Goal 16 of 17
Peace, justice and strong institutions
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
What this goal is about
Goal 16 is about safety, fairness and trust. It covers violence and conflict, abuse of children, access to courts, corruption and bribery, legal identity, and whether governments and public bodies are open, accountable and listen to the people they serve.
Every other goal depends on it. Schools, clinics, clean water and fair markets are hard to build where violence is common, where officials expect bribes, or where people have no birth certificate to prove who they are. Businesses need it too: contracts only mean something when courts work and rules apply to everyone.
The picture is uneven. Homicide rates have fallen slowly since 2015 and more countries have right to information laws, but conflict, forced displacement and attacks on journalists and human rights defenders remain far too high, and the world is not on course for the 2030 targets.
The main targets
Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
Promote the rule of law nationally and internationally, and make sure everyone has equal access to justice.
By 2030, greatly reduce illicit money and arms flows, recover stolen assets and fight all forms of organised crime.
Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.
Build effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.
Make decision-making responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative at every level.
By 2030, give everyone a legal identity, including birth registration.
Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in line with national laws and international agreements.
Summaries in plain English. The full wording of every target and indicator is on the UN Goal 16 page.
What businesses can do
- Write and use an anti-bribery policy. Set out clearly that staff, agents and partners must not offer or accept bribes, including small facilitation payments, and train people on it.
- Check who you do business with. Run proportionate checks on agents, distributors and major suppliers, especially those who deal with officials for you.
- Give people a safe way to speak up. Offer a confidential channel for reporting concerns, protect people who use it, and follow up every report.
- Be transparent about ownership and payments. Keep company records accurate, publish who owns and controls the business where required, and keep a clear record of gifts and hospitality.
- Treat customers and staff fairly. Write plain contracts, handle complaints properly and respect privacy and legal rights. Fair dealing builds the trust Goal 16 is about.
What you can do
- Learn how your rights work. Find out how to request information from public bodies in your country, such as through India's Right to Information system, and what courts and ombudsmen do.
- Speak up safely. If you see bullying, abuse or cheating, tell a trusted adult, teacher or official channel. Never put yourself at risk.
- Take part in decisions. Join a school council, youth parliament or local consultation, and register to vote when you are old enough.
- Check before you share. Verify news before passing it on, and challenge hate or harassment online by reporting it on the platform.
Digital systems can make public services harder to abuse. Ukraine's open-source Prozorro procurement system publishes tenders so anyone can check them, the Open Contracting Data Standard gives governments a free format for publishing contract data, and India's National Judicial Data Grid shows how many cases are pending in its courts. Digital identity can help people prove who they are, as India's Aadhaar has done at scale. The limits are real: digital systems can exclude people without connectivity or documents, can create new privacy and surveillance risks, and publishing data only helps when journalists, citizens and auditors use it.
Sources
- UN DESA, Goal 16 targets and indicators
- United Nations, Peace, justice and strong institutions (Goal 16)
- Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, Goal 16
- UNICEF, 150 million children still invisible (2024)
- World Bank ID4D Global Dataset
- Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2025
- Open Contracting Partnership, Ukraine: everyone sees everything
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