A/70/PV.93 General Assembly

Members will recall that, under agenda items 15 and 116, the General Assembly adopted resolution 70/1, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, at its 4th plenary meeting, on 25 September 2015. Members will also recall that the Assembly considered, in a joint debate, agenda items 15, 116 and 123 at its 52nd plenary meeting, on 13 November 2015. Members will further recall that, under agenda items 15 and 116, the General Assembly adopted decision 70/539 at its 81st plenary meeting, on 22 December 2015. The importance of the draft resolution before us today (A/70/L.43) cannot be overstated. On a daily basis we receive reports of innocent lives sacrificed in the course of senseless conflicts. For a number of years now, we have been struggling to respond effectively to a global humanitarian and refugee crisis of historic proportions — caused in large part by political instability and protracted conflicts. Improving the United Nations capacity to build peace is therefore not just fundamental to mitigating such crises or to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals; it is part of our moral responsibility to the millions who are being denied the most basic rights and opportunities in life. Today, the General Assembly will take action on the outcome of the 2015 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, contained in draft resolution A/70/L.43. In keeping with established practice from 2005 and 2010, the Security Council will simultaneously adopt a substantially identical draft resolution, thus emphasizing the unique and innovative nature of the peacebuilding architecture of the United Nations. Allow me, first of all, to recognize and thank the two co-facilitators — Ambassador Gaspar Martins of Angola and Ambassador Bird of Australia — for facilitating this process so ably and efficiently. I also thank the Advisory Group of Experts, under the skilful chairmanship of Mr. Gert Rosenthal, for its report (see A/69/968), as well as the Secretariat for their substantial support provided to the review process. Finally, I want to thank all Member States for their constructive engagement and for securing a substantive outcome that holds great promise for the future work of the Organization in that field. Through those draft resolutions, we seek to build on the aspirations of the resolutions of 2005, which created what is now called the peacebuilding architecture. Back then, expectations were high that those resolutions could address some of the weaknesses that have undermined United Nations efforts to consolidate peace. In 2010, however, it was found that the hopes that accompanied the founding resolutions had yet to be realized. With today’s substantial and detailed draft resolutions in the General Assembly and the Security Council, we are taking a decisive step forward. The draft resolutions reflect important developments in our common understanding of how best to approach peacebuilding and conflict prevention. They seek to reduce fragmentation, including by enhancing the Peacebuilding Commission’s role as a bridge between the Assembly and the Council. They further underline the importance of partnerships, not least with regional organizations. And they stress national ownership and inclusiveness as vital, which should include the strengthening of the participation of women and other stakeholders. Immediately following the adoption of the draft resolution this morning, the General Assembly will debate the annual reports of both the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund. That will present an important opportunity to discuss how best to secure predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding, a point stressed in the draft resolution and a matter that is of critical importance to the future of the Peacebuilding Fund. As it is known, the review of the peacebuilding architecture is one of three major reviews taking place this year in the area of peace and security, together with the review of peace operations and the global study on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). And, in less than two weeks’ time, my second high-level thematic debate will seek to draw out the synergies from across those three processes, as well as other related reviews. It is my hope that this event will allow Governments and other leading actors in this field to engage in an open and honest discussion on how the United Nations can best play its role in maintaining international peace and security, both today and in future. I am very pleased that many Ministers for Foreign Affairs have already confirmed their attendance at the May event, and I look forward to the full engagement of all Member States. The Assembly will now take action on draft resolution A/70/L.43, entitled “Review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture”. I give the floor to the representative of the Secretariat.

In connection with draft resolution A/70/L.43, entitled “Review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture”, I wish to put on record the following statement of financial implications on behalf of the Secretary-General, in accordance with rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly. In paragraph 29 of draft resolution A/70/L.43, the General Assembly would decide to convene at its seventy-second session, under the agenda item “Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace”, a high-level meeting of the General Assembly on efforts undertaken and opportunities to strengthen the United Nations work on sustaining peace, on a date and in a format to be decided by the President of the General Assembly. Pursuant to the request contained in paragraph 29, in the absence of the modalities for the meeting, it is not possible at the present time to estimate the potential cost implications of the requirements for meetings and documentation. When the decision on the modalities, format and organization of the meeting has been taken, the Secretary-General will submit the budgetary implications of such requirements, in accordance with rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly. Accordingly, the adoption of draft resolution A/70/L.43 would not give rise to any budgetary implications under the programme budget for the biennium 2016-2017.

May I take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt draft resolution A/70/L.43?

I call on the representative of Thailand, who wishes to speak in explanation of position on the resolution just adopted. I remind him that explanations of position are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.

The Kingdom of Thailand welcomes today’s adoption of resolution 70/262, on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, as well as the adoption of the identical Security Council resolution 2282 (2016). Thailand has long advocated a comprehensive approach to peacebuilding that encompasses peace and security, sustainable development and human rights components. We therefore believe that it is both symbolic and of practical significance that the General Assembly and the Security Council act together with a unified voice on this important matter. Resolution 70/262 is a well-balanced text that reflects the key themes and recommendations of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture (A/69/968). It offers a broad definition of the concept of “sustaining peace”, which is both a goal and a process, a shared task and responsibility, as well as involving coordinated and sustained engagement in all stages of conflict. We are particularly pleased that the resolution highlights the interconnectedness between sustaining peace and sustainable and inclusive development, and the inclusive and meaningful participation of women and youth. Equally important, the resolution recognizes the need for predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding activities, which is crucial for the implementation. I also wish to express my delegation’s appreciation to the co-facilitators of the intergovernmental negotiations, the Permanent Representatives of Angola and Australia, as well as their able teams, for their tireless efforts over the three-month-long process of bridging differing views and positions, which has now enabled Members to forge a consensus. Finally, with the resolution providing a framework and guidance for the whole United Nations system and Member States on the future of the United Nations peacebuilding efforts, let us commit ourselves to prompt and effective implementation of its provisions.

The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 15 and agenda item 116.

I now give the floor to the representative of Sweden in his capacity as former Chairperson of the Peacebuilding Commission.

I am very pleased to be here today on behalf of the members of the Peacebuilding Commission in order to present the annual report of the Commission on its ninth session (A/70/714). Let me first congratulate the facilitators, Ambassador Gaspar Martins and Ambassador Bird, as well as all members of the General Assembly, on the adoption of resolution 70/262, on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. That has been a truly remarkable achievement, and one which will — if implemented — not only help enhance the work of the Commission, but also strengthen our collective ability to sustain peace, as said earlier by the President of the Assembly. I will now turn to the task at hand, namely, to present the activities and outline the achievements of the Peacebuilding Commission over the past year. I wish to pay tribute to my fellow Commission Chairs, as well as the representatives of the countries on the Commission’s agenda and all the members of the Commission, for their contribution to what was a productive and active year. The ninth session of the Peacebuilding Commission coincided with the first phase of the review of the peacebuilding architecture, which inspired the work of the Commission. Over the past year, we have taken important steps to improve the effectiveness and flexibility of the Commission, thereby striving to further enhance the relevance of our work, broaden the scope of our reach and improve the accountability of the Commission. That includes adopting more transparent and strategic working methods and a more flexible agenda, and increasing inclusivity, including improving partnerships with regional and subregional organizations. Let me highlight three particular areas of progress from the annual report and also convey some reflections on how this work can be built on and pursued in light of the review and the resolution just adopted. First, with regard to the flexibility and effectiveness of the work of the Commission, it was able during its ninth session to leverage its inherent flexibility so as to convene regional and country-specific discussions concerning situations beyond the Commission’s established agenda. The Organizational Committee has had opportunities to discuss peacebuilding needs and lessons learned in several contexts, such as the peace process in Papua New Guinea, the elections in Burkina Faso and financing for peacebuilding in Somalia. Going forward, that work can, and should be, further leveraged. In my view, there is great scope for the Commission to keep evolving, and the recently adopted resolution gives the Commission a clear mandate to diversify its working methods in support of sustaining peace beyond specific country configurations. Secondly, on regional issues, the Commission has, over the past year, moved to highlight thematic and regional issues of relevance to its work. For example, it has drawn attention to the peacebuilding needs within the framework of the Ebola recovery, building on the successful work of my predecessor, Ambassador de Aguiar Patriota of Brazil. A Peacebuilding Commission Chair’s trip to West Africa was undertaken, and I participated in the World Bank Spring Meeting and the high-level International Ebola Recovery Conference here in New York, with a view to drawing the attention of the international community and the international financing institutions to the peacebuilding aspects of the Ebola situation in West Africa. Furthermore, a regional discussion on trends in and threats to peacebuilding was convened at the beginning of this year with the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. Jeffrey Feltman, in order to identify conflict-prevention priorities in the West Africa region. It is encouraging that the Commission is already building on what was started during previous sessions in the form of additional regional discussions, which were convened already this month. The Commission can use the momentum from the reviews further in order to deepen and institutionalize cooperation with regional and subregional organizations, both in the Commission as a whole and in country-specific work. The fundamental peacebuilding and conflict- prevention work carried out in particular by the regional economic communities is something that the Commission can better link with as part of its advocacy work and accompaniment. In a similar vein, the Commission is well placed to listen to and incorporate local perspectives and bring such understandings and approaches to peacebuilding to the fore. Thirdly, regarding inclusivity, few bodies at the United Nations have such a mandate to interact with and draw upon the expertise of such a wide range of actors as does the Commission. During the ninth session, the Commission worked to advance interaction with a more diverse group of actors. The drafting of a gender strategy for the Peacebuilding Commission was initiated, which will help the Commission to systematize the way it works on gender issues and to put the empowerment of women at the core of its mission. A special session was organized to discuss how to advance the youth, peace and security agenda, and to champion youth participation in sustainable peace. That is another agenda that I hope the Commission can continue to champion, building on the momentum of Security Council resolution 2250 (2015). Beyond the three topics that I have had a chance to touch upon, there are, of course, many more achievements that deserve the attention of this body, not least within the country-specific configurations of the Commission, as the annual report makes clear. It is also important to note that many of the areas that I have highlighted are clearly captured in the forward agenda of the annual report, which charts the work for the tenth session. I am confident that the Commission will continue to evolve under the able stewardship and chairmanship of the Ambassador of Kenya, Mr. Macharia Kamau. Before concluding, I would like to dedicate a special word of thanks to Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of the Peacebuilding Support Office, and all of his staff, for their very steadfast support throughout the ninth session and their never- ending determination to advance the peacebuilding agenda of the United Nations. I would now like to take this opportunity to very briefly make a few additional remarks in my national capacity on the occasion of the adoption of resolution 70/262, on the review of the peacebuilding architecture. We align ourselves, of course, with the statement to be delivered shortly on behalf of the European Union. It is not often that the General Assembly turns bold reports into equally bold resolutions. In the case of resolution 70/262, it has done just that. The co-facilitators of the resolution promised to take an ambitious approach that took into account all elements of the report (A/69/968), and they have delivered. The text that we just adopted is the most comprehensive resolution to date on peacebuilding in the United Nations. Similarly, it is one of the most comprehensive resolutions to date on conflict prevention, since it not only advances the normative agenda, but also propels a road map for the United Nations system. Resolution 70/262 redefines how we think about and act on peacebuilding. By agreeing on a new definition of “sustaining peace”, we are moving away from post-conflict peacebuilding and putting conflict prevention at the core of our action. It also means that we agree on the importance of inclusivity and the need to take into account the views of all segments of society in such endeavours. We acknowledge the need for concrete integration in practice between security and development, the need to break down silos within the system, and we underline the inherently political nature of sustaining peace. We now have an agenda that goes beyond the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. It is an agenda for the whole United Nations system and its Member States. It is now up to us to act on it. For Sweden, three priority areas in the review have been: financing, partnerships and prevention, and we are committed to take a leading role also in the follow- up and operationalizing of the review outcome in those areas. As donors, I believe we need to examine how to ensure better funding of peacebuilding activities, in particular in the United Nations system. By decreasing fragmentation, encouraging a joint and collective approach to conflict prevention, we can enable a more effective tackling of the root causes of conflict. More predictable and sustained financing is required. I am glad to announce that Sweden will co-host a high-level pledging conference for the Peacebuilding Fund in the margins of the ministerial week in September here in New York in order to take forward that commitment for sustained financing of the resolution that we have just adopted.

