SECURITY COUNCIL OPEN DEBATE ON PEACEBUILDING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 USUN NEW YORK 000728 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL UNSC KPKO SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL OPEN DEBATE ON PEACEBUILDING ¶1. SUMMARY. At a July 22 debate on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict, 42 speakers from the Security Council, Secretariat, major troop and police contributors and major donors stressed the importance of national responsibility for peacebuilding efforts and the need for early engagement by the UN to develop national capacities in countries that are emerging from conflict. SYG Ban Ki-moon emphasized five elements he called central to peacebuilding success: national ownership, international support, coherence among UN entities and with key international partners, a common implementation strategy based on realistic priorities, and predictable and credible delivery of peacebuilding assistance. All speakers echoed these priorities. In a Presidential Statement (PRST) read at the end of the session, the Council requested the SYG to intensify efforts to ensure coherence among the UN's peacemaking, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and development efforts and invited him to report to the Council again in 12 months on progress achieved. END SUMMARY. -------------- The Secretary-General's Agenda -------------- ¶2. The Security Council on July 22 held a day-long open debate to discuss the Secretary General's report on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict, in which the SYG set out an agenda for improving the UN's peacebuilding efforts. Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa framed the debate by saying that the Council needed to consider how the UN and the international community (IC) could be more effective in their support to countries emerging from conflict. Without peace, there could be no development, he said, but without development, there could not be enduring peace. Kutesa called for the development of peacebuilding initiatives simultaneous with peacekeeping operations, rather than sequentially. He said key country-specific priorities should be identified in each case and that peacebuilding efforts should be nationally-owned, internationally supported and UN coordinated. He also emphasized the importance of flexible and adequate funding and he called on the UN to strengthen its strategic cooperation with the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs). ¶3. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Council that the objective of peacebuilding operations is to achieve sustainable peace by establishing security and safety, restoring basic human services, supporting governmental functioning, strengthening the rule of law, providing support for the political process, and stimulating economic revitalization and development. Ban emphasized five elements he believed to be central to peacebuilding success: -- National Ownership. Ban said the UN and IC should play a catalytic and supporting role, but not a primary role; -- International Leadership. Member states expect the UN to lead international efforts. Ban said he would create a "senior-level mechanism" to ensure the right leadership and support mechanisms were in place; -- Coherence. This applies not only among UN entities and key international partners, but also applies to efforts at mediation, peacekeeping and development; -- Common Strategy. It is important, he said, to align efforts behind a shared approach with realistic priorities; -- Predictable and Credible Delivery. Ban called on Member States to ensure that the IC had sufficient international capacity to respond rapidly to the most urgent peacebuilding needs. ¶4. Ban said that the agenda outlined in his report focused on peacebuilding within the first two post- conflict years, since the threats to peace are greatest during this period, while the opportunities to set positive cycles in motion are also strong during this period. In order to mobilize peacebuilding resources more quickly, the SYG called for a rapidly deployable pool of diverse civilian expertise, and ready sources of funds that would allow for faster distribution. Ban also called for improving the UNs partnership with key USUN NEW Y 00000728 002 OF 004 financial actors and donors, notably the World Bank. He encouraged the Security Council to consider peacebuilding needs when designing or revising mission mandates. -------------- PBC, UNDP and World Bank Weigh In -------------- ¶5. Chairperson of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) Heraldo Munoz said the PBC endorsed the SYG's recommendations. Munoz recognized national ownership as an important element, but said that without strong capacity building efforts, national ownership would be an "abstract concept". It was necessary, he said, for capacity building efforts to have strategic coherence and predictable international support. He called upon the Security Council to seek advice from the PBC more proactively in order to mainstream peacebuilding into peacekeeping activities. Munoz called for recruitment of civilian experts, especially from the global south. He also called for flexible, rapid and predictable funding. ¶6. Jordan Ryan, Director for Crisis Prevention and Recovery at the UN Development Program (UNDP),called for integrating peacebuilding activities into peacekeeping operations and emphasized the role of multi-donor mechanisms to peacebuilding success. He suggested that peacebuilding efforts should draw on the available UN presence on the ground instead of beginning operations from scratch. He agreed with the SYG's focus on stronger and more coherent leadership teams on the ground. Ryan highlighted the need to give special attention to women and youth, and noted that UNDP had deployed senior gender advisors consistent with resolutions 1325 and 1820. ¶7. World Bank Director for Fragile and Conflict- Affected Countries Alistair McKechnie acknowledged that international peacebuilding efforts have not always been effective. He welcomed the findings of the SYG's report, particularly highlighting the tension between a need for speed in responses to fragile situations. He emphasized the importance of a coherent strategy that takes into account national priorities, which, he said, are not always the same as international priorities. The IC often places emphasis on "institution building and sustainable development," while the highest priorities in the partner countries are often "personal security, justice and ending impunity." In light of the fact that everything seems to be a priority, he suggested that five principles should be used to set priorities: receiving input from the subject country; demonstrating some amount of tangible short-term progress; strengthening the legitimate authority of the state; facilitating and enabling governance mechanisms; and planning an exit strategy. Alongside national ownership of peacebuilding initiatives, McKechnie stressed the importance of