Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,
 
 In 2015, the world came together to dream about a future reality – one where poverty is eradicated, and peace and prosperity flourish in an inclusive, just and sustainable world.  This vision of reality was endorsed by world leaders, Heads of State and Governments, and enshrined in the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
 
Since then, significant efforts have been undertaken to make this Agenda a reality.  The High-Level Political Forum – starting tomorrow and lasting for the next two weeks – gives us the opportunity to take stock of these efforts and to review the progress that has been made so far.
 
This year, we will examine our collective contribution to “Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality.”  This includes a specific focus on SDG 16 and the advancement of peace, justice and strong institutions.
 
 Let me begin by recalling that commitment to human rights, justice, accountability and transparency are prerequisites to ensuring that people can live freely, securely and prosperously.  Protecting human rights requires effective and functioning rule of law institutions.  The rule of law provides the framework of norms, mechanisms and processes by which human rights can be protected and violations prevented.  And when violations occur, rule of law mechanisms also provide means to obtain justice and reparation. This is the foundation of SDG 16.
 
But SDG 16 is not an end in itself; rather, it catalyses progress in the whole of the Sustainable Development Agenda.  The term “SDG 16 Plus” has been coined to emphasise the mutually reinforcing nature of these 17 goals.
 
This morning, I’d like to focus on the linkages between the rule of law and human rights and three of the millennium development goals within the SDG 16 Plus framework: SDG 5, SDG 10, and of course SDG 16.
 
First SDG 5, which commits us to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
 
Simply stated, societies that have developed norms and mechanisms to ensure that women and girls are treated equally and are not subject to discrimination are more resilient and less likely to experience violent conflict.[1]   Women’s voice and engagement are core components of an effective prevention policy and are fundamental to sustaining peace.  Fully achieving the aims of SDG 5 means that we must deepen our understanding of women’s unique needs, and the problems women and girls face when they seek justice, security and respect for their human rights.
 
The challenges here are great, as women continue to face discrimination, violence and social exclusion in many parts of the world.  These obstacles limit the ability of women and girls to fully participate in society, the economy and civic life.  Hundreds of millions of women live in countries where they face legal discrimination or do not have legal protection.  Where national justice systems do not guarantee gender equality, where deliberate discrimination against women persists, and/or legal protection is lacking, gender equality is substantially undermined and the price is paid by the society as a whole.
 
But in countries where women and girls are adequately protected in law and practice, greater social inclusion is achieved, and opportunities are more accessible to all. We see this in situations where laws, policies and programmes are designed to overcome the challenges that women must face on a daily basis. For instance, in Argentina, the UN is helping deaf and hearing-impaired women victims of gender-based violence through campaigns within the deaf community to raise awareness of the rights, laws and services available to women. If authorities and legal aid services can better understand the specific needs of these women, they will be able to respond to meet needs more effectively.
 
With respect to SDG 10, we aspire to “reduce inequality within and among countries.”
Largescale inequalities, along with climate change, are one of the biggest challenges the world is facing.  Growing levels of inequality hinder human development, social cohesion, peace and security and sustainable development.
 
Rising inequalities are a product of national policies, laws, institutions, social-cultural norms and practices, governance deficits, corruption, distribution of income, concentrations of wealth and power, and inequalities of access and opportunities.  All of this is often combined with other factors of discrimination and inequality such as gender, age, ethnicity, race, disability and circumstances of birth.
 
The central pledge of “leaving no one behind” and the human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination are indispensable to all the SDGs.  Non-discrimination is key to prevention – in institutions, development, and provision of security and justice – and must be built with strong stakeholder engagement, especially by those who are excluded, vulnerable and marginalized[2] and with a strong civil society participation. The SDGs call for leaders to uphold the principle of non-discrimination concurrently with the right to participation in public affairs, the public access to information and fundamental freedoms, and measures that will encourage trust and accountability in the public sector.  This is particularly critical in the current context of shrinking civic space.  We have, therefore, still a lot to accomplish in this area.
 