I now give the floor to the representative of Kenya in his capacity as Chairperson of the Peacebuilding Commission. Mr. Kamau (Kenya), Chairperson of the Peacebuilding Commission: First of all, I would like to thank the President of the General Assembly for convening this very important debate and for the manner with which he has been conducting the affairs of the General Assembly. Today, Security Council resolution 2282 (2016) and General Assembly resolution 70/262 were adopted in the area of peacebuilding. I would like to recognize the Ambassador of Angola and the Ambassador of Australia for their strong work and the leadership that they provided in getting us to where we needed to be in order to adopt those resolutions. I would also like to extend my congratulations to the previous speaker, Ambassador Skoog, for his chairmanship of the Peacebuilding Commission in 2015. His vision and commitment were instrumental in bringing the Commission to discuss new country situations and to work in a much more flexible manner that is consistent with all our ambitions for peace in the world. Today, I speak at a critical moment in the United Nations peace and security review process, given the resolutions that have just been adopted. We have before us an opportunity not only to start thinking about peacebuilding differently, but also to implement peace differently. I will touch on some of the issues that the previous speaker, Ambassador Skoog, highlighted. One of my priorities, as contained in my letter of intent, as Chairperson of the Peacebuilding Commission this year, is to build on the successes of my predecessor. That includes the forward agenda contained in the report of the Peacebuilding Commission on its ninth session (A/70/714) and the report of the Working Group on Lessons Learned. Ten years ago, the Security Council and the General Assembly created the Peacebuilding Commission as a unique intergovernmental advisory body for advocacy in order to sustain political attention and mobilize resources, and as a platform to bring together various actors in peacebuilding efforts. Today, we have in front of us the product of many bilateral, multilateral and plenary negotiations. However, we are faced with a particular question: what are the implications of those resolutions for the work of the Peacebuilding Commission going forward? And what will be the impact that the Peacebuilding Commission and its configurations have in country situations? Throughout the negotiations on the milestone resolutions that the General Assembly and Security Council have just adopted, it was clear that Member States wanted to have a better-functioning and more effective Peacebuilding Commission. I believe that the outcome of that process gives us the opportunity to fully utilize the Commission as a unique advisory body. It will allow the Commission to effectively play its role in sustaining peace; to remain relevant and consistent with the underlying principles that motivated its creation; and to formulate specific, strategic, targeted and practical advice in our advisory function and our interactions with the General Assembly and the Security Council. I would like to highlight some of the objectives of the new peacebuilding architecture. First and foremost, a change in mindset is needed in order to reflect today’s realities and expectations. Secondly, “sustaining peace” should be understood in the broadest possible terms and should be integrated at all stages, including when addressing the root causes of conflict, escalation and the continuation or recurrence of conflict, and in the prevention of outbreaks. Thirdly, with regard to the primacy of politics, peacebuilding is an inherently political process, and political leadership is central in sustaining nationally led development programmes and responding to the root causes of conflict. We must always strive to avoid resorting to force or military intervention. Fourthly, as was stated by Ambassador Skoog, inclusiveness and the equal participation of all, particularly women and youth, in peacebuilding efforts cannot be overemphasized. I will continue to work with the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee and Member States within and outside the Commission’s current engagement in order to immediately begin to implement the recommendations contained in the resolutions we have adopted. The Commission will need to address several key areas. First, the Commission must evolve a more flexible convening platform, available to all countries that seek support with regard to achieving sustainable peace. Secondly, the Commission must strengthen its engagement with the principal organs, particularly the Security Council — but also the General Assembly — in order to promote coherence across the range of work of the United Nations. Thirdly, the Commission should build stronger links with key partners, such as the international financial institutions and regional and subregional organizations, including the African Union, the European Union, as well as civil society. Fourthly, the Commission should explore ways to improve its communication and visibility within and outside the United Nations system. In order to achieve those goals, the Commission will review and diversify its working methods and rules of procedure, as stated in resolution 70/262. I have personally identified priority areas that I intend to take forward under my chairmanship. Of course, it is also my hope that we will continue to receive ongoing support and guidance from the Peacebuilding Support Office under the leadership of the Assistant Secretary- General, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco. Again, as was stated by the previous speaker, in considering regional and cross-cutting issues related to sustaining peace, on 6 April the Commission convened an informal meeting on the subregional dimensions of peacebuilding in West Africa. That was in follow- up to a related meeting held on 18 January under the chairpersonship of Ambassador Skoog. Similarly, in order to encourage regular exchanges of views and joint initiatives with the relevant regional and subregional organizations, there are now ongoing arrangements to visit Central Africa, East Africa and the Horn of Africa during the course of this year as well. Those joint efforts and regular exchanges need to go beyond the countries of the current Commission configurations. Moreover, the forward agenda of the annual report of the Commission highlighted important priorities for the work of the Commission during the course of this year. Among them are a follow-up to the Ebola outbreak. I intend to visit the three countries affected — Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — so as to assess the impact of the outbreak on peacebuilding. The second priority is the finalization of the implementation of a gender perspective in the Commission’s country-specific engagement and the efforts to continue highlighting the role of youth in peaceful societies. The third priority is the preparation for the 2016 annual session, which will address a very important issue entitled “Transitions as a challenge to consolidating peace and security: The role of the Peacebuilding Commission in diplomacy and political accompaniment”. The annual session will present an important opportunity for the Commission to discuss, with key partners, a number of policy issues aimed at assisting countries undergoing transition. We hope to hear from a number of countries that have gone through that experience. Finally, the resolution we have just adopted is categorical on the need to operationalize the links between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the work of the Commission. The resolution also encourages the Commission to enhance synergies between the Peacebuilding Fund and the Peacebuilding Commission. It is important to ensure predictable and sustainable funding at all the stages of the peacebuilding effort. The Peacebuilding Fund has proved to be a unique instrument in addressing key peacebuilding priorities. I would like to urge all Member States to contribute — and those who are not currently contributing to join in contributing — to the Fund. It is with that in mind that Kenya has decided to co-host, with Sweden and others, as well as any other delegation that wishes to join us, a Peacebuilding Fund pledging conference on the margins of the opening of the seventy-first session of the General Assembly. I urge those here, for the sake of fostering greater peace in our world, to embrace the outcome of the resolutions and reviews adopted and endorsed today by the Assembly and the Council, so as to show greater ambition, flexibility, creativity and innovation in seeking peaceful solutions to the challenges that we face in securing peace in our world.

I give the floor to the observer of the European Union.

I speak on behalf of the European Union (EU) and its member States. The candidate countries Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, the country of the Stabilization and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, align themselves with this statement. I thank you, Sir, for having convened today’s important meeting to adopt resolution 70/262, on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture in conjunction with the debate revolving around the annual report of the Peacebuilding Commission on its ninth session (A/70/714) and the report of the Secretary- General on the Peacebuilding Fund (A/70/715). This represents an excellent occasion to take stock of the achievements made over the past 12 months. The EU welcomes the identical resolutions adopted today on the review of the peacebuilding architecture here in the General Assembly and in the Security Council (resolution 2282 (2016)). They are the most comprehensive resolutions on peacebuilding that the United Nations has adopted so far, and their adoption marks the end of an intense review process that started with the work of the Advisory Group of Experts. In that regard we would like to thank the co-facilitators, Ambassador Bird of Australia and Ambassador Gaspar Martins of Angola, and their respective teams for their skilful steering and conclusion of the negotiations. We would also like to pay tribute to the work of the Advisory Group of Experts and its Chair, Ambassador Gert Rosenthal, and once again express our appreciation for the comprehensiveness of the report that it has produced (see A/69/968). The EU fully subscribed to the report’s conclusion that a change in mindset is needed. Peacebuilding should no longer be seen as a post-conflict activity, because the challenge of sustaining peace runs across the complete cycle of our engagement. Today, we are faced with a rising number of violent conflicts in the world. The failure to sustain peace is part of the reason that we are faced with this challenge. In fact, 90 per cent of conflict onsets in the first decade of the twenty-first century took place in contexts that had experienced conflict before. Given that recurrent nature of violent conflict, sustaining peace equals conflict prevention in many cases. The need for a change in mindset has guided the EU’s actions during the negotiations in the intergovernmental phase of the review, and we are pleased to see that the concept of “sustaining peace” is now clearly defined and that the resolution acknowledges that it involves all stages of the cycle of conflict and should flow through all three pillars of United Nations engagement. Too often it is thought that the peace process has ended when a peace agreement has been reached or elections are held marking the end of a formally agreed transition phase. In fact, continued support for the dialogue and mediation processes remains very important, as the failure to support dialogue on and provide political accompaniment to the implementation of peace agreements are part of the reasons for the worrisome trend of recurrent conflict. We welcome the high-level thematic debate of the General Assembly focused on the United Nations, peace and security, which the President of the General Assembly is holding in May to address key challenges to international peace and security and to examine how to strengthen the role, coherence and performance of the United Nations architecture in the field of peace and security, including peacebuilding. We also welcome the invitation to the Economic and Social Council to pursue its cooperation with the Peacebuilding Commission, which should take into account the follow-up and review process for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the role of the high-level political forum on sustainable development. A key requirement for effective peacebuilding in practically any context is to address the nexus between security and development. A basic premise is that peacebuilding should be done at the country level and always adjusted to the specific country context. To be truly effective in its responses to assist fragile States, the United Nations system needs to work in a more integrated, flexible and coordinated fashion — at both the country and the Headquarters level — and give more weight to prevention and early-warning tools. The resolution clearly acknowledges that issue and stresses the importance of joint analyses and effective strategic planning across the United Nations system in its long- term engagement in conflict-affected countries. We also welcome the recognition that peacebuilding is an inherently political process that should be carried out on the basis of a long-term vision and a holistic approach. It should address the structural causes of conflict, as well as contemporary risks of recurrence; provide for inclusive and participatory political processes; build strong and effective institutions, capable of addressing the root causes of conflict; and be responsive to people’s needs. It should promote inclusive national ownership, including Government, opposition and civil society, and a bottom-up approach. We are pleased to note the recognition of the importance of women’s leadership and participation in conflict prevention and resolution. The EU also welcomes the clear restatement of the tasks of the Peacebuilding Commission, as well as the encouragement to review and diversify its working methods in order to enhance its efficiency and flexibility in support of sustaining peace. Close strategic and operational partnerships between the United Nations and international, regional and subregional organizations and international financial institutions are also required in order to address the challenge of sustaining peace. That is clearly stressed in the resolution, and we welcome the call on the Peacebuilding Commission and the Secretary-General to work to increase synergies and, in particular, to explore options to strengthen collaboration between the United Nations and the World Bank in conflict- affected countries. For its part, the EU is keen to continue its work in increasing partnership with the United Nations, including on the ground. The EU and the United Nations have built a strong and continuously evolving partnership on crisis management. The EU is increasingly collaborating with the United Nations on conflict analysis. Such initiatives not only support a shared understanding of structural and contemporary conflict drivers, they also encourage dialogue and foster partnership among those working on the ground. The EU, the United Nations and the World Bank are also reinvigorating their partnership on post-conflict needs assessment, aiming to improve their focus on analysing and identifying what is needed for peacebuilding — and hence renaming those assessments as recovery and peacebuilding assessments. Turning now to the two annual reports before us today, both are comprehensive documents illustrating the complexity of peacebuilding challenges. We appreciate the efforts by the Organizational Committee and the Peacebuilding Support Office to provide an assessment of the Commission’s work in pursuing its forward agenda for 2015. The EU welcomes the wider focus of the Commission, which goes beyond the countries on its agenda; we see, for example, the engagement of the Organizational Committee with Somalia, Burkina Faso and Papua New Guinea. We also welcome its work with regard to Ebola recovery efforts. We applaud the successful organization of the Annual Session of the Peacebuilding Commission around the theme of sustainable financing for peacebuilding. The EU has also been a full member of all country-specific configurations of the Peacebuilding Commission since their inception and is trying to provide the best support possible for their success. There is a clear role for the Commission when it engages with countries undergoing transition. It needs to be able to respond better to challenges identified by Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, resident coordinators and other actors. In so doing, it can significantly contribute to the One United Nations initiative. Turning to the performance of the country-specific configurations over the past year, there is some good progress to report, while many challenges remain to be tackled. That is particularly the case for Burundi, where the dynamics have, unfortunately, taken a negative turn and illustrate the need for additional preventive measures, political attention and engagement to prevent a recurrence of violent conflict. We commend the efforts of all configuration Chairs. In our view, the Commission still has a role to play in all those countries, perhaps through more flexible forms of engagement. Other country or regional situations could also be addressed through such flexible “group of friends”-type formats with a clear link to the field. The EU is engaged in peacebuilding activities in many countries through our broad and long-term engagement in political dialogue, development, economic cooperation, trade and other instruments. That is why the EU has fully participated in the Commission’s work since its establishment. The Peacebuilding Fund has achieved significant results, but the Fund is a small-scale strategic fund that has to be followed by longer-term commitments from other financing sources, which may be bilateral or multilateral, including multilateral and regional development banks. For its part, the EU has already engaged in joint funding for peacebuilding projects via our Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, and stands ready to explore further opportunities for joint funding. With regard to securing more predictable financing for peacebuilding, the EU believes that it is important to address the silo approach of the donor community. We stand ready to discuss options on financing at the seventy-second session of the General Assembly on the basis of proposals to be made by the Secretary-General. Before concluding my statement, I would like to extend my gratitude to the former Chairperson of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ambassador Olof Skoog of Sweden, whom I would like to thank for his leadership, commitment and the excellent work he has done. We also look forward to working hand in hand with the new Chairperson, Ambassador Macharia Kamau of Kenya, the Commission membership and the Peacebuilding Support Office so as to move things forward.

