A/75/PV.95 General Assembly

Before proceeding, members are informed that the consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 70, entitled “Comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action”, will take place after the consideration of agenda item 126, entitled “Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly.” I now give the floor to the representative of Canada, former Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, to introduce the report of the Peacebuilding Commission.

I am very pleased to be here today in my capacity as the former Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) to introduce the annual report of the Peacebuilding Commission at its fourteenth session (A/75/747). The fourteenth session was a landmark year for the PBC, and my good friend and colleague Ambassador Edrees of Egypt, current Chair of the Commission, will describe its work over the course of 2021. Over the course of 2020, the Commission held a total of 37 meetings — the highest number since its inception — and engaged in support of 15 country- and region-specific contexts, which is also a record. That included new regional engagements with Central Africa and the Pacific islands and renewed engagement in support of peacebuilding in Somalia and the Great Lakes region. During the informal phase of the 2020 review of the peacebuilding architecture, the Commission convened a series of thematic consultations open to all Member States, which focused on peacebuilding in United Nations transition contexts, the role of women in peacebuilding, United Nations system- wide engagement, institution-building and financing and partnerships for peacebuilding. The Commission shared the main recommendations emerging from those consultations with the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council and with the Secretary-General as an input to the formal phase of the 2020 review. Nearly all of that work was done on virtual platforms, as the PBC was the first United Nations body to adapt its working methods in response to the pandemic. Following the onset of the pandemic, the Commission adjusted its programme of work to serve as a demand-driven platform to discuss ways to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on development and peacebuilding in the countries under its consideration. The Commission created space for national and regional leaders in peacebuilding contexts to share their experiences and challenges and seek support for efforts to build back better from the pandemic. In that connection, I have to pay tribute to my predecessor as Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr. Marc-André Blanchard, who led the effort to make that effective transition. Many of those discussions placed particular emphasis on the need to tailor socioeconomic responses to COVID-19 to nationally defined peacebuilding priorities, with special consideration given to community resilience, social innovation and protecting and empowering people in vulnerable situations. The Commission continued to make efforts to improve the timeliness and quality of its advice to the General Assembly and the Security Council, while strengthening its bridging role among the intergovernmental bodies to pursue a coherent, integrated approach to building and sustaining peace. The Commission provided advice to the Security Council a total of 12 times in 2020, including through written inputs to inform the mandate renewals for the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, written advice on youth and peace and security, statements on the humanitarian effects of environmental degradation, peace and security, pandemics and the challenge of sustaining peace, an informal interactive dialogue on the impact of COVID-19 on peacebuilding contexts and a formal briefing to the Council on peacebuilding challenges and opportunities in the Sahel (see S/2020/1126 and annex IV). The Commission also used its convening role to support greater coordination and coherence across the United Nations system in conflict-affected settings, inviting a diverse range of briefers from across United Nations departments, agencies, funds and programmes, both at Headquarters and in the field. Throughout the past year, the Commission emphasized the importance of continuing cross-pillar support to United Nations peacebuilding activities in the field, while acknowledging that each pillar has its own intrinsic value and specific mandate. During the reporting period, which coincided with the twentieth anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), the Commission increased its efforts in support of women and peace and security in line with the commitment set out in its gender strategy. The Commission made an effort to promote gender-responsive peacebuilding through more systematic engagement with women peacebuilders and better mainstreaming of the gender dimensions of peacebuilding into all of its analysis and advice. I am very pleased to report that the number of women peacebuilders briefing the Commission significantly increased last year, from six in 2019 to a record 25 in 2020. At the conclusion of its fourteenth session, the Commission adopted an action plan to track the implementation of the gender strategy. During 2020, the Commission continued to utilize its convening role to foster stronger partnerships with relevant stakeholders, in particular by engaging with national and local Government officials and regional and subregional organizations, including the African Union, the East African Community, the Economic Community of West African States, the Economic Community of Central African States; the European Union; the Group of Five for the Sahel; the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Mano River Union and the Pacific Islands Forum. The Commission also engaged with civil society organizations and international institutions, including the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, private sector companies and representatives of academia and think tanks. Throughout the year and during its annual session, the Commission consistently called for adequate, predictable and sustained resources for peacebuilding, which became all the more relevant in view of the exacerbated inequalities and the vulnerabilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in conflict- affected settings. In conclusion, throughout the year and in its response to COVID-19, the Commission demonstrated its value as a flexible, demand-driven platform that allows for honest discussions among partners on the challenges and risks to peace and places an emphasis on supporting countries in their inclusive and nationally owned peacebuilding priorities. Finally, I would like to thank all members of the PBC for their support and encouragement and pay tribute to the work of the Chairs of the country-specific configurations, as well as the PBC vice-Chairs. I would also like to recognize the extraordinary efforts of Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his entire team.