Finally, I turn to SDG 16 and the vision for “peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,” for “access to justice for all,” and for “effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”
 
This vision gathers us here today.  While good progress has been made in some areas of the Sustainable Development Agenda, advances on SDG 16 are “uneven and continue to deprive millions of security, rights and opportunities”[3]
 
Armed conflict presents a particularly challenging context for the effective implementation of SDG 16.  Cycles of armed violence have evolved into systems driven by complex factors and multiple actors.  They are increasingly drawn out over extended periods of time and are spread over geographical and social landscapes. Syria, northern Iraq, eastern DRC, Central African Republic, South Sudan, southern Afghanistan, south Somalia, Pakistan’s frontier areas and parts of Myanmar and Yemen all provide examples of such complex conflict systems.
 
SDG 16 underscores that sustainable peace and development are intimately linked to respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.  The rule of law creates the predictability and transparency that is indispensable to peaceful coexistence of nations, communities, and individuals.  Prevention and recovery efforts require sustained investment in inclusive justice and security institutions, and governance systems grounded on the respect for human rights and the rule of law.
 
Additionally, effective accountability mechanisms for human rights violations must be in place.  The challenges of building a peaceful, just and inclusive society are nowhere as acute and complex as in contexts of transition, in the aftermath of repression or conflict that was accompanied by mass violations.  These situations are typically marked by a significant impunity gap and deep divisions in society, which poses a risk of recurrence.  In such contexts, extraordinary and innovative approaches to pursue justice for human rights violations can contribute to positive peace – where people experience freedom from the fear of violence – and secure development gains over the long term.  Transitional justice can foster trust in institutions and among people and groups; strengthen rule of law and access to justice, help to transform gender inequalities; and reduce inequality, marginalization, and corruption.  This kind of deep societal and institutional transformation is required to address the root causes of conflict, violence and human rights abuse and to prevent any form of recurrence.
 
However, we need still to improve and strengthened our efforts towards accomplishing these goals.  We must focus our collective engagement on helping countries suffering from violence and conflict to implement adequate mechanisms to prevent human rights violations and to facilitate access for all victims when violations have been committed.  We must continue to support national and international efforts to enhance accountability for human rights and international humanitarian violations. And we must continue to work together to further develop early warning and prevention mechanisms to ensure that our efforts lead and consolidate in a sustainable peace.
 
For example, in Colombia the UN has supported the Integral System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition created by the Peace Accords between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, signed in November 2016.  In the Central African Republic, we continued to work to operationalize the Special Criminal Court continued with the establishment of the court and a Special Judicial Police Unit.  In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the MONUSCO Prosecution Support Cells supported the authorities in the processing an important number of case files, leading to the conviction of perpetrators of serious human rights violations, including mid to senior FARDC and PNC officials as well as armed groups and militia leaders.
 
In closing, as we look ahead to the events of the next two weeks, I would like to emphasize that the UN system is geared more than ever to ensure that our work in peace and security, development, human rights and humanitarian action builds in a holistic way on sustaining peace and supporting the 2030 Agenda.  We stand firmly in our commitment to national ownership and leadership – but equally stress the need for broad inclusivity across society, focusing especially on women and youth.
 
But coherence and coordination are not enough.  We must also scale up our collective investment in the Sustainable Development Goals.  This includes doing a better job in tapping into the potential of innovators and innovations, especially those that can contribute to strengthening the rule of law and human rights and promoting access to justice for all.
 
We must invest in the youth.  Hundreds of millions of young people believe in this agenda and are ready to work towards the peaceful, just and inclusive societies they demand.
 
We must invest in a data revolution; true progress on the SDGs, and particularly on SDG 16, cannot be measured in the absence of sound, consistent data.
 
We must harness the power of technology to fill gaps where they exist, be on digitalizing justice institutions to increase efficiency and decrease backlogs, or in using mobile phones as means of detecting possible rights violations before they escalate.
And we must invest in partnerships.  Multilateral, multi-stakeholder action dedicated to achieving justice for all and universal respect for human rights is one of our greatest, most accessible tools for securing people’s livelihoods.
 
In the words of the Secretary-General:
 
“I am convinced that with sufficient focus, effort, innovation, political commitment and resolve, with partners who are fully behind this transformation, and with multilateral collaboration that is focused on results, we can surmount the challenges and we can reach the SDGs by 2030.”[4]
 
Thank you.
 

[1] UN-World Bank Report, Pathways for Peace, October 2018. Available here: https://www.pathwaysforpeace.org/
[2] Ibid
[3] Forthcoming report of the Secretary-General on the Sustainable Development Goals (July 2019)
[4] Ibid