Every business has a role in global peace

In 2023, the International Day of Peace coincides with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) summit, held to mark the mid-point milestone of the 17 goals that aim to tackle the causes of poverty, violent conflict, human rights abuses, climate change and environmental degradation. Adopted by world leaders in 2015, the SDGs aim to achieve their objectives by 2030. 

After over 40 years of annual events to promote peace, and seven years away from the sustainable development goal deadline, how much closer is the world to achieving peace and harmony? 

“Peace is needed today more than ever,” says United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “War and conflict are unleashing devastation, poverty, and hunger, and driving tens of millions of people from their homes.  

“Climate chaos is all around. Deadly fires, raging floods and soaring temperatures. Poverty, inequalities and injustices. Mistrust, division and prejudice. And even peaceful countries are gripped by gaping inequalities and political polarization." 

Two sides of the same coin

It’s a bleak picture. And the political polarization Guterres refers to is rife, perhaps now more than ever – enabled by the ubiquity of the internet and the anonymity that allows bad-faith actors to spread disinformation. In the 21st-century digital landscape, online ideological wars rage against vaccines, trans rights, reproductive rights and the basic human right to life of refugees. 

“In some cases, we are moving in reverse,” Dennis Francis, President of the 78th session of the General Assembly, remarked at an event held to observe the 42nd anniversary of the International Day of Peace. 

“We know that sustainable development — and sustainable peace — are two sides of the same coin. One cannot be realized without the other. It is therefore no surprise that many countries in fragile situations — or in post-conflict settings — have fallen furthest behind in achieving the SDGs. 

“We know that when poverty persists when education is denied, when women and girls face abuse, violence, and discrimination or when climate shocks rip through nations in the blink of an eye, the potential for conflict and instability only rises. 

“In turn, when investments are made in sustainable development, climate action, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and evidence-based youth policies – they provide our most powerful tools to prevent – and to pre-empt – conflict, and to build peace.” 

Public-private collaboration

For Cristina Gallach, former High Commissioner of the Government for the 2030 Agenda, there is another priority for investment: public-private collaboration. 

Speaking at ‘SDG16 - Peace, Justice and Solid Institutions: The Role of Business’, a joint event held by The Tellus Herbert Smith Freehills Foundation and EsadeGeo in Madrid in June, Gallach stressed the need for effective collaboration to achieve the 16th SDG: peace, justice and strong institutions. 

SDG 16, she noted, “represents a very relevant advance at a global level, by establishing a direct link between peace and justice and development.” 

“If we have managed to overcome the pandemic it has been thanks to public-private collaboration with the vaccine,” she said. “If the economy did not collapse it was because there was extraordinary public support for companies. 

“Companies must establish themselves as public actors far beyond being a provider of a service or product. And the public sector has to be much more attentive to how to structure dialogues on important issues for the economic and business fabric.” 

The greater good

Francisco Longo, professor at EsadeGov–Center for Public Governance, agrees. Speaking at the same event, he observed that SDG 16 “exceeds governments, since it includes many more actors on which the quality of decision-making that affects a society.” 

But, he warned, competing interests of public and private institutions need to be overcome in the pursuit of a greater global good.  

“It’s a debate that is little developed and little worked on in Spain, since it is not resolved solely through the discourse of corporate social responsibility,” he said. 

“But we must address how to articulate the public and the private in an advanced democracy. Otherwise, our governance will suffer because we will not be able to multiply the impact of public investments in our society.” 

Stakeholders in sustainable development

According to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar), economic development is an important basis for peace - and the private sector can contribute by actively promoting peacebuilding. 

“Through conscious engagement and active dialogue promotion, business has an important role for both economic development and stabilization efforts in fragile contexts,” Unitar suggests. 

“Business should be viewed – and view itself – as a stakeholder in sustainable development, even though a company’s status as a commercial entity may render it difficult to engage in far-reaching development work as such. 

“Sustainable, responsible business practices and values are not merely complementary features of long-term successful business, but a pre-requisite.  

“The core business and the way it is conducted is the major contribution of a company – not only as a source of financing, innovation, job creation and growth – but through its impact on stability and governance issues, including anti-corruption, peace and security and the rule of law.”