Let me start by thanking Ambassadors Olof Skoog and Macharia Kamau for their statements and by acknowledging the important work undertaken by the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund in 2015. The work of the Peacebuilding Commission and the Fund is fundamental to our efforts to build sustainable peace across the globe. Innovations undertaken in 2015 by the Commission, including the adoption of more flexible and strategic working methods, a focus on inclusivity, and strengthened partnerships with regional and subregional organizations, are to be commended. We encourage the Commission to continue to engage flexibly with countries — particularly those supported through the Fund. In that regard, we acknowledge the Commission’s constructive engagement with Papua New Guinea in 2015, and note the positive work being done this year with respect to Sri Lanka. Australia also welcomes the priority given by the Commission in 2015 to gender issues and the financing of peacebuilding. Its work to highlight peacebuilding as part of the Ebola recovery response was a key achievement and testament to its value as a forum for considering cross-cutting issues. We also acknowledge the important work undertaken through the Peacebuilding Fund during 2015. As a flexible, catalytic, rapid-response pooled fund, the Peacebuilding Fund has demonstrated its value in promoting coherence in crisis response, and in that regard, we also acknowledge the importance of the Multi-Partner Trust Fund. At the Peacebuilding Fund meeting attention was drawn to the first-time allocation of 15 per cent of funds to gender equality and women’s empowerment initiatives. We call for that milestone to be built on, including through the mainstreaming of gender throughout United Nations peacebuilding efforts, and initiatives such as the Global Acceleration Instrument on women’s engagement in peace and security and humanitarian affairs. Finally, Australia would like to recognize the important work of the Fund across the African region, as well as in Asia and the Pacific. Initiatives to support understanding and implementation of the Bougainville Peace Agreement in Papua New Guinea are particularly welcome, and we look forward to the Fund providing further support in the Pacific region. Australia welcomes the parallel adoption today of the comprehensive General Assembly resolution 70/262 and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016) on United Nations peacebuilding. As co-facilitator, with the Permanent Representative of Angola, of the intergovernmental phase of the review of the peacebuilding architecture, we thank Member States for the constructive spirit in which consultations were held, which we believe reflects the high level of support for the United Nations embarking on a new approach to sustaining peace. We would also like to thank the Advisory Group of Experts — ably led by Ambassador Gert Rosenthal — for its comprehensive report (see A/69/968), upon which the resolutions were based. Time and again the world has borne witness to the difficulties of achieving lasting peace. Even when violence ceases, relapses into conflict have been all too common. The need for a new international approach to sustaining peace is clear, and with the adoption of today’s resolutions, the United Nations system has committed to putting that objective, i.e., sustaining peace, and conflict prevention in particular, at the centre of its peace and security efforts. Through the resolutions just adopted we are collectively affirming our common view that sustaining peace is a shared responsibility of the whole United Nations system and that it is fundamental to all of the United Nations peace and security, development, and human rights engagements. We are acknowledging that inclusive, nationally led responses that engage all segments of the population — including women, youth and civil society — are essential. We are stressing the importance of the United Nations enhancing its operational and strategic partnerships, including with regional and subregional organizations, and international financial institutions. We are calling for strengthened joint analysis and strategic planning across the United Nations system, which are critical, including through the upcoming quadrennial comprehensive policy review. We are emphasizing the need for greater coherence among the Assembly, the Security Council, and the Economic and Social Council. And we are clarifying the potential of the Peacebuilding Commission to support sustainable peace — particularly in bringing sustained international attention to conflict-affected States, and in playing a bridging role so as to bring greater coordination and coherence between the various organs of the United Nations. The Commission’s review of its working methods and rules of procedure, with a view to better supporting peacebuilding priorities, including conflict prevention and gender-sensitive peacebuilding, will be vital. The potentially transformative impact of today’s resolutions is clear and consistent with many of the critical recommendations of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations, and the Global Study on Women, Peace and Security. However, we must also acknowledge the importance of the sustained and predictable funding of United Nations peacebuilding for achieving that potential. Without continuity of funding, all of today’s normative developments will be meaningless. To that end, Australia looks forward to receiving a range of comprehensive and innovative options aimed at stabilizing United Nations peacebuilding financing at the seventy-second session of the General Assembly, as part of the follow-up report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the resolutions adopted. As we mark today the adoption of the peacebuilding resolutions, the hard work begins now, of course. It is imperative that the United Nations system, with the support of the international community, look to implement those resolutions fully. Australia is committed to supporting that work and to continuing our close cooperation with others in such efforts.

Today, the General Assembly has adopted resolution 70/262 on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. A similar resolution was just adopted unanimously by the Security Council (resolution 2282 (2016)) this morning. It was a great honour for my country, Angola, and for myself to act, jointly with Ambassador Gillian Elizabeth Bird, Permanent Representative of Australia, as co-facilitator of the intergovernmental phase of the peacebuilding architecture review process. I would like to take this occasion to thank and praise Ambassador Bird for the excellent cooperation extended to me and to my delegation. I would also like to thank the Advisory Group of Experts, coordinated by Ambassador Gert Rosenthal, for drafting the Group’s comprehensive report on United Nations peacebuilding (see A/69/968), which set the basis for the resolution that we have just adopted. A word of appreciation is also due to the Peacebuilding Commission troika, namely, Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya, Ambassador Olof Skoog, Permanent Representative of Sweden, and Ambassador Oh Joon, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea. Their support throughout the whole process was an invaluable and significant contribution that enabled us to overcome all hurdles in negotiating the resolution just adopted. I thank them all wholeheartedly. Last but not least, we acknowledge and commend the work of the experts of the Member States and the secretariat of the review, especially the Peacebuilding Support Office, whose commitment was pivotal in allowing for today’s conclusion. The extensive support for the resolution that we have just adopted reflects the transparency and inclusivity to which the co-facilitators were committed, including in consultations with the regional groups and throughout the negotiating process. The assessment conducted by the Advisory Group of Experts concluded that, in its 10 years of existence, the peacebuilding architecture has not been sufficiently able to fulfil its potential and overcome all the challenges it faced. The Advisory Group also concluded that in order to improve that performance and increase effectiveness, a new approach was needed. The Group’s assessment pointed out the challenges facing the peacebuilding architecture, the reforms needed in the Secretariat’s methods of work and in its interaction with Member States. The Advisory Group further recalled how peace and security, development and human rights were approached by the United Nations system as separate silos, instead of through an approach combining those three pillars, which represent the foundation of international peace and security. The approach set out by today’s resolution changes the dynamics of peacebuilding by putting the focus on the three phases of the conflict cycle: preventing the outbreak of conflict; taking measures to avoid the escalation, prolongation and recurrence of conflict; and encouraging Member States and the United Nations to develop synergies in order to sustain peace. In fact, the resolution that we have just adopted introduces the concept of “sustaining peace” as the translation of the General Assembly’s determination to address the root causes of conflicts; assist the parties to a conflict to end hostilities; ensure national reconciliation; and, importantly, promote, at the national level, the three pillars of the United Nations, supporting Member States’ efforts to build peaceful societies through inclusive development. The resolution further recognizes the primary role of national authorities in preventing conflict, the invaluable support that the United Nations can provide and the primary responsibility of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security. It also considers the importance of strategic and operational partnerships with international and regional organizations, and takes into account the important role of all segments of society, in particular civil society, women and youth. The role of the Peacebuilding Commission is also reaffirmed, and Member States are called upon to work to improve the Commission’s effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility, ensure its revitalization and coordination with the other bodies and agencies of the United Nations system. The resolution also provides guidance on the persistent challenge posed by insufficient financial contributions to the Peacebuilding Fund, inviting the Secretary-General to provide options for consideration by Member States, aimed at ensuring adequate, predictable and sustained funding for peacebuilding activities, including through voluntary and assessed contributions. We believe that in adopting resolution 70/262, the General Assembly and the Security Council are building the foundations of a new commitment to and mindset on ways to address conflict prevention and resolution, a commitment that must be supported at the national level and by every individual, and taking into account the fact that we are all accountable to future generations for building peaceful societies and sustainable and sustaining peace.

With today’s adoption of resolution 70/262, on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, we have a renewed opportunity to engage Member States, the United Nations and other stakeholders collectively in a global effort to build lasting peace. We concur with the Permanent Representatives of Angola and Australia, whom I wish to congratulate on their valuable work in facilitating this intergovernmental process, that the agreement we have arrived at today reflects the level of ambition and scope of the recommendations of the 2015 report of the Secretary-General’s Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture (A/69/968). It is fair to say that today’s resolution lives up to the challenges we are facing, 10 years after the creation of the Peacebuilding Commission. The findings of the Advisory Group of Experts, under the able chairship of Ambassador Gert Rosenthal, have paved the way for innovative ideas and measures to strengthen peacebuilding initiatives, such as the concept of sustaining peace; national ownership with inclusivity; an emphasis on prevention and the need to address the root causes of conflict; partnerships with regional and subregional organizations; sustained financing; and early engagement with conflict-affected countries. The concept of sustaining peace, which encompasses the dimension of conflict prevention, marks an evolution from the original paradigm of peacebuilding, which focused on addressing the needs of countries emerging from conflict, as reflected in the outcome document of the 2005 World Summit (resolution 60/1), resolution 60/180 and Security Council resolutions 1645 (2005) and 1646 (2005). Brazil has long emphasized that the assumption that poverty leads to conflict is incorrect. We should not forget that, historically, the most violent and destructive conflicts have been caused by well-developed societies. At the same time, we have underscored that the engagement of the United Nations with conflict- affected countries should go beyond providing aid relief and addressing immediate needs but should rather include activities that aim at promoting sustainable development, poverty eradication, access to justice, gender equality and respect for human rights, which are precisely what the peacebuilding architecture provides a framework for achieving, with the active engagement of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council. Nor should we forget that national authorities also share the responsibility for drafting policies and identifying priorities and activities for sustaining peace, and that inclusivity is fundamental when forging a common vision of society. In that regard, Brazil especially welcomes the recognition of the role that women and young people can play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. The General Assembly will also consider, under agenda item 110, the report of the Secretary-General (A/70/715) on the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). As we learned from the report, the PBF is faced with a shortage of resources for the current year. It is true that the Fund’s flexibility enables rapid responses to critical scenarios when most donors withdraw their support, but the lack of predictable financing is a fundamental challenge to long-term peacebuilding efforts. In that regard, Brazil welcomes the fact that the Secretary-General will report to the General Assembly at its seventy-second session on options to increase, restructure and better prioritize funding allocated to peacebuilding activities, including through assessed contributions. Brazil also values the emphasis placed on the need for sustained financing for peacebuilding activities, including by cooperating with multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional institutions. I would like to add a few words about the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), whose activities will also be considered in this meeting. As a former Chair of the PBC, I am encouraged to note that the review process has strengthened its bridging role among the principal bodies of the United Nations system and has acknowledged its convening power among various stakeholders from within and outside the Organization. Brazil also looks forward to implementation of the provision that calls for including a gender perspective in the work of the Peacebuilding Commission. Despite the progress made today, I wish to highlight the fact that for the Peacebuilding Commission to realize its full potential more efficiently, its entire membership should actively engage in its work. At the moment, some Member States do not show the same level of engagement with it by comparison to their commitment to other bodies. It is extremely important that the members of the Security Council, in particular, take full ownership of the Commission and contribute to improving the engagement of the United Nations membership in general in promoting sustaining peace. It is our understanding that by acknowledging the importance of strong coordination and cooperation between the Security Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, the General Assembly is empowering the PBC in its advisory capacity to the Security Council. We expect the Council to take full advantage of the provision in paragraph 7 of the resolution we have just adopted by consensus.

