The United Nations created the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the aim of providing for a better and more sustainable future for all. Yet they are barely touching the places where peacebuilding challenges are most urgent – the margins and the borderlands where violence, fragility and displacement are rife. Millions of people in these regions live in poverty and lack access to the bare essentials. Often they turn to illicit drug economies which, under certain conditions, can provide them with an income, employment and protection amid violence, insecurity and poverty. Join us for the launch of the Christian Aid policy paper on peace, illicit economies and the SDGs, followed by an expert panel discussion.

6.00pm Welcome Professor Jonathan Goodhand, SOAS University of London

6.10pm Keynote address Peter McDermott, Acting Deputy Director, Stabilisation Unit, UK Government

6.20pm Policy Paper: Peace, illicit drugs and the SDGs: a development gap
Karol Balfe, Head of From Violence to Peace, Christian Aid

6.30pm Panel discussion

Chair: Annabel Bligh, business and economy editor, The Conversation - perspectives from:

Afghanistan:Dr. Orzala Nemat, Director of the think tank Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit

Myanmar:Dan Seng Lawn, Director of the Kachinland Research Centre

Colombia:Dr Ana Arjona, Director of the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs, Universidad de Los Andes

7:00pm Questions and Answers

7:30pm Drinks reception