As prepared for delivery.

Distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends,

On behalf of UNDP, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the launch of the Fourth Global Progress Report on SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

This report is a true partnership between UNDP, OHCHR, UNODC, and we are particularly pleased this year to welcome UNICEF as a co-author for the first time, alongside contributions from partners across the UN system and beyond. 

And behind the report are countries themselves – the national institutions, statistical systems and people who generate the evidence that allows us to understand where progress is being made, where it is falling short, and who is being left behind. 

The report highlights a striking paradox.

Humanity has never had greater technological, scientific and economic capacity to solve complex problems. Yet millions of people continue to experience violence, injustice and exclusion.

Why? One important part of the answer is institutions.

Our capabilities will only translate into better lives if institutions are effective, accountable, inclusive and trusted. Institutions determine whether countries can prevent and manage conflict peacefully, protect rights, uphold the rule of law, deliver services fairly and enable people to participate meaningfully in the decisions that affect their lives.

That makes SDG 16 fundamental to the entire sustainable development agenda.

For UNDP, this goes to the heart of what we do. Development gains cannot be achieved, or sustained, without effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. Every day, UNDP works with Member States to strengthen the institutions that make development possible: institutions that uphold the rule of law, deliver public services, manage public resources, respond to crises and enable people to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. 

Ten years into the SDGs, the report shows that progress is possible, but it remains too slow, uneven and fragile. 

But there is also an important achievement of the past decade that deserves greater recognition. 

We can now see much more clearly where progress is happening, where it is not, and who is being left behind. 

When the 2030 Agenda was adopted, many aspects of Goal 16 simply could not be measured consistently. Many indicators lacked internationally agreed methodologies

A decade later, that picture has changed substantially. Countries now have new statistical standards, survey instruments, administrative data systems and reporting mechanisms covering peace, justice, governance, human rights and inclusion.

In 2019, only 22 % of countries had reported data under every SDG 16 target. In the 2026 reporting cycle, that figure is nearly 60%.

Important gaps remain. But this transformation in our ability to understand progress on SDG 16 is itself a significant achievement of the past decade.

And we are increasingly seeing why that investment matters. Better data is helping turn evidence into action. 

The report provides concrete examples. In Panama, victimization data informed changes to citizen security policy. In Mexico, data on people's experiences of discrimination exposed gaps between legal protections and people's actual experiences. And in Ghana, new evidence on illicit financial flows informed stronger tax and customs action. 

These are different issues in very different contexts. But the principle is the same: better evidence can help us see problems more clearly, make better decisions and strengthen the institutions that ultimately determine people's experience of development.

And that is why we are here today to discuss the most important priorities for accelerating progress on peace, justice and strong institutions, and what needs to change between now and 2030.

Because ultimately, better measurement is not the destination.

The real measure of our progress is whether people are safer, whether they can access justice and exercise their rights, whether they have a voice in the decisions that affect them – and whether institutions deliver for them.

That is the challenge before us for the remaining years to 2030.

Thank you, and welcome.