I now give the floor to the representative of Egypt, current Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission. Mr. Edrees (Egypt), Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission: It is indeed a pleasure and an honour to speak after my dear friend Ambassador Rae of Canada, as well as to succeed him as Chair of the important body that is the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). It is also my pleasure to address the General Assembly during its annual joint debate on the PBC and Peacebuilding Fund reports (A/75/747 and A/75/735) in my capacity as Chair of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission. Egypt assumed the PBC chairmanship in the wake of the successful conclusion of the third comprehensive review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, while the world still struggles with the destabilizing socioeconomic impacts of the coronavirus disease pandemic. Upon the assumption of my duties as Chair of the PBC, I announced that we would pursue an impact-oriented chairmanship anchored in exploring avenues leading to strengthening the PBC’s advisory, bridging and convening roles, with a particular focus on championing the need for all actors engaged in peacebuilding to prioritize impact as a result of their respective engagements in support of nationally identified peacebuilding objectives. That objective is also served by sustaining the efforts made by previous able chairmanships to further develop and streamline the Commission’s programme of work and working methods. It is also worth noting that the identical resolutions on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture adopted in 2020 by the General Assembly (resolution 75/201) and the Security Council (resolution 2558 (2020)) placed emphasis on the impact made at both Headquarters and in the field. To fulfil that goal, I have been actively engaged with the relevant stakeholders and partners to explore all possible avenues to make our collective peacebuilding efforts more effective and impactful. I am pleased to report that, in the first half of 2021, the Peacebuilding Commission further expanded and strengthened its advisory and bridging roles with the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. I wish to place on record that we made a compilation of the activities of each quarter, which has been documented and circulated to all members of the Peacebuilding Commission and is available to everyone. For the first time, the Commission provided advice to the Security Council on the Great Lakes region; to the General Assembly on causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa; and to the Economic and Social Council during the High-Level Political Forum held earlier this month. As part of the Commission’s efforts to promote partnerships, it also partnered with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and joined the Trade for Peace Network, which aims to facilitate the accession of conflict-affected countries to the WTO. Earlier this month, the Commission was briefed by the International Monetary Fund on its strategy on fragile and conflict- affected States, which is a new tool to help conflict- affected countries achieve macroeconomic stability. Moving forward, the PBC will continue to advance the following priorities. The PBC is best-positioned to mobilize support for recovery efforts from the pandemic; therefore, we aim to further enhance the PBC’s role in building back better. Ensuring adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding remains a critical challenge. The PBC will continue to play a key role in convening relevant stakeholders and generating inputs in preparation for the General Assembly’s high-level meeting on financing for peacebuilding, which is scheduled to be held during the seventy-sixth session and will contribute to advancing the PBC’s advisory role to the General Assembly. In that regard, the annual session of the PBC will focus on financing for peacebuilding. We look forward to engaging with Member States, the Secretary-General and other senior officials at that important event. It is critical to continue all efforts to advance the PBC’s advisory role to the Security Council in order to allow for the provision of timely and meaningful advice to the Council, particularly during the mandate renewal of peacekeeping operations and in support of transitions to and from different types of configurations, in accordance with the guidelines introduced by presidential statement 2017/27. The Commission will continue to promote and expand partnerships with regional and subregional organizations, as well as international financial institutions, with a view to ensuring more efficiency and coherence in peacebuilding efforts. In that regard, the United Nations-African Union (AU) peacebuilding partnership will continue to receive the requisite attention with a view to supporting the AU’s evolving efforts and ownership of its post-conflict reconstruction and development, as well as its prevention efforts. Enhancing the coherence and overall performance of the United Nations system in delivering on peacebuilding remains a priority. The PBC is well- positioned to convene the relevant actors and offer a particular platform for stocktaking in terms of the progress made in that area. The Commission will continue to advance the role of women in peacekeeping through its gender strategy, as well as the role of young people, including through the implementation of relevant action plans. The Commission will continue to further consider all tools at its disposal to advance the peacebuilding priorities of host States, including those related to institution-building at the national and local levels. In conclusion, we are committed to remaining actively engaged with the relevant stakeholders and key interlocutors to realize those objectives and build a broad-based understanding, vision and direction moving forward with a view to making the United Nations peacebuilding architecture fit for purpose. None of that would have been possible to achieve without the commitment, support and engagement of all members of the Commission and the active and fruitful efforts of the Peacebuilding Support Office, led by Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco. Our appreciation and thanks go to all those who contributed to make our work fruitful and impactful.

