Ban Ki-moon Places Justice at Heart of Post-2015 Development Agenda

NEW YORK—The Open Society Foundations welcome UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for justice to feature as an essential element of the next global sustainable development agenda.

The Secretary-General’s report, The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet, urges governments to resist political expediency and agree upon a transformative set of new development goals.

In recognizing the importance of justice, the Secretary-General presses governments to correct the omissions of the previous Millennium Development Goals (expiring in 2015), which failed to recognize the critical role of access to justice, safety and security in ensuring sustainable development.

The release of the Secretary-General’s report follows the July 2014 conclusions of another body, the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development, which proposed justice-related targets for inclusion in the next post-2015 development agenda. That proposal, the result of intense negotiations over an eighteen-month period, has been lauded by many governments as a consensus-driven agreement that will form the main basis for negotiations leading to final agreement in the General Assembly by September 2015.

James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, said he welcomed the report’s call for states “to forge a new kind of development agenda with justice at its center”:

“The link between justice and development is evident to millions of people around the world who suffer every day because they cannot get an identity card, challenge an unfair employer, gain access to courts, or obtain social benefits. Development without justice is ultimately unsustainable, and the Secretary-General’s acknowledgement that justice is an essential element of development is a significant milestone.”

Governments will meet at UN New York headquarters starting in mid-January. Over the following months. they will negotiate all aspects of the new development agenda, including how it will actually be realized (the “means of implementation”) at the national level.

In his report, the Secretary-General made the case that the transformative shift required to end poverty will require broad participation, not only from govenments, but also from activists, ordinary citizens, marginalized communities, business, and other sectors of society. 

The Open Society Foundations are advocating for a new development agenda that ensures access to justice, public and personal safety, and good governance. The Secretary-General’s report endorses these principles, noting that “access to fair justice systems, accountable institutions of democratic governance, measures to combat corruption and curb illicit financial flows, and safeguards to protect personal security are integral to sustainable development.”

Goldston added: “The Secretary-General’s report supports a radically different kind of development agenda from the MDGs, one premised on respect for human rights and an acknowledgement that people cannot extricate themselves from poverty without access to justice. This document is a hopeful sign that governments will rise to the occasion and make justice central to the next sustainable development goals in September 2015.”