At the 2019 High-Level Political Forum in July, governments will come together at the United Nations headquarters in New York to review their progress implementing commitments under Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG16) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To help them measure progress, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and participating governments are defining a new statistical measure called ‘Total Official Support for Sustainable Development’ (TOSSD).
There is renewed debate over whether – and under what circumstances – peacekeeping, disarmament, criminal justice and other military-security assistance should be considered part of financing for SDG16 and wider sustainable development efforts. This submission provides a perspective from 22 organisations with expert knowledge on peace and sustainable development, offering a number of discussion points on these issues backed by evidence and recommendations. It urges the OECD and participating governments to take a cautious approach to including military-security assistance as part of TOSSD – ruling out the inclusion of assistance where there is a credible risk of negatively impacting efforts to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies through the 2030 Agenda.
You can read the full joint submission – signed by QCEA, ActionAid, Ofxam and other NGOs – by clicking here.
This document shows just how complex questions of peace and security can be, as well as how easily peacebuilding and development efforts can become entangled with military measures. Together with its partners, QCEA continues to advocate for an international approach which favours sustainable, human-centred responses to conflict.