More than 1.5 billion people live in countries affected by violent conflict. 59.5 million are currently forcibly displaced worldwide, 19.5 million of them refugees, of which half are children. No low-income conflict-affected country has achieved a single one of the UN Millennium Development Goals which expire this autumn. Peacebuilding approaches, including mediation and diplomacy, dialogue and participation, are an essential part of the toolkit we need to meet Goal 16 of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals, to ‘promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development’.
