Institution Building
UNDP supports national and local authorities to rapidly restore justice and security services for the population in crisis-affected contexts. At the same time, UNDP works with justice and security sector actors to identify and implement measures for medium- and long-term sector-wide justice and security reform that are nationally owned and aligned with local priorities. As part of this assistance, UNDP works across the justice chain to enable judges, prosecutors, lawyers, staff of ministries, civil society, and the police to learn from each other and develop their skills to deliver more people-centred, human rights-based, and gender responsive justice and security services. This comprehensive approach to institution building fosters confidence in the state and contributes to sustainable and transformational change.
In 2018, UNDP operationalized the Rule of Law and Human Rights 2030 Agenda Accelerator Initiative to provide catalytic programmatic support on the rule of law, justice, human rights, and security to fast-track progress across the 2030 Agenda.
The accelerator initiative seizes upon the opportunity provided in the lead-up to the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) in July 2019, where progress on SDG 16 will be discussed as part of the theme of “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality." The accelerator initiative emphasizes that progress on rule of law and human rights serves not only as a means of achieving specific targets within SDG 16 but is also an enabler of achievement across the 2030 Agenda.
The accelerator initiative aims to ensure that countries affected by fragility and crisis are not left behind in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. Currently, the accelerator initiative is supporting 10 contexts as they look towards HLPF in 2019 and beyond to 2030. For example, through the accelerator initiative:
UNDP is promoting cooperation on SDG 16 and supporting trainings to reduce pre-trial and unsentenced prison populations in Sierra Leone.
UNDP is working with UN Women to support village court magistrates in Papua New Guinea to address human rights concerns in the two provinces with the highest rates of inter-community conflict, along with working with civil society organizations to support human rights monitoring and advocacy.
UNDP is supporting the National Human Rights Institution of Armenia to enhance their data collection and address human rights concerns to support acceleration across the SDGs.
UNDP is supporting violence prevention measures and conflict resolution mechanisms composed of security and rule of law officials in Colombia to foster an enabling environment for progress on the SDGs.
Looking forward, lessons learned from the accelerator initiative will help to inform future rule of law and human rights policy and programming efforts to support SDG implementation and ensure that no one is left behind.