I would first like to express Jordan’s appreciation to the delegations of Australia and Angola for their outstanding role and hard work during the consultations for the 2015 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. I salute the efforts of all the Member States that have participated so effectively and assiduously in the negotiations over the past three months, particularly Bangladesh, in its efforts as coordinator of the Non-Aligned Movement. The review of the peacebuilding architecture has come at a very important moment, a time when conflicts and their political, economic and humanitarian consequences are escalating, and enables us to focus on two fundamental objectives — preventing conflicts and sustaining peace. Resolution 70/262, which we adopted this morning, is a vital step and will be a cornerstone of the peacebuilding architecture for the coming years. It reflects Member States’ desire to achieve those two objectives as a priority in strengthening the peacebuilding system. That will require States to demonstrate greater responsibility and national ownership in order to maintain and sustain peace and build confidence among communities. The costs of conflicts, their recurrence in some States and regions and the serious humanitarian and financial losses that result can no longer be tolerated. We must investigate the root causes of conflicts if we are to find the right solutions to them. Our success in achieving sustaining peace will depend on our joint commitment to taking concrete steps on the ground in order to strengthen the links between the three pillars of stability — human rights, development and security. The review and today’s resolution represent a road map for implementing our need to sustain peace, as well as for dealing with current challenges. Jordan would like to stress some of the requirements for this, the most important being, first, the ability to learn from past lessons, to bridge the gaps that have affected and undermined the efforts of the United Nations and its involvement and response in countries in conflict. The second is promoting consultations and positive synergies between the Peacebuilding Commission, Member States and regional organizations, and the third is improving ways of sustaining peace in order to give the impetus necessary for dealing with the challenges of today, which do not disappear with the end of conflict or violence. We believe that women and young people are important segments of society and important partners in building peace. We therefore have a responsibility to emphasize and focus on ensuring that young people and women can play a positive role. Young people are in a majority in States affected by conflict, and Jordan has therefore focused on ensuring that today’s resolution on the peacebuilding architecture refers to Security Council resolution 2250 (2015), on youth, peace and security, including the paragraph that underscores the role of young people’s effective, viable participation in sustaining peace, especially as the numbers of conflicts increase. Since the 2015 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture has focused on collective views in the United Nations and among Member States, Jordan would like to reaffirm its willingness to cooperate with its regional and international partners in implementing the resolution. I would like to emphasize that our ability to confront new challenges and ensure that they do not develop into armed conflicts can be maintained only through sustained, collective efforts and the provision of the resources needed to help countries in conflict.

It gives me great pleasure to speak on behalf of the African caucus within the Peacebuilding Commission. For us, as the 100th Member of the United Nations, on this day of the fifty-fifth anniversary of our independence, it seems fitting that this meeting is being held here today. We as a country have been a prime beneficiary of the peacebuilding efforts of the Organization. Africa as a continent has been a crucible for many of the peacebuilding experiments and events over the past decade or so. We welcome the twin adoptions today of resolution 70/262 and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016), and we thank all who have played a part in helping us to arrive where we are today. We are also grateful for the efforts of the co-facilitators, our colleagues the Permanent Representatives of Angola and Australia. We welcome Ambassador Rosenthal and his Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture for their sterling work in bringing us to this point. We would also like to pay tribute to the President of the General Assembly for his guidance. As we look forward to the forthcoming Kenyan chairmanship of the Peacebuilding Commission, we thank Sweden and our colleague Ambassador Olof Skoog for their leadership. And we would like to recognize all who have sought peace, built peace or who have fallen in the service of peace. Today represents a further step in the evolution of peacebuilding. We must embrace the challenge of sustaining peace. The unique convening power of the Peacebuilding Commission was evident during the Ebola epidemic that struck West Africa. Yet during that crisis we saw the evolution and perhaps the growth of the interlocking nature of regional and subregional organizations and of the continental organization, the African Union. All came to realize that while Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea formed the epicentre of the Ebola crisis, the cause and the fight belonged to all of us. Today’s resolution represents a balance between ambition, pragmatism and aspirations. It does not give everything we desire, but it speaks to many of the concerns and aims that we hope a renewed peacebuilding architecture will achieve. We all now recognize how important it is to ensure that the Commission speaks to fragile States rather than at them. We all recognize the need for predictable and sustainable financing for the Peacebuilding Fund. We all recognize the Commission’s value as an advisory link between the various institutions within the house and various organizations outside it. We all recognize that the issue of peacebuilding is indeed one for all of us. On this day of Sierra Leone’s independence, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Mr. Ernest Bai Koroma, has said that our country has been rightly lauded for how far it has come and for its resilience in emerging from conflict into a position of relative safety. But like our colleagues, our sister countries within the Mano River Union and Africa in general, we are in a state of fragility. Peacebuilding does not encompass only the ending of conflict; it also involves preventing conflict and being mindful of the causes that may lead to it. In the quest to sustain peace, there are tasks for the national, regional and continental actors. On the national front, it is the job of those governing to make sure that they build a truly inclusive society that leaves no one out. It is for the national actors to make sure that they address the needs of all their citizens, not just the privileged few. Regional and subregional actors can play an early- warning role that may advise and inform the acts of the continental organization, the African Union. As the United Nations, it is of course in our interest to maintain and sustain peace. The Security Council, as we know, is primarily engaged with the maintenance of international peace and security, but the Assembly also has a role to play, and through the Peacebuilding Commission we believe we can make our voice more effective. We welcome all who have played a key role in the negotiations leading to today’s resolutions, and we are glad that the questions of synergies and coordination are clearly covered in them. In the wake of Ebola, we are also aware that the gains of peacebuilding can be eroded if we take our eyes off the ball. Today Sierra Leone is a country of relative safety and much praised for its religious tolerance. But as I have said, the road from fragility to stability requires not only resilience on the part of the citizens of a State but also the economic and peacebuilding resilience that we must all help to create. Today the Commission is rightly commended for its work. Its past three Chairs have ensured that its prominence is unquestioned. As I said earlier, today’s resolution is a balance and, as with all resolutions, a compromise. But the fact remains that as with everything we do in this building, implementation and continued commitment to the cause remain paramount.There are concentric circles of responsibilities — national, subregional, regional and continental, but above all global. We are in a world of pandemics, epidemics, terrorism and migration. We are in a world of uncertainty. Never before has the cause of peace seemed so much under siege. Today we have taken a small step to help that cause, and in Africa we will play our role. The African Union will combine its efforts with those of all in this Organization to ensure that the Commission, the Peacebuilding Fund and all the constituent parts of the architecture are not only enhanced but empowered. In closing, I would like to commend all our peacekeepers in the field and all who work here at Headquarters to ensure that what we do and say here always manages to have an effect on the least advantaged of our citizens.

The United Kingdom aligns itself with the statement delivered earlier on behalf of the European Union, and I would like to add just a couple of brief remarks. I would first like to express our gratitude for today’s meeting, and in particular to thank the co-facilitators for their tireless work, which has resulted in the strong, balanced resolution 70/262, which we have all endorsed. As the report of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture (A/69/968) has highlighted, however, there has been underperformance in some areas, so I am very pleased that today’s resolution grasps those issues. I would like to particularly highlight four points. The first is the importance of sustaining peace as a concept, which recognizes that we should look at the whole cycle of a conflict rather than waiting until it is raging to take action, as the Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone has so eloquently just said. We must be better at engaging earlier in support of prevention. We must also stay the course, providing long-term financial aid and diplomatic support to countries emerging from conflict in order to help make sure that they do not relapse into violence. That should not be controversial. Secondly, we also welcome the focus on a more coherent United Nations approach to sustaining peace at the national level, with greater joint analysis and collaboration within United Nations country teams and with United Nations peacekeeping and special political missions. Sustaining peace means not just ensuring that all United Nations planning, policy and programming is conflict-sensitive, but also that it actually works to reduce conflict. UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme, which have so much to offer in that area, are very much part of this. Thirdly, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) annual report (A/70/714) flags a range of good, important work done over the past year under Ambassador Skoog’s innovative chairship. We strongly agree, however, with the resolution’s point that the PBC has to be more flexible and agile in its structures in order to better support countries affected by conflict, improve the coherence of the work of the United Nations and other regional and international bodies and provide the Security Council with strategic and timely advice. That advice is important and we will want to take account of it in the Council. I agree with Ambassador Kamau that this is an inherently political process. Finally, the annual report and the resolution rightly point to the excellent work of the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). The resolution makes it clear that more funding is needed for the PBF, and we believe that we should capitalize on that momentum. The United Kingdom is currently the largest contributor to the Peacebuilding Fund, but we would really welcome some competition in that area. We are pleased to be joining Kenya and Sweden in co-hosting a PBF pledging event at the General Assembly in September, and we really encourage all Member States to join us in supporting their valuable work. The United Kingdom itself has been a good friend to peacebuilding activities in the United Nations. We have committed a further $20 million this year alone in various voluntary contributions aimed at strengthening the capacity, coherence and delivery of the peacebuilding work. The United Kingdom now stands ready to work with Kenya, as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, and all our other friends and colleagues, to turn this resolution into swift and practical action.

I am very pleased to be addressing the General Assembly at this joint debate. I would like to begin by congratulating Ambassador Kamau of Kenya on his assumption of the chairmanship of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) for 2016. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Ambassador Skoog of Sweden for his excellent leadership over the past year as Chair of the PBC, and to all the Chairs of the country-specific configurations for their efforts. The year 2015 was a crucial one for United Nations peacebuilding activity. The efforts of the PBC coincided with the review process of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. Japan welcomes the simultaneous adoption today of important resolutions by both the General Assembly (resolution 70/262) and the Security Council (resolution 2282 (2016)). I congratulate the co-facilitators, the Permanent Representatives of Angola and Australia, and I am sincerely grateful for their tireless efforts. It is now important that we all implement the resolution. Japan very much hopes that it will help the PBC improve its performance of its intended function as an advisory body to the principal organs of the United Nations, especially the Security Council. Let me illustrate that point with a specific example. The strength of the PBC lies in the long-term endeavours whereby it lays the groundwork for peace. During my chairmanship of the PBC Working Group on Lessons Learned, we tried to highlight those comparative strengths. In 2015, the Working Group focused its efforts on the importance of institution-building. Throughout the discussion, we were firmly convinced that strengthening core State institutions that provide security, justice, public administration and basic social services is fundamental to a successful transition from a post-conflict situation to lasting peace. With a view to providing input into the review process, such lessons learned and the outstanding challenges were summarized in the Working Group’s final report, entitled “Institution-building: the challenges for the United Nations system”. The main points were also reflected in the PBC’s annual report (A/70/714), just presented by Ambassador Skoog. The Working Group’s report is an embodiment of the PBC’s mandated advisory role, and I hope it will continue to be referred to in future discussions. I am pleased that the resolution refers to the importance of institution-building. I also welcome the fact that the Security Council expresses its intention to regularly request, deliberate and draw on the specific, strategic and targeted advice of the PBC, including to assist with the longer-term perspective required for sustaining peace, as stated in paragraph 8 of the resolution. Let us now implement the resolution by having the Security Council regularly invite the PBC Chairs to meetings and request their advice. I will do so during Japan’s forthcoming presidency of the Council for the month of July if relevant agenda items are discussed. Securing adequate resources for peacebuilding and conflict prevention is crucial, as many previous speakers have pointed out. There is no denying that the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has proved to be an important financial tool for that purpose. Recognizing both the usefulness of the Fund and the current difficulties it is facing, Japan contributed an additional $3.5 million to it last month. That will bring our total contribution to $46 million. The comparative advantage of the PBF lies in its ability to respond swiftly and flexibly. Japan has consistently argued that this strength of the Fund needs to be maintained and must not be undermined. This position remains firmly intact. As the Assembly urges in the resolution, Japan calls on other Member States to consider making voluntary contributions to the Fund. As President of the Security Council, Japan plans to hold an open debate on peacebuilding in Africa in the month of July. This open debate will build on the work of the PBC during 2015, as well as on the resolution just adopted. The open debate will provide an excellent opportunity for us to discuss the challenges and elevate our peacebuilding efforts even further in the years ahead. Let me conclude my statement by reaffirming Japan’s strong commitment to peacebuilding.