international coordination led by the Secretary General, which is "centered and anchored in the field at the country level." -------------- -------------- U.S. And Other Council Members Call for Coherence, Accountability -------------- -------------- ¶8. Ambassador DiCarlo said that the overarching objective of peacebuilding efforts should be to assist local authorities to develop the capacity to manage their own transition to recovery, including restoring basic governance, promoting economic revitalization, and ensuring security. She urged the Secretary-General to follow-through on efforts to create greater coherence in UN efforts and to strengthen the accountability of senior UN leaders. She stressed the need for rapid deployment, flexible funding, and the development of peacebuilding initiatives alongside peacekeeping operations. DiCarlo also underscored the essential contribution of women to post-conflict recovery efforts and the need to develop civilian capacity, with an emphasis on southern capacity, to assist international efforts to develop sustainable peace. ¶9. Most Security Council members echoed the same points in their interventions, emphasizing the importance of swift action following conflict (usually within a two- USUN NEW Y 00000728 003 OF 004 year timeframe); and the need to ensure security, restore basic services, support functions of the state, and promote economic revitalization. Most speakers also reaffirmed their commitment to working with the UN and other international actors, notably the World Bank, to improve the success of future peacebuilding initiatives. Speakers also stressed the need to improve speedy access to funding mechanisms for peacebuilding. ¶10. The U.K. said it was important to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the UN and the World Bank in peacebuilding. France placed special emphasis on the importance of indentifying country-specific priorities. China stressed the need to respect the political, cultural, religious, and legal systems of countries in which peacebuilding teams are deployed. Russia emphasized that the SYG's proposals to create rosters of civilian standby teams at the UN level should include assessment of the financial implications. Russia also emphasized the "primary role" of the PBC in peacebuilding, including coordination of efforts, mobilization of resources and monitoring progress. ¶11. Among other Council members, Japan stressed the need for peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations to be pursued simultaneously, not sequentially. Austria emphasized the importance of building on existing national capacities when launching peacebuilding efforts. Burkina Faso said that it was a "crucial duty" of the international community to respond to needs to develop the security sector, provide basic social services, reestablishing state authority and developing the economy. Mexico, Croatia, and Viet Nam all reinforced the importance of the Peacebuilding Commission and highlighted the importance of establishing clearly defined, country-specific priorities, and greater risk-tolerant funding. -------------- Burundi Looks for 'Marshall Plan' -------------- ¶12. Of non-Council participants, South Africa stressed the interdependence of UN efforts in post-conflict countries, and said that the efforts of the Peacebuilding Commission should be "synergized" with the Post-Conflict Needs Assessment undertaken by the UN Development Group. The Central African Republic commented on its own peacebuilding efforts, saying that UN assistance had helped it to demobilize ex-combatants and to free children from armed groups. Somalia argued for an increase in international capacity building for the Somali government, since one-third of Somalia was still unstable. Burundi, recalling its own work with the Peacebuilding Commission, said that a promise of a "Marshall Plan" for Burundi had not materialized, and criticized continuing delays in the disbursement of funds. -------------- -------------- Lack of International Capacity, Need for Pragmatism -------------- -------------- ¶13. Egypt emphasized the importance of coherent international capacity building efforts, which should not impose administrative burdens on local actors and should not substitute for the government in exercising its functions and responsibilities. New Zealand called for a build-up of civilian stand-by capacity to assist in peacebuilding efforts and for the reform of UN management systems, citing the "stark and depressing" examples of a slow pace of deployment for the African Union-UN Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) peacekeeping missions. India asserted that not all peace processes and agreements address the underlying causes of conflict and that not all local actors are "untarnished" by the conflict, but nevertheless, peacebuilding efforts needed to act "pragmatically with actors and circumstances as we find them, not as we would wish them to be." -------------- EU Seeks Strong Leadership -------------- ¶14. Speaking on behalf of the European Union, the Swedish Permrep stressed the importance of "effective and accountable UN leadership on the ground," which USUN NEW Y 00000728 004 OF 004 should be empowered to lead the immediate international efforts. He also encouraged the SYG to carry out plans to develop and expand rapidly deployable civilian capacities, and said the pool of experts should be drawn particularly from the affected regions and from the global South, and from among women. Sweden also said that the Security Council should more proactively seek and consider the Peacebuilding Commission's advice, and that the role of the Peacebuilding Support Office in the Office of the SYG should be more clearly defined. -------------- Germany, Brazil Discuss National Ownership -------------- ¶15. Germany's Permrep acknowledged the importance of national ownership, but said also that often there is not sufficient national capacity to fully enable a country to exercise its ownership. Brazil's Permrep also remarked on the frequent lack of capacity on the part of governments to exercise national ownership, but stressed that "there is no shortcut". Country ownership brings enormous challenges, he said, but the IC "should spare no effort to strengthen local capacity so that the country concerned can tread its own path." -------------- Coherence in Security Council Debates -------------- ¶16. Speaking to the issue of coherence in UN efforts, the Swiss Permrep pointed out that within a period of a few months, the Secretary-General had issued one report on mediation, one report on peacebuilding, and a "New Horizons" non-paper on peacekeeping, among other papers. He suggested that the SYG should consider issuing an "overarching note" that would "highlight their complementarity" and provide an overview of the financial instruments available to carry out their various goals. ¶17. A full text of the SYG's report and a full transcript of the Council debate can be found on the Security Council page of the UN website at www.un.org RICE