The ABCs of Sustainable Development Goals and Sudan’s situation XVII

Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

By Dr. Hassan Humeida

KIEL, GERMANY: The sixteenth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, aims to achieve peace, justice and strong institutions on a global scale. This goal is based on accomplishing justice by achieving peaceful and inclusive societies and building effective and accountable institutions at all levels.

One of the requirements for achieving this goal is building justice and judicial institutions with weight, strength, and importance in implementing laws, to establish balanced societies where peace and justice prevail.

The sixteenth goal, the penultimate one of the Sustainable Development Goals, seeks to reduce violence of all kinds and the percentage of deaths directly or indirectly related to it.

In this regard, it is important to achieve this goal by putting an end to the abuse of individuals and minorities and preventing personal exploitation, oppression, terrorism, human trafficking, and violence directed mainly against children, women, girls, and youth.

This goal also seeks to define the identity of newborns in all countries immediately after birth, and to facilitate access to necessary information at the personal and institutional levels, while taking into account the protection of each individual’s personal information from spying and of institutional information from piracy in accordance with both local and international legislation and laws. .

Among the recommendations of this goal is to establish foundations for transparency by establishing institutions subject to legal accountability at all levels, nationally and globally, to reduce bribery, nepotism and corruption, and to strengthen the judicial apparatus to recover stolen and smuggled funds and combat local and global money laundering in all its forms.

Accordingly, at the forefront of implementing this goal is combating organized crime that is based on smuggling and the trade in drugs and medical drugs, which is related to the destruction of global young human wealth, and to human trafficking, which is related to the least protected age groups.

This goal also aims to reduce hidden or concealed violence within the family against its members, who are often unable to protect themselves from such types of violence that, in some socially backward societies, is justified by the family and its communities.

Moreover, this goal seeks to strengthen laws and facilitate access to judicial local and international bodies. It is committed to supporting national institutions through international cooperation, to enhance local capabilities for sustainable work at all levels.

This goal takes the participation of developing countries, especially the poor ones, into consideration, mainly supporting governance, partnership, and the formulation, making and implementation of decisions based on achieving global sustainability on the principle of good democratic governance, peace and justice.

This will allow these countries to keep pace and not to miss development opportunities to lift their societies out of the clutches of poverty. hunger, disease and underdevelopment. All this is under the umbrella of achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030.

Regarding the 16th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, “Achieving peace, justice and strong institutions,” and Sudan’s position on it, there is a long distance between this goal and ways to achieve it within the next six years in the absence of peace.

In April 15, 2023, the armed conflict broke out, and the drums of war were beaten by countries and mini-states that do not care the slightest about the security and safety of Sudan and are far removed from the concerns of the Sudanese citizen. The countries and mini-states have fanned the flames of war throughout Sudan by supplying weapons to the warring parties to destroy the people of the nation.

War results in the absence of permanent peace in Sudan, and there is nothing to gain from a false Islamic fraternity or a fake Arab brotherhood or a hypocritical African comradeship or fraudulent democracy.

There is no benefit from a democracy that is being marketed to the bereaved citizens so that they can accept it after they were displaced and tortured, their homes were occupied, their money and property were looted, and their women were raped in the most horrific ways and in broad daylight.

Regarding peace, justice, and strong institutions in light of the Sudan war: The labor market in Sudan was inexistent in the presence of a war that disrupted work, production, education, and health, and deeply affected the Sudanese citizens, impoverishing those who were well-off and worsening the situation of those who were already poor.

Whoever is now working in Sudan is using human wealth (professional fighters and snipers, youth and youngsters, all working against the nation) to kill other civilians and innocents in homes, institutions and the streets.

This defense force, funded by the blood of the citizens, should have been used to preserve the identity of the nation and the security of its borders, and to protect the security and safety of the citizens and their homeland, as it had pledged.

Unfortunately, it has now become an obsession that disturbs the sleep of the nation and the citizens, instead of exerting its efforts to help with the development of the country and its human resources. The force is proving its abilities on the battlefields.

Even if the lives of the victims do not have a considerable status for the warring parties, let us take a closer look in the form of questions we ask ourselves:

How many victims fall every day? How many homes and institutions are burned every day? How many boxes of ammunition run out every day? How many cannons, tanks and planes burn every day? Who buys them? Who pays the manufacturers and marketers, and with whose money?

On the issue of justice: Sudan has become a country where the rays of justice have disappeared, since there is no accountability for crimes of ethnic cleansing, and there is no trial of the figures of the former regime and its remnants who moved to safe areas abroad after smuggling out Sudanese money and gold.

The figures of the former regime should have been brave enough to submit themselves to justice instead of staying in hospitals or fleeing abroad. Sudan’s compassionate people will pardon you one day, just as they pardoned the figures of the Mayan regime, who lived and then passed away, and were buried with dignity in their country. After all, what can Sudan’s forgiving people do to people who have reached old age, and now they are over eighty years old?

There was the horrible massacre of the General Command sit-in, in which hundreds of young men and women were deliberately burned. This sad and shameful incident ended without the perpetrators being held accountable for the lives of the victims and their families.

Later, the work of the committee to uproot corruption in the country was presented, after the coup government continued during the transitional period, ending with a deep disagreement between the leadership of the Sudanese army and the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces.

Then the war broke out overnight and made matters worse, and today, everyone is witnessing its results. Justice begins with holding accountable those who attacked citizens in their homes, and ensuring that their stolen properties be returned to them. The usurpers and abusers of families and the murderers of the Sudanese people should be subjected to a fair and just trial after the end of this senseless war.

Strong institutions do not mean that the citizens work so hard so that their money and public funds are smuggled by groups loyal to those living abroad, nor does it mean prospecting for precious metals such as gold in order to buy weapons to destroy the homes, institutions, and infrastructure that have been built.

Strong institutions do not mean allowing every human being to buy the Sudanese identity at the lowest prices from the country’s authorities, so that this “unidentified” Sudanese identity is exploited by some people in smuggling operations, money laundering, human trafficking, and carrying out terrorist acts in other safe countries, at the expense of Sudan’s and the Sudanese reputations.

Strong institutions do not mean that a Sudanese expatriate who has been working hard all his life will feel like a stranger in his own country and with his family when he comes for a short visit and is abused in his entry and exit procedures.

Upon entering the country, he is made to suffer; however, the suffering is far harsher when he is about to leave, especially if he has a different political orientation and is not wanted by the authorities.

Strong institutions do not mean that when you reach Khartoum airport, you find your travel suitcase had been opened or you do not find it at all. You might also lose your personal documents, and no one knows what happened, and no one is responsible for what hit you.

Strong institutions do not mean that you will find foreign exchange dealers sitting in rows in airport lounges, asking the travelers who has foreign currency.

Strong institutions do not mean that even the international humanitarian aid organizations operating in the country are fully informed about where they can sell their hard currencies in groceries and black-market currency offices?

These organizations come with the intention of helping Sudan move forward towards development and progress, and, in the name of the international community, to offer assistance to people in the oppressed countries of Africa, as is the case in Sudan.