International Development Committee inquiry: UK progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals

The UK parliament’s International Development Committee (IDC) scrutinises the policy, administration and spending of the Department for International Development (DFID) and its associated bodies, as well as the policies and procedures of the multilateral agencies and non-government organisations to which DFID contributes. With the UK government due to report on progress it has made towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a Voluntary National Review to the UN in July 2019, the IDC launched an inquiry to explore how far DFID, and the UK government more widely, have advanced the agenda overseas.

Saferworld welcomes this IDC inquiry and has formally submitted evidence based on our engagement with government and civil society stakeholders in the UK and around the world working on the SDGs, as well as on our programme to support the implementation of the SDG commitments to peaceful, just and inclusive societies. This submission addresses the questions most relevant to our expertise from a peace perspective, which predominantly concern ‘SDG16+’ – the term used to refer to the inter-linked commitments to building peaceful, just and inclusive societies across the SDGs, and not just those under SDG16. This submission is based on the information available to us and should not be considered exhaustive.