We appreciate the opportunity to comment on some of the issues covered in the report of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) on its work in 2020 (A/75/747). We congratulate Canada on the work of the PBC under its chairmanship. In the midst of the pandemic, the PBC continued its work remotely and continued with its agenda, in addition to spearheading inclusive and substantive consultations to develop ideas for the 2020 peacebuilding architecture review process. In that regard, we also thank Colombia for its efforts in laying the groundwork for the road map for the 2020 review, while also expressing our appreciation for Egypt’s leadership this year, as well as the consultations it held with regional groups to inform the work of the PBC and the follow-up to the 2020 review of the peacebuilding architecture. We are pleased to acknowledge that the PBC has continued to broaden the scope of its agenda since 2016 and that, in 2020, it provided support in 15 situations in specific regions and countries. For example, it held meetings on the Central Africa and Pacific islands regions for the first time and renewed its engagement in support of peacebuilding in Somalia and the Great Lakes region. We also welcome the fact that the PBC continues to increase its work on cross-cutting and thematic issues, which increased in recent years to represent 25 per cent of PBC meetings by 2020, as noted in the report. The role of the PBC is more necessary than ever. We face new and diverse challenges arising from the socioeconomic impact of the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic in countries and regions immersed in peacebuilding processes. The PBC’s consultations on the impact of the pandemic in specific contexts are proof of the value of that multilateral forum. Nevertheless, the PBC must explore new synergies with international and regional partners and national and local Governments in peacebuilding processes. The PBC must continue to develop the great potential of its mandate in relation to its bridging role in order to unite the three pillars of the United Nations. It must also utilize its convening power among Member States, Governments in situations of conflict or transition, the United Nations system, financial institutions, international organizations and other relevant actors with a view to resolving conflicts and achieving stability. The PBC is called on to play a role in resolving fragmented responses to preventive diplomacy, transitions and peacebuilding solutions. Above all, the PBC must play a renewed and much more central consultative role with the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly. In addition to the political challenges faced by the PBC, we must call attention to the need to ensure adequate, predictable and sustainable funding for the PBC and the peacebuilding architecture. We hope to find realistic and creative solutions to that issue, based on the follow- up to the 2020 review of the peacebuilding architecture. The international community hopes that the United Nations will be more effective in its efforts to prevent conflict and build peace. The historic twin resolutions — resolution 70/262 and resolution 2282 (2016) — adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council, respectively, stipulated that lasting peace, both as an objective and as a process, entails identifying the root causes of tensions and recognizing the traditional elements of social, political and economic injustice that exacerbate conflicts, so that they can be prevented or resolved and efforts towards reconciliation can begin. That is why Mexico reiterates the need to forge coordinated, comprehensive, multidimensional and cross-cutting responses within the entire United Nations system, so that we can obtain results on the ground.

