22154709_1896183787064294_2225507156531025217_nRosa Balas Torres, Chief Executive of Extremadura Regional Government and President of the European Academy of Yuste Foundation’s Executive Committee opened a seminar today entitled ‘Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights: Peace, Justice, and Sustainable Institutions/Human Rights and Companies’. The seminar brings experts and professors to the Royal Monastery of Yuste to analyse Goal 16 from a perspective of gender, childhood, and youth, in the fight against crime, and a perspective of justice and the rule of law.

The meeting is framed under the Chair for the Eradication of Poverty and Sustainable Development developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) together with Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, with the aim of contributing to achieving the SDGs established in the 2015 Resolution of the General Assembly for the 2030 Agenda. There are also two research projects. One, an R&D&I project on ‘Economic Actors and Human Rights’ from Carlos III University which directly examines the themes being tackled; and another, a network for excellence of Spanish universities coordinated by the University of Seville.

Rosa Balas explained how since the Sustainable Development Goals were approved their implementation has been a priority for the Regional Government of Extremadura, with all of the administration’s policies and departments working towards them” and she added that the Extremadura Development Cooperation Agency (AEXCID) is leading this implementation, through debate and outreach work with NGOs, associations, and departments within the Regional Government of Extremadura.

The Chair has organised various seminars in Madrid and Costa Rica, as well as publications such as the one published last year on the 17 SDGs, and will soon be releasing another on Development Objective 16 ‘Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies’. All speeches given at the seminar will be published in an electronic booklet which will be available at the Chair’s web page, Rey Juan Carlos University’s Research Centre, and Carlos III University’s Francisco de Vitoria Institute.