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.

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The Secretary-General's Agenda
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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

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financial actors and donors, notably the World Bank.
He encouraged the Security Council to consider
peacebuilding needs when designing or revising mission
mandates.

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PBC, UNDP and World Bank Weigh In
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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."

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U.S. And Other Council Members Call for Coherence,
Accountability
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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-

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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.

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Burundi Looks for 'Marshall Plan'
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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.

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Lack of International Capacity, Need for Pragmatism
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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."

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EU Seeks Strong Leadership
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14. Speaking on behalf of the European Union, the
Swedish Permrep stressed the importance of "effective
and accountable UN leadership on the ground," which

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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.

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Germany, Brazil Discuss National Ownership
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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."

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Coherence in Security Council Debates
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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