Up to 40 Percent of People in Jail in the US Haven’t Even Been Convicted

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals are 17 encompassing objectives meant to address the world's most pressing health, educational, social and economic issues by 2030. This month, the UN General Assembly, as well as many of the governing bodies behind the UN's SDGs, will be convening and we'll be breaking down a goal a day.

A global cry for transparent, fair and just institutions, and an intolerance for unfair public policy will be required to make this SDG a reality.

It's hard for education, economic equality, and healthy societies to thrive in the absence of peace and justice. In 2011 alone, half of all primary aged children left school in conflict ridden areas, and human trafficking for forced labor has increased in recent years, with a disproportionate number of women and girls affected.

In the U.S., a slow and over-run justice system results in the highest number of un-convicted detainees in the Western Hemisphere, with 10 to 40 percent of the nation's entire incarcerated populations sitting in cells without a conviction. More than 90 percent of the 737 police shootings recorded in the U.S. this year happened without proof of police officer body cameras, a key tool for transparency and accountability in law enforcement.

Looking out for, and challenging, special interests in your own government and institutions is the first step towards justice and peace within and beyond your own community. Here are a few organizations going the extra mile to fight for strong institutions.

Abroad

Transparency International fights against corruption in more than 120 countries across the globe. The organization has pushed for the passage of major international anti-corruption legislation including the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which made bribing foreign officials an international crime in the late 1990s, and the UN Convention Against Corruption, which more than 170 countries have signed on to. The group also ranks corruption across the globe through their interactive annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

Penal Reform International and Amnesty International both work on national and international levels to fight major human rights violations in the justice system including the death penalty, torture, and incarceration without trial, while fighting for more inclusive justice legislation across the board.

At Home

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington uses legal and policy channels to challenge corruption at the federal and state level.

Recently, CREW has pushed for review of the use of private flights among presidential cabinet members (see you later, Tom Price) and filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to get President Trump's Mar-a-Lago visitor logs released. The group also pushes for causes including campaign finance reform, transparency, and justice reform at the policy level.

To learn more about the SDGs, head to the Goalkeepers site created by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.