IV. The state of violence and conflict in the age of the SDGs

Chapter:

6. Armed conflict data trends

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2016

Author(s):

Ian Davis

As the world enters the age of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), conflict and violence are changing. Conflict actors are adapting their goals and strategies to new circumstances, the targets of violence are becoming more varied and widespread, and the old strategies adopted to resolve or manage large-scale, high-intensity conflicts have often given rise to new, diverse and diffuse forms of violence.¹ As a reflection of the various ways in which people, communities, governments and states experience conflict today, the SDGs are concerned with the availability and sustainability of reliable, inclusive, social, environmental, economic and political institutions. The most direct reference to security is in SDG 16, which calls on the international community to: ‘promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels’.² The inclusion of SDG 16 marks a shift in the international community’s commitment to peace, but the limited direct reference to conflict masks the widespread and persistent nature of sustained, active civil and transnational wars, domestic political instability and interpersonal violence.