Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08USUNNEWYORK916
2008-10-08 14:40:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
USUN New York
Cable title:  

UN REFORM TO TAKE ON EARLY RECOVERY FOR CONFLICT

Tags:  UNDP UNGA UNSC 
pdf how-to read a cable
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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081440Z OCT 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5076
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNUNP/UNPBC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DOD WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 3379
UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000916 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNDP UNGA UNSC
SUBJECT: UN REFORM TO TAKE ON EARLY RECOVERY FOR CONFLICT
STATES

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000916

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNDP UNGA UNSC
SUBJECT: UN REFORM TO TAKE ON EARLY RECOVERY FOR CONFLICT
STATES


1. SUMMARY: Over the next year, the United Nations will try
to overhaul its peacebuilding infrastructure in order to
better respond to the stabilization needs of immediate
post-conflict and post-crisis states. While a
Security-Council mandated report on "Early Recovery" will
provide the overall framework for improving coordinQn and
sequencing of stabilization assistance, many UN agencies and
programs are semi-independently pursuing their own
initiatives in this suddenly hot area. Pulling it all
together into a coherent package that bolsters the "One UN"
mission will be a tough assignment for the newly appointed
(and Amcit) AS/G for peacebuilding, Jane Holl Lute. END
SUMMARY


2. The empirical case for strengthening UN peacebuilding and
stabilization programs was showcased this past May by a
UK-sponsored Security Council thematic debate on
peacebuilding and early recovery. The Security Council
tasked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with drafting an "Early
Recovery" report (due in May, 2009) that will propose reform
measures to address three gaps; a "strategic gap" in
providing coherence and coordination, a "financing gap" in
funding for immediate post-conflict needs, including quick
impact/peace dividend projects, and "capacity gaps"
particularly in the recruitment and rapid deployment of
civilian peacebuilding experts. A UK-funded study provided
empirical background
www.cic.nyu.edu/peacebuilding/docs/earlyrecov eryfinal.pdf).


3. The new AS/G for Peacebuilding Jane Holl Lute is tasked
with pulling together a first draft by late February. Lute,
a former US Army Colonel, headed DPKO,s Department of Field
Support, providing logistical support to peacekeeping
operations. She will place particular emphasis on
recommendations for a more systematic and coordinated
approach to 1) rapid response to stabilization needs of
countries in the immediate post-conflict or post-crisis
period; 2) building civilian peacebuilding capacity into
peacekeeping operations; 3) ensuring that stabilization and
peacebuilding considerations are not addressed sequentially,
but embedded throughout as the UN response progresses from
humanitarian intervention and peacekeeping through to
assistance for sustainable development; and 4) finding new
ways to fund "quick-impact" projects and a peace dividend.


4. Lute,s initial challenge will be to provide some
coherence to the many independent initiatives by UN agencies

and programs in this trendy area. These include:

Peacekeeping
--------------


5. The Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) seeks
greater flexibility in hiring practices for civilian experts.
Currently, it can take up to 370 days to hire experts for a
six-month contract. Dimitri Titov, AS/G for the Office of
Rule of Law and Security Institutions, recently stated that
he intends to circulate to member states a proposal to
develop a standing force of 2500 support personnel and an
expanded roster for law enforcement and judicial experts who
could be deployed to the field within three or four months.
DPKO AS/G for Operations Edmond Mulet underscored the need to
develop a unified assessment that brings together security
and development professionals from all bilateral and
multilateral donors in assembling an Action Plan for
immediate post-conflict intervention.

Development
--------------


6. For the past year, the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) and a UN coordination office, the UN Development Group
(UNDG),have been working with the World Bank on a
standardized format for assessing immediate post-conflict
needs. This Post-Conflict Needs Assessment (PCNA) in its
latest iterations was recently rolled out in Somalia and in
an abbreviated form, in Georgia. The UNDP and the World Bank
are also working on a common procedural and legal framework
for the World Bank,s new Stabilization Fund and two funds
that UNDP provides administrative support for the Thematic
Trust Fund for Crisis Prevention and Recovery and the
Peacebuilding Fund.


7. Within the UNDP, the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and
Recovery (BCPR) has steadily expanded its involvement in


post-conflict as opposed to post-humanitarian crisis
recovery. There are some complaints within the UN system
that the dispatch of experts from BCPR should not be a
substitute for strengthening the UNDP Resident Coordinator,s
in-country ability to provide greater cross-cutting
leadership and coordination to all country team UN agencies
under the "Integrated Mission" concept.

Peacebuilding Support Office
--------------


8. AS/G Jane Holl Lute is expected to assert the
Peacebuilding Support Office,s role in coordinating the
overall UN response to post-conflict needs, beginning with
pulling together UN agency and member state input for the
SYG,s early recovery report. Lute recently told S/CRS
Ambassador John Herbst that she intends to research best
practices for establishing a UN roster for peacebuilding
civilian experts, overhaul how the UN provides funding for
stabilization projects (see below),and institute procedures
for better defining the UN,s "exit strategy" from
post-conflict countries. Finally, Lute intends to bring
along the Peacebuilding Commission, encouraging member states
to forgo the typical UN developed vs. developing country
politics and focus on creating the methods of work needed to
turn the PBC into an intergovernmental mechanism for
mobilizing assistance and attention for post-conflict
countries.

Peacebuilding Fund
--------------


9. In October, the General Assembly will review the Terms of
Reference for the PBF. While the UK has floated the idea of
a separate "Early Recovery" Fund for immediate post-conflict
needs, many donors to the PBF favor creation of a "Fourth
Window" for the Fund for early recovery disbursements. AS/G
Lute is considering calling a replenishment donors conference
in December as the Fund has already allocated 121 million USD
out of 243 million in deposits (out of a 275 million USD
pledged).

UN Member States React
--------------


10. UN member states are slowly organizing themselves to
provide input and shape the UN reform efforts in
stabilization and peacebuilding. In early October, the
Copenhagen Early Recovery Forum will bring together aid
practitioners to discuss examples from the field and approve
a set of commitments and actions to improve early recovery
strategy, capacities, and financing. The follow-up to the
Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will touch upon
early recovery assistance. At the UN in New York, the UK has
organized an informal group of missions, including donors and
important non-donors such as South Africa, as the "Ginger
Group" in order to examine issues and recommendations for the
SYG,s report.


11. COMMENT: UN agencies and missions alike are finding it
difficult to organize themselves to discuss structural reform
that reaches across the traditional divides between security
and peacekeeping, humanitarian intervention, and long-term
developmental assistance. The UN humanitarian community in
particular feels that their decades of perfecting good
practice are either being overlooked or trampled as the UN
moves toward integrated missions and coordinated planning.
The community is also concerned about placement of the UN
humanitarian sphere under the same control structure as the
political and military component of peace operations. USUN
NY as well is considering how we can better organize
ourselves to ensure a coordinated response to the
peacebuilding reform efforts now underway at the UN.
Wolff