Peaceful and inclusive societies which provide access to justice for all.
A global overview
People everywhere need to be free of fear from all forms of violence and feel safe as they go about their lives whatever their ethnicity, faith or sexual orientation.
Governments, civil society and communities must work together to implement lasting solutions to reduce violence, deliver justice, combat corruption and ensure inclusive participation at all times.
A global perspective on peace and justice from the UN Sustainability Development goals
Crimes that threaten the foundation of peaceful societies, including homicides, human trafficking and other organizedcrimes, as well as discriminatory laws or practices, affect all countries. Even the world’s greatest democracies face major challenges in addressing corruption, crime and human rights violations for everyone at home.
Freedom to express views, in private and in public, must be guaranteed. From 2015 to 2019, the United Nations recorded at least 1,940 killings and 106 enforced disappearances of human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists across 81 countries, with over half of killings occurring in Latin America and the Caribbean. Laws and policies must be applied without any form of discrimination. Disputes need to be resolved through functioning and justice systems
How is digital tech relevant to peace and justice?
Areas of tension
These are the issues, negative impacts and concerns collectively raised by the attendees from our pilot workshops.
For the digital tech workforce
- The sheer volume of resources and power inside large tech firms can squash dissent, and make challenging poor practices impossible for individuals.
- Workers may not have access to safe methods of whistleblowing.
- There are few options for tech workers to join unions worldwide, and inside the industry there is not generally an accepted culture of doing this.
- Toxic leadership traits and culture can lead to unsafe and unfair working conditions for workers.
- Workers often do not have a grounding in issues such ethics and inclusion which can lead to well-meaning digital tech solutions making things worse.
For the global population
- The power of the digital tech industry is used to acclerate the spread of propaganda and misinformation.
- A lack of diversity amongst the people building tech solutions can lead to solutions that disadvatange certain communities because their needs are unheard.
- Misconceptions around the neutrality of digital technologies often mean the digitisation of services (warts and all) is funded over ironing out more fundamental service design issues.
- Social media platforms themselves have the power to choose what content to censor through employing people or create AI algorithms to make the decisions.
How can we nudge these tensions for the better?
Grounds for hope
These are visions and ideas for change collectively raised by the attendees from our pilot workshops.
For the digital tech workforce
- Redefine ‘public service’.
For the global population
- Global regulations and justice frameworks for online platforms.
Keen to learn more?
If you’d like to explore these issues yourself, either as an individual or with your work colleagues, why not run your own workshop?
Our workshop methodology is open source and available for anyone to use for free. Alternatively you can hire trusted professionals to facilitate the process on your behalf.