United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had collaborated to address the demand for methodological tools to measure progress on SDG 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
The three entities presented the SDG 16 Survey Initiative, a comprehensive instrument to collect data on access to justice, corruption, discrimination, governance, human trafficking and violence. The data could support decision makers in interpreting and understanding complex realities, identifying entry points to address some of the most persistent and potent challenges, and avoiding further marginalization of the most vulnerable groups in society. The event, attended by 99 participants from 41 countries, involved four panellists sharing their insights and national experiences measuring SDG 16 indicators and implementing the Initiative. The Department of Justice of Canada discussed producing information on access to justice legal problems (Indicator 16.3.3); the National Administrative Department of Statistics of Colombia dealt with discrimination (Indicator 16.b.1); the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice of Ghana touched on corruption (Indicator 16.5.1); and the National Statistics Institute of Tunisia spoke about the SDG 16 Survey.