My delegation commends the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ambassador Macharia Kamau, for his statement and his sterling contribution to the work of the Commission. The report before us (A/70/714) provides a useful overview of the work of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) during its ninth session, and we welcome its action-oriented recommendations. Peacebuilding activities produce tangible results on the ground. Improvement in the lives of ordinary people affected by conflict is a time-tested yardstick that we can and do use to evaluate this important work. Pakistan has seen the result of the work undertaken by the Peacebuilding Commission first hand, both as a member of the Commission and as one of the top troop contributors to countries where much of this work takes place. This experience confirms our belief that strengthening the peacebuilding architecture and advancing the peacebuilding agenda are not just important but imperative. The past year has been a seminal one for the PBC. Beginning with the work of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture, we have all directed much effort to strengthen and improve United Nations peacebuilding. We commend the co-facilitators, the Permanent Representatives of Angola and Australia, for steering the process that led to adoption of resolution 70/262 on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture earlier today. The simultaneous adoption of the resolution in the Security Council and the General Assembly successfully brings to an end this review process. Now it is time for implementation. We should be able to see change on the ground, where it matters most, in the form of a strengthened and effective peacebuilding mechanism. The resolution that we have just adopted is based on two very important precepts: sustainable peace and inclusivity. Lasting peace is possible only through the prevention of conflict and addressing its root causes. And inclusivity is the linchpin for sustainable peace. This requires close partnership with national stakeholders and respect for national priorities and policies. An enhanced role for women and youth is also critical and essential for success. There are, as we all know, many silos in the United Nations system, and different processes work independently on interrelated issues. We must strive to better utilize the work of the PBC. Enhancing its interaction and advisory role with the principal organs of the United Nations is therefore critical. One of the principal achievements of the Commission over the past couple of years was managing the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The PBC and the country-specific configurations made a concerted endeavour to respond to the peacebuilding-related aspects of the recovery effort. The Ebola crisis exposed challenges related to the consolidation of peace. The PBC’s nimbleness and flexibility in responding to the Ebola crisis brought about a more coherent response. Those are important lessons for us to absorb for the future. The report of the Secretary-General on the Peacebuilding Fund (A/70/715), on the other hand, paints a grim picture of waning finances limiting the PBC’s ability to match demand. This shortcoming has also been identified in the review process. Sufficient and predictable resources will be required to support early, high-risk peacebuilding and to promote system- wide coherence. The resolution also touches upon this aspect. The PBC’s focus on domestic resource mobilization is important, but enhancing international financial support and ensuring its predictability is far more critical. The Peacebuilding Commission has a vital role in conflict prevention, post-conflict peacebuilding and the avoidance of any relapse of conflict. Investment in equipping the PBC to match challenges is really investing in our future. The review process that we have just completed should breathe new life into the PBC, making it more responsive and effective.

I thank the Permanent Representative of Sweden, Ambassador Skoog, for his contribution over the past year as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). I congratulate the Permanent Representative of Kenya, Ambassador Kamau, on his election as Chair of the PBC. The General Assembly and the Security Council have just adopted resolutions 70/262 and 2282 (2016), respectively, on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, establishing guidelines for the future efforts of the United Nations in the field of peacebuilding. In late 2014, the General Assembly, at its sixty-ninth session, and the Security Council jointly launched the comprehensive review process of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. Through their collective efforts, States Members of the United Nations have achieved a positive outcome in the comprehensive review and, by summarizing their experiences of the past 10 years, they have put forward ideas on how to improve the work of peacebuilding. We would like to work together with Member States to comprehensively implement the relevant content of the resolution, promote and improve United Nations efforts in the field of peacebuilding and enable the United Nations to better fulfil its responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. Peacebuilding is an innovative endeavour of the United Nations in the field of peace and development. Since its establishment in 2006, the organs of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, which include the PBC, the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and the Peacebuilding Support Office, have comprehensively fulfilled the mandates entrusted to them by the Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, actively coordinated the peacebuilding efforts of the international community in post-conflict countries, played an important role in achieving the common objectives of the United Nations for world peace and development, and implemented the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. China wishes to focus on four points with regard to future work in the area of peacebuilding. First, it is imperative to adhere to the principle of national ownership by the host country. In order to achieve lasting peace and development in post-conflict countries, the efforts of the countries concerned are crucial. In developing and carrying out peacebuilding efforts, the international community should respect the sovereignty and ownership of the countries concerned and provide constructive efforts in the light of their needs and wills. Secondly, it is essential to design and implement policies in the light of the actual conditions on the ground. The conditions of post-conflict countries vary and countries have different needs at different times. The priorities and programmes of peacebuilding should be adapted to the actual conditions of the countries concerned and be interfaced with their overall development strategies, priority areas and objectives, so as to ensure that the assistance provided will meet their actual needs and achieve optimum results. China encourages the PBF to pay to close attention to the capacity-building of the countries concerned and to comprehensively increase efficiency. Thirdly, it is imperative to strengthen the integrated approaches and coordination and improve efficiency. Peacebuilding efforts span the political, social, security and economic fields. They involve the participation of Governments of the countries concerned, other relevant countries, regional organizations, the United Nations and international finance institutions. The PBC should fully assume its role as an intergovernmental advisory body, actively coordinate the peacebuilding efforts of the international community, rationally manage its resources and build complementarity in advantages. Fourthly, it is crucial to pay great attention to root causes and comprehensively advance the work of peacebuilding. Peacebuilding should be aimed at helping post-conflict countries achieve development through their own efforts and promote lasting peace. Peacebuilding should work in synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (resolution 70/1) and focus on addressing poverty, underdevelopment and other major underlying issues that give rise to conflicts and crises; comprehensively promote reconstruction efforts in post-conflict countries in all sectors; and promote coordinated socioeconomic development in the countries concerned. The President of China pointed out, during his participation in the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda on the occasion of the Organization’s seventieth anniversary (see A/70/PV.13), that we should further promote the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, fashion a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core and build a community of common destiny for humankind. China is ready to work together with other Member States to promote the cause of United Nations peacebuilding and peacekeeping and make greater contributions to that endeavour.

I would like to convey our warmest appreciation for the untiring efforts of the Permanent Representative of Sweden as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission in 2015 and wish the Permanent Representative of Kenya every success in his new role as current Chair of the Commission. The Republic of Kazakhstan strongly supports the work and commends the role of the Commission over the past year, especially in implementing country- specific activities, elaborating recommendations to overcome the detrimental effects of the Ebola crisis, and ensuring more structural integration of gender aspects and investment in youth in achieving peace and security. This debate comes at a crucial moment, when the review of the peacebuilding architecture is in the final stage of its consideration. The adoption of resolution 70/262 today will greatly enhance the work of the Commission and consolidate the collective efforts in sustaining peace and security. In this regard, we specially commend the hard work of the Permanent Representatives of Australia and Angola, as co-facilitators of an inclusive intergovernmental process. We would like to highlight several points that are of relevance to increase the success and effectiveness of the peacebuilding architecture. Peacebuilding is not to be confined to the post- conflict phase only, but also has to be integrated into all United Nations efforts from the very start and into all conflict-prevention and resolution mechanisms. We believe that such investments would prevent the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflicts. They would definitely be considerably less expensive and more sustainable than merely reacting to crises. The current review comes with a greater need for the United Nations to have more effective coordination, synergy of mandates and system-wide coherence across the sectors of peace and security, development and human rights. More positive outcomes also demand closer collaboration with other intergovernmental and international organizations for more streamlined operations and implementation of policy directives. Therefore, we believe that the original design and interventions must be modified accordingly to suit contemporary environments and the changing nature of conflicts. It is critical for the United Nations system to achieve a greater internal convergence of mandates among its agencies and country teams on the ground, together with regional structures and organizations. The importance of enhanced partnerships with regional and subregional organizations, as well as with international financial institutions, cannot be overemphasized. All measures must be coordinated with those of the special representatives of the Secretary-General, the special political missions and peacekeeping operations. What is most critical is adequate and assured financing to assess and mitigate the factors that trigger conflicts. Steady monetary resources are needed for building stable foundations of society in the post- conflict phase, since development and peace are two sides of the same coin. Therefore, the role of the Peacebuilding Fund in helping to garner resources has to be strengthened and the international community must collectively seek ways to do so. We take this opportunity to praise the launch of the Peacebuilding Fund’s new cross-border initiative in the Central Asian region, along the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as the allocation of over 15 per cent of investments to support women’s empowerment. Foreseeing future threats, President of Kazakhstan Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev, while addressing the General Assembly during the general debate of its seventieth session last year (see A/70/PV.13), proposed the development of a global strategy that could eliminate conflict for all times. It was also suggested that part of national military expenditures be invested in the Sustainable Development Goals Fund. Kazakhstan provides humanitarian and development assistance to several crises areas. In particular, we are working closely with the African Union and its various councils and mechanisms to ensure durable peace. Recently, Kazakhstan signed the Third-Party Cost-Sharing Agreement with the United Nations Development Programme with a view to implementing the Africa-Kazakhstan Partnership for Sustainable Development to benefit 45 countries in the region. To conclude, Kazakhstan stands ready always to build the peacebuilding architecture in order to lay solid foundations for regional and global stability.

Today, the General Assembly and the Security Council have taken an important step forward with the adoption of resolutions 70/262 and 2282 (2016), which call for change in the way in which the Organization seeks to establish peace. With time we have learned that the old model of acting only when a crisis breaks out is unsustainable. We have to build peace before, during and after conflicts. We also know that if this peace is to be sustainable, it must be carried out not only from the top down and include the most influential actors, but also from the bottom up and include and listen to all segments of society. If it is to be more than a mere peace on paper, it must be a peace that includes development, security, justice and the institutions that protect basic rights; it must speak to young people and provide them with economic opportunities; and it must not marginalize women. This entire process, which is also an end in itself, is what we, States Members of the United Nations, call “sustainable peace”. Ten years after having established the peacebuilding architecture, we are ready and we have powerful instruments, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (resolution 70/1) and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, to make the 360-degree turn that is necessary to place human beings at the centre of this peace and which goes to the root of conflicts. Mexico supports not only a change at the epicentre of our peacebuilding efforts from the reactive approach in which we have been mired for years to a preventative approach, but also the redefinition of the very peacebuilding architecture within the Organization. We believe that, in order to speak about sustainable peace, we must establish a true dialogue between the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. My delegation sees clear progress in the fact that the resolutions we have adopted today reflect the desire of Member States to go beyond the fragmentation of these bodies, using the Peacebuilding Commission as a bridge and making effective use of its role as a intergovernmental advisory body. We also value the fact that we are rethinking the working methods of the Peacebuilding Commission and seeking flexibility that would allow it to act more freely and in closer proximity with the countries in conflict with a variety of approaches that take into account the particular context of a country or region. Similarly, the issue of financial resources is a fundamental part of any serious review process that we undertake and will also be important for the future of the peacebuilding architecture. While requests and mandates, to do more, must be accompanied by the corresponding resources, we also need strategic planning, which would make it possible to have greater efficiency and effectiveness in the Organization’s work. In this respect, the analysis that the Secretary-General will provide to the General Assembly on the financial arrangements for this architecture and his proposals for specific actions to shore up in both substance and in form the peacebuilding architecture, which aims to promote a peaceful world through inclusion, will also be important. However, overcoming the inertia in the design of critical road maps to achieve sustainable peace will require efforts by everyone. That is why Mexico is ready to continue and support this process, which we are beginning today. Lastly, Mexico would like to sincerely acknowledge the work of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture, which was wisely led by Ambassador Gert Rosenthal and which made it possible for us to use as a guideline from this joint consideration a transformative concept, namely, that of sustainable peace, under the concepts of inclusiveness, prevention and in particular coherence within the Organization. We also acknowledge the efforts made by the Permanent Representatives of Angola and Australia, who led our discussions with empathy, patience and dedication.

