartheid).
Another interesting moment was the meeting with an anti-mafia chef who cooked for us during the conference. He is apparently famous in Calabria for refusing to pay protection money to criminal circles. He fed us with an amazing new dessert he invented, made with a special citrus fruit from his region.
More seriously, the conference revealed the total lack of economic indicators regarding SDSG16. I made the point during my intervention, arguing that the ease of doing business was crucial to lift people out of poverty and that a good legal system is needed to support entrepreneurial activity. It would make sense therefore to have such economic indicator gauging the quality of economic legislation. Hopefully the position can be rectified when the SDGs are reviewed.
The conference also established that a lot of work remains to be done under SDG 16. We heard that at least 253 million people live in conditions of extreme injustice (modern slavery), 1.5 billion people cannot resolve their justice problems (e.g. disputes over land), and 4.5 billion people are excluded from the opportunities the law provides (e.g. they work in informal sector). The mission is far from accomplished!
https://www.idlo.int/SDG16Conference2019
The event, held at the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Rome, was jointly organised by our partner organisation IDLO (International Development Law Organisation) and the UN DESA (United Nations Department for Social and Economic Affairs).
The conference included many stakeholders from international organisations, governments and civil society. For three days, we brainstormed on progress to date and challenges ahead. I contributed some lessons learned from our Legal Transition Programme, in particular in the field of public procurement where the Open Government concepts can bring about real change and reduce corruption.
One speaker impressed me more particularly. Albie Sachs is an activist and a former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He had an arm and eye blown off by a car-bomb in 1988 due to his opposition to Apartheid. I was fascinated by his examples of cases where the Rule of Law had made a real difference in peoples’ lives. For example, he mentioned a case where he was able to refuse to evict poor people from a piece of land by invoking their constitutional right to housing and make it prevail over the right to private property of the land owner. This was also a good reminder that the Rule of Law can sometimes be on the wrong side of Justice (example of Apartheid).
Another interesting moment was the meeting with an anti-mafia chef who cooked for us during the conference. He is apparently famous in Calabria for refusing to pay protection money to criminal circles. He fed us with an amazing new dessert he invented, made with a special citrus fruit from his region.
More seriously, the conference revealed the total lack of economic indicators regarding SDSG16. I made the point during my intervention, arguing that the ease of doing business was crucial to lift people out of poverty and that a good legal system is needed to support entrepreneurial activity. It would make sense therefore to have such economic indicator gauging the quality of economic legislation. Hopefully the position can be rectified when the SDGs are reviewed.
The conference also established that a lot of work remains to be done under SDG 16. We heard that at least 253 million people live in conditions of extreme injustice (modern slavery), 1.5 billion people cannot resolve their justice problems (e.g. disputes over land), and 4.5 billion people are excluded from the opportunities the law provides (e.g. they work in informal sector). The mission is far from accomplished!
https://www.idlo.int/SDG16Conference2019
