MEDIA ADVISORY
Follow live on UN Web TV 

WHAT:          SDG 16 Conference 2025

Our world is struggling with multiple challenges of deepening inequalities, climate change, geopolitical tensions and escalating conflicts. With only five years left to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, bold and coordinated efforts are needed to accelerate progress, uphold human rights, and fulfill the promise of a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future. The SDG 16 Conference provides a platform to explore trends, challenges, and opportunities to accelerate SDG 16 action and highlight its role as an enabler of all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The Conference will highlight the critical importance of all-of-government and all-of-society engagement, alongside the need to mobilize further actions and partnerships to advance SDG 16 and the 2030 Agenda. It will showcase how investing in peaceful, just, and inclusive societies can yield long-term social and economic benefits, strengthen institutions, and build public trust. The outcomes of the Conference will contribute to the 2025 High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development and other key intergovernmental events, including the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development and the Second World Summit for Social Development.

The Conference will feature three thematic panel sessions: 1) Stocktaking progress on SDG 16: Assessing achievements and challenges; 2) The business case for investment in peaceful, just and inclusive societies; 3) The way forward: Leveraging SDG 16 to accelerate progress on shared priorities in line with the Pact for the Future and other multilateral agreements and processes. It will also include the presentation by civil society stakeholders of the 2025 Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+.

The Conference, which will be held under the theme “Advancing peace, justice and institutions for sustainable development,” is organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), and the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations.

WHEN:           12 May 2025, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm EDT

WHERE:        ECOSOC Chamber, UN Headquarters in New York

Follow live on UN Web TV. 10:00 am – 1:00 pm EDT; 3:00 – 6:00 pm EDT

WHO:              Ministers and other high-level government representatives, senior UN officials, experts from international organizations, academia, the private sector, youth, and civil society organizations.

The Conference will feature statements by:

  • Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
  • H. E. Mr. Giorgio Silli, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy
  • H. E. Mr. Philémon Yang, President of the United Nations General Assembly
  • H. E. Mr. Robert Rae, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
  • Mr. Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)
  • Jan Beagle, Director-General, International Development Law Organization
    (IDLO)
  • H.E. Mr. Olivier Boucal, Minister of Public Service and Public Service Reform, Ministry of Public Service, Senegal
  • Hon. Lady Justice Philomena Mwilu, Deputy Chief Justice and Vice President, Supreme Court of Kenya
  • H. E. Mr. Jorge Rodrigo Araújo Messias, Attorney General of the Union, Brazil
  • H. E. Mr. Hussein Thomasi, Solicitor General and Legal Secretary, Ministry of Justice, The Gambia
  • H. E. Mr. Thomas Zahneisen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations
  • H. E. Ms. Anne Désirée Ouloto, Minister of Civil Service and Modernization of the Administration of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire
  • Ms. Tashi Pem, Chairperson, Royal Civil Service Commission, Bhutan
  • Mr. Helder Da Costa, General Secretary, g7+ Secretariat
  • Ms. Rigbe Gebrehawaria, Commissioner for Women, Children, Older Persons, and Disability Rights at the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
  • Ms. Cristel Urquía Dubón, Deputy Mayor of Intibucá, Honduras
  • Mr. Haoliang Xu, Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
  • Ms. Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
  • Ms. Müge Finkel, Associate Professor of International Development, Director of Ford Institute for Human Security, & Co-Director of Gender Inequality Research Lab (GIRL), School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), University of Pittsburgh
  • Ms. Liliane Adriko, Chief Executive Officer, Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Uganda)
  • Ms. Daniela Barba, Director of Research on Access to Justice, World Justice Project
  • Ms. Luísa Franco Machado, Young Leader for the SDGs
  • Ms. Lynrose Jane D. Genon, Executive Council Member, Young Women+ Leaders for Peace–The Philippines (YW+PL-PH)

More details, including the programme and full list of speakers, can be found here.

Main hashtag: #SDG16Conference

Media Contacts:

Alexandra del Castello, UN Department of Global Communications | alexandra.delcastello@un.org

Helen Daun Rosengren, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs | rosengrenh@un.org

Julie Powell, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs | powellj1@un.org

Information for attending in person:

Please note that to attend in person, all media representatives need to be accredited. Instructions are available on the website of the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit. For more information, you can also contact them at malu@un.org or +1 212-963-6934.