My delegation wishes to thank the President of the General Assembly for his remarks regarding resolution 70/262, on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. We also express our deep appreciation to Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), for his comprehensive presentation, and commend the hard work of the previous Chair, Ambassador Olof Skoog, who is also the new Vice-Chair together with the Republic of Korea, along with all the Chairs of the six country-specific configurations and the Working Group on Lessons Learned. We would like to thank the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Mr. Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, along with his able team, for their strong commitment to supporting the mandate of the PBC and administering the Peacebuilding Fund. Indonesia welcomes the adoption of the resolution, entitled “Review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture”, which emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to sustaining peace, especially through the prevention of conflict. This resolution provides valuable substantive provisions for the advancement of the United Nations peacebuilding efforts. My delegation is pleased that various key elements are reflected in the resolution, including the importance of diversifying the PBC’s working methods, the need for strong coordination between the Security Council and the PBC, and the need for predictable and sustained financing to United Nations peacebuilding activities. We hope that its implementation will lead to enhanced support on peacebuilding in a comprehensive and coordinated manner for the countries that request it. It would be remiss of me not to thank the Permanent Representatives of Australia and Angola for their hard work as the co-facilitators during the intergovernmental negotiations on the draft resolution. We also thank Bangladesh, as the Coordinator of the Non-Aligned Movement Caucus of the Peacebuilding Commission, as well as various parties and diplomats that have done an excellent job in negotiating this resolution. Regarding the PBC’s annual report (A/70/714), Indonesia is pleased that the PBC’s key objectives during its ninth session included adopting more transparent working methods and a more flexible agenda, as well as improving partnerships with regional and subregional organizations. The PBC needs to continue to explore ways to adopt more flexible and lighter working methods to better adapt to current challenges on the ground. On the advisory role of the Commission, we share the view stated in the report that by providing context- specific and tailored advice, the PBC could ensure that national priorities can be factored into the Security Council’s mandate design and implementation. The element of national priorities is crucial throughout the whole United Nations engagement process with host countries. With regard to the 2015 annual session under the theme of predictable financing for peacebuilding, we note that fragmentation and pooled funding have been among the aspects mentioned in the two sessions. Guided by the needs identified by host countries, the United Nations system and donors should try to improve their coordination and timelines, as well as avoid unnecessary duplication in their work. Moreover, the significance of increased civilian capacity-building support to the countries affected or emerging from conflict cannot be emphasized enough. Adequately resourced, as well as properly governed, national institutions that serve citizens with transparency and accountability are essential to sustaining peace and sustaining peacebuilding dividends. It is indeed important to ensure the continuity of the unique dialogue conducted by relevant actors from New York and the field, as well as from the capitals, through the annual session. We hope that with the new resolution, emphasizing predictable and sustained financing to United Nations peacebuilding activities, the Secretary-General, with the support of Member States, would establish more effective and predictable funding arrangements for United Nations peacebuilding efforts. We take note of the report by the Secretary-General on the Peacebuilding Fund, which states that the Fund will initiate new management procedures in 2016 to ensure that available resources are used to maximum advantage and to provide decision-makers with the information necessary to make the case for sufficient levels of predictable funding. To effectively address conflicts, which have increased threefold since 2007, and a number of present situations that pose a risk of relapse, along with the provision of adequate financial resources, sustained effort at dialogue, mediation and conflict avoidance will certainly be critical. Where the Security Council will have to play its role deftly, the PBC advice to the Council and its supporting role will also be crucial. After the adoption of the new resolution, a strong hope has manifested. It is now with all United Nations principal organs, the PBC and other United Nations system actors as to how effective and supportive they are willing to be in fully realizing the aims of the resolution. For its part, Indonesia will continue to contribute to all meaningful efforts to further strengthen the United Nations peacebuilding architecture.

First of all, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Ambassador Olof Skoog for his commitment as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission in the past year and to assure his successor, the Permanent Representative of Kenya, of our full support. I also want to thank the President of the General Assembly for organizing today’s debate, which comes at a propitious moment, as we have just adopted resolution 70/262, entitled “Review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture”, which we welcome and which incorporates many of the recommendations contained in the report (see A/69/968) of the Advisory Group of Experts. In that context, we are grateful to Advisory Group’s Chair, Ambassador Gert Rosenthal, and its other members for the quality of their work and the level of ambition they have shown. We are also grateful to the Permanent Representatives of the Angola and Australia, who, together with their teams, led negotiations to a positive outcome, namely, the adoption of the resolution this morning. Luxembourg fully aligns itself with the statement of the observer of the European Union. The identical resolutions adopted this morning by the General Assembly and the Security Council (resolution 2282 (2016)) cover many of the priorities to which Luxembourg has been committed since the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, and more specifically as it fulfilled its mandate as Chair of the Guinea country-specific configuration. Those priorities reflect trends already under way within the Peacebuilding Commission in recent years, including those in the report (A/70/714) on its ninth session, which we are discussing today. Luxembourg strongly believes that the sustainability of peace requires an integrated approach aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflicts, and which brings together Government authorities and other stakeholders at the national level and enjoys the support of the international community. We welcome the fact that the resolution formally endorses such an approach, which should take the form of a long-term political process capable of addressing the root causes of conflict, and that it reaffirms the interdependence of the components of such an integrated approach. Such an approach must necessarily involve development, peace and security, respect for human rights as well as good governance, and support inclusive national processes that take into account the needs of all segments of society. That has also been what we are trying to do in the Guinea country configuration, while working in a spirit of national ownership with the Guinean authorities and the various components of Guinean society, development partners and regional and subregional organizations, including the Economic Community of West African States and the Mano River Union. Accordingly, the Guinea country configuration, which I have had the honour of chairing since its establishment at the request of the Guinean authorities in February 2011, focuses on national dialogue and an inclusive approach. The review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture that we have just completed recognizes the need for a flexible approach in the way the Peacebuilding Commission organizes its work. If we want to maximize the value added that the Commission can provide, we must give it the means to quickly grasp national and regional contexts that are not on its agenda, as well as thematic and cross-cutting issues, similar to what was done in 2015 in terms of the transition in Burkina Faso, the peace process in Papua New Guinea and the challenges to peacebuilding in Somalia. Such an approach was also successfully put into practice in 2014 in connection with the Ebola epidemic. The Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone country configurations of the Peacebuilding Commission were able to offer their platforms for the purposes of mobilizing international attention, not only with respect to the threat posed to public health but also with respect to the stability of the countries concerned, and beyond, to the stability of the West African region as a whole. For its part, the Peacebuilding Fund was able to play its role, extending the resources needed to face the challenges to peace and security. Without providing an exhaustive list, I would like once again to refer to some aspects that for some time now have been among the priorities of the Peacebuilding Commission and whose relevance has been reaffirmed today, namely, the need to take the gender perspective into account in peacebuilding efforts in a cross-cutting manner and the need to recognize the role of young people in preventing and ending conflict. Similarly, it is important to mention the importance of transitional justice as a key element in building peace and stability and in laying the foundation for development. The even more ambitious recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Group of Experts, in particular with regard to increased funding for peacebuilding activities and to improving the predictability of funding, are certainly worth implementing. However, we strongly believe that the peacebuilding architecture put into place today through the recent review is an important step forward. From now on, it will be important to take full advantage of it. The General Assembly can count on the commitment and continuous support of Luxembourg to that end.

United Nations peacekeeping is one of the most important tools for helping States settle conflict, overcome the consequences of conflict and prevent the resurgence of crises. We welcome the simultaneous adoption today by the General Assembly and the Security Council of resolutions reviewing the peacebuilding architecture of the Organization (resolution 70/262 and Security Council 2282 (2016)). These resolutions should help United Nations bodies to adapt to current realities in post-conflict countries and increase their effectiveness. We hope that the aims and objectives as outlined by Member States for preserving peace will make a positive contribution to the efforts to resolve and prevent conflict. We believe it is imperative to acknowledge, as established in the resolution, that the responsibility for safeguarding peace is borne first and foremost by national stakeholders. The United Nations and international entities, when necessary and with the agreement of the accepting parties, will provide assistance, which should be focused on building the capacity of afflicted countries to overcome conflict. We believe that key to that perspective is the inclusiveness of national political processes and the awareness of the population’s general responsibility for peace. The resolution adopted today specifies the functions of the Peacebuilding Commission. It is an intergovernmental consultative body and therefore occupies an essential place in the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. We call on the Organizational Committee to carry out a review of its working methods. We hope that such a review will serve to increase the effectiveness of the Commission’s work in accordance with its mandate as set forth in Security Council resolution 1645 (2005). We also hope that it will increase the quality of the advice it provides to the Security Council on the settlement of situations in countries within the purview of both bodies. Increasing the effectiveness of peacebuilding efforts is the purpose of the important appeal to strengthen the coordination and cooperation among the various structures and bodies within the United Nations on peacebuilding issues. In that context, it is important to underline that such efforts should be undertaken strictly within the framework of the corresponding mandates. Otherwise, instead of it being a positive impetus, we will just find confusion where everybody will be doing everything but, at the same time, nobody will be responsible for anything. A specific section of the resolution is devoted to questions of financing for peacebuilding, including through the Peacebuilding Fund. The Fund has proved to be an important mechanism for facilitating recovery and development. We expect the Secretary-General to take a well-rounded view of reasonable options for guaranteeing long-term financing, on the basis of which the General Assembly will be able to reach agreement.

We thank the President of the General Assembly for convening today’s plenary meeting and welcome the adoption of the comprehensive and forward-looking resolution 70/262, on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. We join others in commending the work of Australia and Angola as facilitators of the negotiations on the resolution in its draft form. Bangladesh had the privilege to act as the spokesperson for the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries (NAM) during the informal negotiations on the resolution. We wish to put on record our appreciation for all NAM members for their unstinting trust and support. We would now look forward to the effective implementation of the resolution, building on the constructive recommendations of the Advisory Group of Experts. We believe the General Assembly’s upcoming high-level thematic debate on peace and security can offer a platform for orienting our focus on implementing the various aspects of the resolution within a broader, holistic framework. The annual report (A/70/714) of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) on its ninth session, held last year, makes it evident that the Commission has already embarked on a number of measures and initiatives to that end. We appreciate the vision statement and the six-month work programme presented by the current PBC Chair, as well as the work achieved so far along those lines. We hope the adoption of the resolution today will add further impetus to the Commission’s work on diversifying its working methods in order to give its Organizational Committee greater depth, dimension and flexibility in addressing issues relevant to sustaining peace. It is quite significant that our experience of United Nations peacebuilding work over the past 10 years has led us to coalesce at the conceptual level on the notion of sustaining peace. The clear definition of that term, as set forth in the resolution, justifiably broadens the traditional and rather restrictive notion of peacebuilding and underscores the importance of sustained political support through the entire spectrum of conflicts, including by preventing a relapse into conflict. We hope that this notion will be duly acknowledged by all the principal organs of the Organization as well as other relevant stakeholders with a view to giving peacebuilding a real chance to deliver on its potentials in national, regional and multilateral contexts. With that in mind, we wish to reiterate the importance we attach to five critical issues. First, the centrality of national ownership and leadership in peacebuilding must be valued and preserved beyond merely being mentioned. International and regional support for peacebuilding can play a catalytic role, but can bring about dividends only if it is anchored in firm commitments led by national Governments and authorities. It is of paramount importance to foster an environment for inclusive peacebuilding where a diverse set of national actors with legitimate voices and interests have an opportunity to participate and contribute. Secondly, the fragmentation of peacebuilding activities within and outside the United Nations system poses a serious challenge to the fundamental objectives and to credibility of peacebuilding. We feel encouraged at seeing some efforts being made within the United Nations, including on the ground, to break down the so-called silos. It must remain a constant preoccupation for the PBC, through its convening and advisory roles, to further consolidate those efforts, particularly towards bringing the security and development actors closer together without undercutting their respective mandates and competence. Thirdly, it is also encouraging to see the increase in the importance of the PBC’s interface with the relevant regional organizations, especially in Africa, and its growing focus on regional cross-cutting issues. If the PBC is effectively allowed to broaden its focus beyond the ambit of its agenda, it may be worth exploring how the Commission could create its niche relevance through meaningful engagement with concerned regional entities in parts of the world where it matters. The PBC’s value-added work on the Ebola crisis in West Africa could be replicated through other relevant and emerging issues of concern, including the seminal task of long-term institution-building. Fourthly, the PBC’s gender strategy and discussions on the role of young people in peacebuilding are valuable contributions to promoting the inclusivity agenda in peacebuilding. It is important that those approaches find resonance in the peacebuilding activities of other relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes. All concerned should focus on leveraging their respective strengths instead of repackaging similar interventions without much coordination. Fifthly, and perhaps most important, the issue of financing for peacebuilding remains a major stumbling block to realizing its full value. We hope that the unequivocal emphasis on increased, predictable and sustainable financing in the current resolution will help garner sufficient political support towards mobilizing much-needed resources for peacebuilding, including for the Peacebuilding Fund. We look forward to creative ideas from the Secretary-General on mobilizing finances, factoring in both assessed and voluntary contributions. The notion of sustaining peace will have meaning only if it is matched with enabling resources. Bangladesh remains an ardent believer in peacebuilding and will remain engaged in further strengthening the United Nations peacebuilding architecture through consensus among the wider membership. Our Government recently took the initiative to establish a peacebuilding centre, which we believe will broaden regional and international efforts in that regard through substantive research and training activities. We invite all interested States to join us in making that venture the success that is envisaged.

