Peace, Justice and strong institutions

With every edition of the AUSSS magazine, a theme is selected based on a large variety of factors. This month, with all the ongoing disheartening and unjust wars and attacks occurring in Sudan, Palestine, Ukraine, and many other countries all over the world, we saw that the theme of “social resilience” would be most fitting, as it would allow us to highlight the strengths, perseverance, and bravery of these communities in the face of disasters.

Social resilience encompasses the ability of individuals, institutions, and communities to not only survive, but to adapt to environmental and societal threats of various kinds. These threats are usually viewed as external factors that disturb said social units, but they can also stem from internal dynamics, or perhaps even the interaction between the two.

To build social resilience, on the level of any nation, it is imperative that the vulnerable groups are not only recognized, but also empowered. Poor households need to be empowered. Oppressed and marginalized groups need to be empowered. Uneducated groups need to be empowered, The elderly need to be empowered. Women and children need to be empowered.

Empowering vulnerable groups will allow us to build adaptive capacities by decreasing their limitations.

Accordingly, all SDGs are relevant and important to the creation of resilient societies. However, it would be unrealistic to discuss all 17 goals and their individual targets and indicators in one go, so let’s focus on one which is SDG 16:

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Why this goal? Because no matter how much we try to build resilient societies, people everywhere have the right to live free, without any fear, in safety as they go about their lives regardless of their sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

This goal has 12 targets and 23 individual indicators. The targets focus on a wide range of forms of violence that threaten the peace of institutions such as death related violence, human trafficking, abuse, exploitation, unequal access to justice, corruption, bribery, etc. It focuses on building effective, accountable, and transparent institutions that ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

The achievement of this goal requires the collaborative work of civil societies, communities, and governments to implement long standing solutions that reduce violence, deliver justice, and promote peace for everyone.