I thank the President of the General Assembly for convening today’s plenary meeting. We welcome the adoption of resolution 70/262, on the General Assembly’s 2015 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. The resolution and the identical Security Council resolution 2282 (2016) are the outcomes of a lengthy and arduous intergovernmental consultation process. My delegation wishes to place on record its deepest gratitude to Ambassador Bird of Australia and Ambassador Gaspar Martins of Angola for co-facilitating and diligently guiding us through the consultative process. Our thanks also go to the experts of the Australian and Angolan Permanent Missions, without whose efforts this outcome would not have been possible. The adoption of resolution 70/262 and the parallel Security Council resolution is most timely. It augurs well for the strengthening of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture to deal with the contemporary challenges in peacebuilding. That is particularly important in the context of the human cost of and the great suffering caused by conflicts across the globe in these troubled times. Conflict prevention, effective peacebuilding, addressing the root causes of conflict and ensuring non-recurrence would save millions of lives from the scourge of conflict and war. It is imperative in that regard that measures to prevent the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict be taken forthwith. The present resolution reflects our collective will to tread down that path. It is also encouraging to note that the resolution recognizes and welcomes the role of the Peacebuilding Commission as the dedicated intergovernmental advisory body for conferring a strategic element and coherence to international peacebuilding efforts. Equally encouraging is the resolve of the Member States to revitalize the Peacebuilding Support Office. As a country emerging from a 30-year conflict that left deep scars in the entire socioethnic fabric of the nation, Sri Lanka is uniquely placed to reflect on the human cost and the indescribable suffering that the conflict brought about and to commit ourselves to post-conflict peacebuilding. In that context, reconciliation and healing the hearts and minds of our people have become our top-most priorities. We are deeply conscious of the fact that peacebuilding has to be done as a matter of urgency to prevent the recurrence of conflict. The political transition in Sri Lanka in January of last year brought about crucial opportunities for peacebuilding in the country. Our aim is to promote national reconciliation while giving priority to generating trust and confidence-building measures among people affected by the long conflict. As pointed out by several speakers this morning, we also believe that peacebuilding is an inherently political process. It is also essentially a nationally owned process that needs to be properly sequenced, taking into account the national circumstances and with the assistance of all stakeholders, including the United Nations. Post-conflict peacebuilding in Sri Lanka is almost synonymous with post-conflict reconciliation and is based on the principle of national ownership. We have recognized that the process of reconciliation involves addressing the broad areas of truth-seeking, justice, reparations and non-recurrence. The process of working out the contours of the architecture of the domestic mechanisms for truth-seeking, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence is evolving. In Sri Lanka the process of national consultations on transitional justice, which is a victim-centred process, has already begun. There is significant civil- society involvement in that process. We have obtained technical assistance from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence in the crucial task of framing the questions for consultations. I wish to mention with gratitude that the process is supported by funding from the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). The funding was granted pursuant to the declaration last year by the Secretary-General that Sri Lanka was a country eligible to receive financial support from the Fund. We also welcome and appreciate the funding assistance received from the Peacebuilding Fund for the resettlement of the last of the conflict-affected internally displaced persons, thereby supporting Sri Lanka’s national reconciliation efforts. Those projects were funded by the Peacebuilding Fund’s Immediate Response Facility. A longer-term peacebuilding plan is currently being prepared by the Peacebuilding Support Office in consultation with the Government of Sri Lanka, for which longer-term, predictable funding would be essential. I would be remiss if I did not place enough stress during today’s debate, as other speakers have done, to the importance of adequate, predictable and sustained financing for United Nations peacebuilding efforts. The resolution rightfully identifies that dire need. In that regard, we welcome the resolution’s recognition of the importance of strengthening partnerships between the United Nations and key stakeholders, in particular international financial institutions. Strengthening the Peacebuilding Fund through adequate contributions is of paramount importance. The funding of the PBF enables the United Nations to seize political opportunities it would likely otherwise miss. However, it is discouraging to learn that the Peacebuilding Fund is hampered by decreasing contributions, where the projected contributions in 2016 fall far short of the actual funding needs for peacebuilding activities across the globe. In that context, Sri Lanka welcomes the proposed donor pledging conference to be held on the margins of the General Assembly’s seventy-first session in September with a view to refinancing the Peacebuilding Fund as a follow-up to resolution 70/262 and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016), both adopted today. Sri Lanka is pleased to confirm that it will co-host the pledging conference with the Peacebuilding Support Office and several other Member States, as was mentioned earlier this morning. We are of the view that a donor pledging conference of this nature would help to increase the level of contributions, the number of donors and the predictability of PBF funding, by way of voluntary contributions, including multi-year commitments. We look forward to the active participation of Member States at the pledging conference.

Italy aligns itself with the statement delivered by the observer of the European Union and wishes to add the following remarks in its national capacity. We welcome today’s adoption of the resolution on the review of the peacebuilding architecture (resolution 70/262) and the debate on the annual report (A/70/714) of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and of the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) (A/70/715). At the outset, we offer our thanks to the facilitators, Ambassador Bird of Australia and Ambassador Gaspar Martins of Angola, for their tireless work; the Advisory Group of Experts and its Chair, Ambassador Rosenthal, for their insight; the current PBC Chair, Ambassador Kamau, and the previous Chair, Ambassador Skoog, as well as the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Ambassador Fernandez-Taranco, for their resolute efforts. As a member of the Organizational Committee of the PBC, Italy looks forward to the concrete implementation of today’s resolution, which will lead to a strengthened Peacebuilding Commission, reinforce its role as a valuable tool for the Security Council and enhance the overall capacity of the United Nations in the field of preventive diplomacy. We have before us a very comprehensive review of the sector. I will briefly touch upon some points that are particularly dear to Italy. First of all, we deeply appreciate the change in mindset and the new concept of sustaining peace. It is not just a matter of words; it has profound implications on how we carry out our work. Peacebuilding should no longer be seen as a post-conflict activity, since the challenge of sustaining peace runs across the complete cycle of our engagement to prevent conflicts and avoid relapse. In practical terms, Italy believes we have to implement an integrated strategy to prevent cross-regional threats, such as extremist violence and terrorism, illicit trafficking, smuggling of migrants and trafficking of human beings, by addressing their root causes, and to sustain peace, once achieved, by capacity- and institution-building initiatives. Secondly, the United Nations is now the main global enabler of partnerships to sustain peace. Greater cooperation with regional and subregional organizations, multilateral institutions and civil- society organizations is therefore essential, and Italy stands ready to do its part and use all the means at its disposal to that end. In that context, the PBC’s country- specific configurations play a pivotal role. Thirdly, Italy endorses the importance the resolution gives to women’s leadership and participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. We recognize the continuing need to increase the representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflict, and the consideration of gender-related issues in all discussions pertinent to sustaining peace. That is why last September our Prime Minister Renzi pledged to give more resources, up to €50 million in the next two years, to programmes dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. My last point is on the need to secure more predictable funding for peacebuilding, in particular to the PBF. Strengthening cooperation with the World Bank and other financial institutions, as well as addressing the silo approach of the donor community, are pivotal issues. But we must also deploy alternative resources for peacebuilding activities, including non-monetary contributions and contributions from the private sector. In that regard, Italy has already decided to resume its contributions to the Peacebuilding Fund throughout 2016. Our objective is to do more by ensuring adequate and predictable funds for peacebuilding through long- term commitments. Italy strongly believes that, bearing in mind the costs of conflicts and instability, preventive diplomacy is not only the right choice but also the smart one. I would like to conclude by highlighting an issue that Italy believes is at the core of building peaceful and inclusive societies — the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage. Preserving a society’s cultural heritage, and in particular protecting it from terrorist acts and trafficking, as well as promoting and respecting cultural diversity, is a key element in the reconciliation and peacebuilding processes. No society can flourish without culture, and no shared relationships can be established without respecting a people’s history and its soul. For those reasons, building on numerous previous activities, on 16 February Italy and UNESCO signed a landmark agreement establishing a task force for protecting ancient cultural artifacts in crisis areas. Those so-called Blue Helmets of culture are a tangible sign of Italy’s commitment to the Unite for Heritage campaign and to building and sustaining peace.

I would like to thank the President, Ambassador Skoog and Ambassador Kamau for their statements today. I would also like to congratulate Australia and Angola, the Chairs of the 2015 peacebuilding review, as well as the Chairs of the country-specific configurations of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), on their work. We are grateful for all of their efforts to assist many of the world’s most fragile States in their efforts to recover from conflict and to improve the capabilities of the United Nations in that regard as well. Today’s meeting is especially important against the backdrop of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture review, culminating in today’s adoptions of identical General Assembly and Security Council resolutions (resolution 70/262 and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016)). The year 2016 is an important one for the peacebuilding architecture. We have come a long way since the review began, in early 2015. Over the past year, the Security Council, the Peacebuilding Commission, other United Nations entities, Member States and many international partners not only collectively acknowledged that peacebuilding remained under- recognized, they all decided to do something about it. Manifest in today’s resolutions are both a body of knowledge and an agenda for action on peacebuilding on which the international community has deliberated for the past year. The United States fully supports their adoption and looks forward to their full implementation. My Government hopes that they will help to ensure that the United Nations system can be more strategic, coordinated and effective in post-conflict contexts. We support the resolutions’ assertion that United Nations conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding cannot be addressed or managed in silos. We agree with their language on the concept of sustaining peace, in which the United Nations and the international engagement should be better linked across every stage of a conflict. We also support their highlighting of the need for improved partnership and cooperation between the United Nations and other multilateral and regional organizations and peacebuilding efforts. Furthermore, my Government also strongly supports the resolutions’ emphasis on women and on the promotion of human rights in peacebuilding, among other issues. Above all, however, it is all of our responsibilities — Member States and the United Nations community — to ensure that the peacekeeping architecture review has real impact. Today’s adoption should be only a first step towards broader implementation of the resolutions. We look forward to working with everyone here on that broader endeavour. Turning now to this year’s report (A/70/714) of the Peacebuilding Commission, it is clear that we have made some progress in preventing conflicts and building the conditions for peace in places that have a history of unrest. In Guinea-Bissau the PBC played an active role in fostering donor coordination, including the March 2015 Brussels conference that resulted in the unprecedented mobilization of more than €1 billion. In the Central African Republic the PBC helped to raise awareness about the lack of funding for several priorities in that country, including elections and mediation. The PBC was one of the main international actors in the Central African Republic rallying for additional funds for elections, which had presented a key obstacle to achieving the political transition we all seek. Sustaining the international community’s attention to countries emerging from crises is at the core of the Peacebuilding Commission’s work. A key example lies in the PBC’s continuing attention to the Ebola crisis. Following the PBC Chair’s visit to West Africa in April, the special meeting he held here in New York highlighted the critical gaps and challenges in the areas of governance, institution-building and civic engagement. That meeting, along with the PBC’s continued engagement on those issues, was critical to ensuring that key peacebuilding needs were addressed in the recovery phase of the Ebola epidemic. Turning to the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), there are many achievements that deserve the attention of this body, but I would like to highlight three aspects from the PBF’s annual report (A/70/715) that we find particularly encouraging. The year 2015 marked the first time that the Fund successfully met the Secretary- General’s target for supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment. We were pleased to learn that it allocated 15.7 per cent to women’s initiatives. While we recognize that there is still much work to be done to fully mainstream gender throughout peacebuilding portfolios, we welcome the PBF’s commitment to developing a strategy to mainstream gender in its country-specific engagements. As we know, when women actively participate at all levels of political decision-making, we are all safer, our efforts at peacebuilding are stronger and around the world constitutions and peace agreements are more inclusive, just and lasting. We are also encouraged by the PBF’s work in Burundi, where its support has enabled the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to remain operational following the closing of the United Nations Office in Burundi. The OHCHR provides vital human-rights monitoring and reporting and is one of the only bodies doing such monitoring in Burundi as political space there continues to shrink. Finally, PBF funding for UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme has helped to provide key messaging on Ebola in Guinea’s historically volatile Forestière region. The PBF had previously given support to that community during the crisis in Liberia and had built a network through which trusted messaging about the health response to Ebola was successfully delivered to local communities. Thanks in part to that PBF support, the region was the first in Guinea to be declared Ebola-free. The year 2015 was a significant one for United Nations peacebuilding. The international community focused on the need to better link its engagement across the arc of conflict, as well as to pay closer attention to the key components of lasting peace after conflict — national ownership, social and political inclusivity, institution-building and predictable financing. Going forward, the stakes remain high, with nothing less than peace and security hanging in the balance. We must seize all opportunities, such as today’s meeting, to continue to build on the growing body of lessons of peacebuilding. We must maintain momentum in order to turn the recommendations of the 2015 peacebuilding review into tangible impact.

I would like to begin by thanking the President for overseeing this important process and by congratulating the co-facilitators, Australia and Angola, for shepherding it towards such a strong outcome. I would also like to thank the Permanent Representatives of Kenya and Sweden, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), respectively, for their vision, leadership and commitment. We have before us the most comprehensive resolution on peacebuilding ever adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council (resolution 70/262 and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016)). That is a truly remarkable achievement and one that will strengthen the collective ability of the entire United Nations system to sustain peace. I would like to highlight three elements that in our view are crucial. (spoke in French) The first is the concept of sustaining peace. Decades of practice and observation have taught us that conflicts are not linear and that effective prevention requires concrete action on the security, development and human rights fronts. With today’s resolution we affirm for the first time that peacebuilding and prevention are two sides of the same coin and specify the tools with which the United Nations system can begin to knock down silos. In order to do that, we must make a serious investment in prevention, tackle the drivers of conflict at all levels and incorporate the idea of sustaining peace at every stage of our efforts. We must also invest in the participation of women at all levels and at all stages. (spoke in English) Secondly, with regard to the role of the Peacebuilding Commission, the Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly and especially the Security Council have critical roles to play in sustaining peace. The resolution adopted this morning acknowledges the important bridging role that the PBC can play and suggests concrete ways in which this can be done. For years, we have repeated the mantra that there can be no one-size-fits-all approach to peacebuilding, yet for too long the PBC has had a one-size-fits-all approach to countries on its agenda. With this resolution, we have clear encouragement from Member States for the PBC to build on the good practices initiated by previous Chairs and continue diversifying its working methods to enable it to consider a broader range of countries, regions and issues and enhance its focus on conflict prevention and gender-sensitive peacebuilding. Finally, with regard to the importance of operational coherence and implementation, this resolution will not implement itself — it requires a coordinated plan of action and a change in mindset, both within the United Nations system and in the way that we, as Member States, approach our work across the United Nations. The resolution identifies important levers and processes through which this can happen: though strengthened partnerships with civil society, regional organizations and international financial institutions; through a strengthened role for the PBC in advising the Security Council; through stronger linkages between the United Nations peacebuilding efforts and the operational activities for development; and by ensuring adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding. (spoke in French) With this resolution we, the Member States, are defining the changes we want to bring about, the measures we deem necessary to carry out these changes and what we are ready to do to support the Secretary- General in order to establish a more coherent and effective approach to peacekeeping. More than ever before, Canada will be happy to put its shoulder to the wheel.

The year 2015 was exceptional, both in terms of the magnitude and degree of the challenges that the international community had to face and the advances made in the search for better harmony and efficiency in our collective action taken to face these threats, namely, through the three major review processes of United Nations action, which were successfully carried out, including the review of the peacebuilding architecture with the Peacebuilding Commission as one of its major pillars. As shown in the annual report (A/70/714), the Peacebuilding Commission, under the able and active leadership of Ambassador Olof Skoog, to whom I pay tribute, was able over the course of the previous year to accomplish remarkable work, both in terms of the intensity and the tangible and concrete results that were achieved. I also wish Ambassador Kamau of Kenya every success in his chairmanship of the Peacebuilding Commission in 2016. With the experience it has accumulated over the course of a decade and the excellent mobilization of its members, the PBC has been able to implement through its actions the essence of the recommendations of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture, be they those on improving the transparency and flexibility of its working methods, its interaction with the principal United Nations organs or its partnership with regional organizations, not to mention the emphasis placed on the greater involvement of women and youth in peacebuilding. Another important recommendation that has been taken into account by the PBC is its active engagement in finding effective responses to the issues of funding for peacebuilding activities. We recognize the negative consequences that could result from the lack of predictable and sustainable financing for peacebuilding efforts. The Peacebuilding Commission has worked to further strengthen the synergy that has developed in its work with the Peacebuilding Fund, which is the second important pillar of the peacebuilding architecture. In this regard, we welcome the publication of the annual report (A/70/715) on the Peacebuilding Fund’s activities for 2015. It shows the full extent and relevance of its activities in providing sustained support to countries at risk of falling into conflict situations or those emerging from conflict. We welcome the commitment shown by the Fund in implementing the main recommendations of the report on the review of the peacebuilding architecture (A/64/868, annex) by strengthening its cooperation with the international financial institutions, while implementing the third Gender Promotion Initiative in 2016 and expanding its conflict-prevention activity. We note with concern the difficulties facing the mobilization of predictable and sustainable financing for the Fund, which is worsening with the reduction in donor contributions. The reduction is completely at odds with the increasing need for financing for peacebuilding activities. This is a dilemma that resolution 70/262, which we have just adopted, should aim to respond to. The resolution on the review is the result of a long intergovernmental process, and it offers us an invaluable opportunity for each State to contribute to this important discussion and contribute to developing a coordinated, efficient and harmonized strategy for peacebuilding in countries that need it. I want to commend the effective leadership and perseverance of the co-facilitators, Angola and Australia, throughout the negotiations. My delegation has played an active role within the Non-Aligned Movement in all phases of the preparation and negotiation of this resolution. I would like to welcome the especially constructive contribution of the Non-Aligned Movement, which has distinguished itself through its practicality and consistency with the realities on the ground, which it was able to imbue the process with, in particular through the valuable support of African countries. The text adopted today, which was the subject of intense and sometimes difficult negotiations among the Member States, comprehensively reflects all the concerns and demands of the different groups and has responded in a more than satisfactory manner to the recommendations of the high-level groups. The resolution represents a new phase in the development of peacebuilding activities in that it contains innovative ideas that are better suited to the new realities and which were constantly requested by my delegation when we were the Chairs of the Central African Republic configuration. Its main asset is its focus on the need to change the current perception of peacebuilding and adopt an innovative multidimensional approach that is more comprehensive and holistic in covering all phases and aspects of the conflict in order to sustain peace. It also draws in all of the United Nations bodies, whether they be principal or subsidiary, and encourages them to focus their actions on peacebuilding, prevention, peacekeeping, restoring peace and post-conflict State-building. It calls for resisting partitioning in the activities of United Nations bodies and highlights the role of the PBC as an important advisory body in supporting those activities. It calls for ensuring the inclusivity of all the different components of post-conflict society in rebuilding the country. It makes national ownership by local actors primarily responsible for the definition of national priorities a necessary condition for achieving definitive and sustainable peace and national reconciliation. It rightfully accords an important role to women and young people in all phases of the peace process. It proposes that we broaden the spectrum of action of the Peacebuilding Commission and include countries and regions by focusing on conflict prevention. Lastly, it reflects the concerns of Member States about the difficulties of mobilizing appropriate financial support in a structured, predictable and sustainable manner. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate Morocco’s commitment to supporting all peacebuilding actions and its readiness to contribute to the implementation of this resolution.

Germany aligns itself with the statement delivered by the observer of the European Union. Today marks an important step forward in the trajectory of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. The 2015 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture resulted in the comprehensive resolution 70/262, which effectively strengthens the performance and impact of the Peacebuilding Commission, the Peacebuilding Support Office and the Peacebuilding Fund. Among other achievements, the resolution introduces more transparent and strategic working methods, improves partnerships with regional and subregional actors, bolsters efforts aimed at conflict prevention, and secures critical funding for peacebuilding and gender-related issues. The resolution also significantly broadens the peacebuilding capabilities of the United Nations system. Unlike previous failed attempts, the resolution advances an integrated approach to conflict prevention. It does not just help countries emerging from conflict to hold on to fragile reconstruction gains; it also aims at reducing the chances of an initial outbreak in countries facing a wide range of destabilizing forces. As migrants continue to make the perilous journey to Europe, Germany is painstakingly aware of the benefits to be gained from conflict prevention. The migrant crisis is a poignant example of how the failure to prevent conflict can lead to human tragedy. Therefore, the United Nations peacebuilding architecture must continue to evolve into an institution that addresses all types, aspects and stages of conflict prevention. In order to achieve that, we now need to implement this resolution. Germany would therefore welcome a speedy start to the negotiations of the organizational committee’s new rules of procedure. This would give life to the idea of a more flexible Peacebuilding Commission as enshrined in the resolution that we just adopted. Germany will also do its share to address the urgent question of adequate funding of the Peacebuilding Fund. For 2016, we will contribute the amount of €10 million. Germany welcomes the Peacebuilding Fund’s instrumental efforts not only to prevent conflict, but also to support the stabilization of countries in the aftermath of a crisis. Germany welcomes today’s resolution and looks forward to playing an active role in further strengthening the United Nations peacebuilding architecture.

At the outset, the Republic of Korea welcomes the adoption of resolutions 70/262 and 2282 (2016) on the United Nations peacebuilding architecture by the General Assembly and the Security Council, respectively. My delegation commends the co-facilitators, the Ambassadors of Angola and Australia, for their leadership during the negotiating process. I also thank the President for convening today’s timely and important debate. I appreciate the achievements of the Ambassador of Sweden as the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission in 2015 and thank the Ambassador of Kenya for his leadership as this year’s Chair of the Commission. The resolution we have just adopted highlights the importance of the conceptual shift that sustaining peace is a shared task and responsibility that needs to be fulfilled by Governments and all other national stakeholders; that it should flow through all three pillars of the United Nations engagement at all stages of the conflict and in all its dimensions; and that it needs sustained international attention and assistance. We believe that the resolution can provide the platform on which the peacebuilding architecture can continue to improve. We also hope that the General Assembly will maintain this comprehensive approach and develop it further by discussing it as an official agenda item, entitled “Peacebuilding and sustaining peace”, at its seventy-second session. In addition, we hope a series of useful discussions on humanitarian issues will be held, based on this comprehensive perspective, during the world humanitarian summit in Istanbul in May. We look forward to many useful outcomes, which will strengthen the coherence and alignment between our efforts for sustaining peace, development and human rights. The Republic of Korea is pleased to see the achievements made by the Peacebuilding Commission during its ninth session. The Commission has proved its unique and critical role in many peacebuilding processes by proactively and flexibly responding to various threats at all stages of conflicts, including in particular newly emerging threats, such as Ebola. My delegation believes that strengthening this unique role of the Commission, as a bridge between the United Nations principal organs and as a platform to convene all relevant actors within and outside the United Nations, serves the interests of the entire international community. We are also of the view that the Commission should now undertake the task of reforming its working methods in order to better meet the challenges of sustaining peace, as called for by paragraph 5 of the latest resolution. If the Commission is to better bridge all relevant actors, mobilize resources and advise on integrated strategies for post-conflict and recovery, the systematic and institutional support of the Security Council and the General Assembly will be essential. As the three reviews of the United Nations role in maintaining international peace and security all emphasize, all efforts to create and sustain peace should be aimed at the prevention of conflicts, including the prevention of relapses, in a comprehensive and coherent manner. The Commission should also focus its work in this direction and needs more support from the entire United Nations system to this end. There were also many considerable achievements in the activities of the Peacebuilding Fund. The Fund has carried out various projects to prevent conflicts and sustain peace in many nations, including Ebola- affected countries, such as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and 20 other countries outside the purview of the Commission, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia and Yemen. It is also commendable that the Fund has enhanced efficiency in resource management while successfully meeting the Secretary-General’s target on funding to support gender equality and women’s empowerment by allocating 15.7 per cent of its resources to women- centred initiatives. However, for the second consecutive year, the Fund is significantly underresourced, even though a series of reports, such as the report of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture and the report of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (A/70/95), have validated the useful role played by the Peacebuilding Fund and made recommendations for securing predictable financing. This recommendation deserves more attention and support from Member States today, as contributions from major donors are decreasing while the need for sustained peacebuilding activities is increasing. The Republic of Korea will continue to join in these efforts by increasing its contribution to the Fund in the years ahead. The Republic of Korea has assumed this year the vice-chairmanship of the Peacebuilding Commission and chairmanship of the Working Group on Lessons Learned. With this important commitment, the Republic of Korea will continue to actively discharge its responsibilities. Fulfilling its mandate, the Republic of Korea will draw on its unique experience of successfully transitioning from a war-torn nation into a peaceful, democratic and prosperous country within a half-century. In this process, the Republic of Korea will continue to actively engage with the wider United Nations membership.