I thank the President of the General Assembly for convening today’s meeting to discuss an important task for the United Nations — that of peacebuilding and sustaining peace, including the work of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). I wish to begin by expressing my deep appreciation to the former Canadian chairmanship of the PBC, under the able leadership of Ambassadors Marc-André Blanchard and Robert Rae, for having effectively navigated the PBC through the unprecedented constraints caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic. We are also thankful to this year’s PBC Chair, Ambassador Mohamed Edrees of Egypt, for guiding us under his equally able leadership. We also appreciate the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) for facilitating our work. I would like to highlight four points that Japan deems important for the PBC to further strengthen its status as the prime multilateral forum focused on peacebuilding and sustaining peace. First, the PBC should continue to leverage its unique advisory, bridging and convening roles to facilitate cooperation and coordination among key actors within and outside the United Nations system. Japan appreciates the fact that the PBC actively provided advice to the Security Council on cross-cutting regional and country issues, including with regard to mandate renewals. Secondly, we must keep in mind that the ultimate objective of our endeavour is to make post-conflict countries and conflict-prone countries stand on their own feet. That means Governments, both national and local, must be equipped to ensure human security, namely, the survival, livelihood and dignity of all individuals within their jurisdictions, leaving no one behind. To that end, we must engage all segments of society, especially women, young people and marginalized populations, in peacebuilding efforts. The PBC should continue to incorporate the perspectives of various actors on the ground. Thirdly, we must maintain focus on critical cross-cutting issues, in particular financing and institution-building, which must go hand in hand. Sound institutions are indispensable for self-reliant governance, including the efficient, effective and responsible management of financial resources. As the PBC prepares for next year’s high-level meeting on financing in the General Assembly, we may consider convening a PBC meeting to discuss the important linkage between financing and institution-building, possibly inviting representatives from international financial institutions. Fourthly, we must ensure geographical diversity in our work and share best practices and lessons learned in different regions. We saw successes to that end, for example, in engagements with Pacific island States and various subregions in Africa, as well as in meetings on cross-cutting issues. That good practice should continue. Allow me to also share Japan’s view on the PBF and how its relevance could appeal to potential applicants, as well as to the donor community, who are eager to see how much it can actually deliver and make a difference on the ground. In short, it is most important for the PBF to engage in areas where it can clearly add value, as compared to other funding tools within and outside the United Nations system. First, supporting cross-border and regional approaches are among the areas where the PBF can demonstrate its comparative advantage. For example, the PBF supported a project in the Kyrgyzstan- Tajikistan border areas, which contributed to building trust among communities and mitigating risks related to natural resources management. Japan welcomes the fact that PBF support to cross-border and regional projects increased during the past year and hopes that the best practices among them will be shared with the PBC. Secondly, it is important to fill the financial gap in transition settings. With its flexibility and unique status in monitoring conflict-prone situations, the PBF is best positioned to contribute to realizing a smooth transition and addressing the peace, humanitarian and development nexus. We encourage the PBF to explain more about the constructive role it plays in supporting transition settings, not just in financial terms but also in terms of concrete cases on the ground, with a view to attracting further support to the Fund. In that regard, we appreciate the efforts of the PBSO in providing regular monitoring and evaluation of PBF activities. We expect that the ongoing efforts to strengthen the design and learning phases of the PBF programme cycle will be shared, as appropriate, with Member States. In conclusion, we believe that the 2020 review of the peacebuilding architecture gave us an important opportunity to take stock of achievements and challenges. It also created momentum to further advance the agenda of peacebuilding and sustaining peace in the United Nations and beyond. Japan will remain fully committed to actively contributing to that important agenda.

My delegation is pleased to participate in today’s joint debate on agenda items 31, 64 and 116, given the fundamental role that peacebuilding and sustaining peace play for us as a country and for the global community of nations, under the Charter of the United Nations. We thank the President of the General Assembly for facilitating today’s very important dialogue. May I also convey our appreciation to the Secretary-General for his insightful and useful February 2021 report on the Peacebuilding Fund (A/75/735), which in part addresses my country’s ongoing peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts under the Bougainville Peace Agreement process and the new initiative in two of our provinces — Hela and Southern Highlands — as well as sustaining peace efforts in our close Melanesian neighbour, the Solomon Islands. We also note with gratitude the important and thought-provoking report of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) on its fourteenth session (A/75/747). Papua New Guinea is pleased to note the continuing progressive work of the PBC under the able leadership of the Chair, the Permanent Representative of Egypt, His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Edrees, and the respective Bureau members. We commend and thank them for their invaluable efforts in carrying out their important mandate. The succinct and forward-looking PBC annual report for 2020 — adopted by consensus — and the manner in which the PBC’s programme of work was undertaken in the face of the unprecedented coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic are, among other milestone achievements, clear testaments to those efforts. It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to the former PBC Chair and current Vice-Chair, the Permanent Representative of Canada, His Excellency Ambassador Robert Rae, and his predecessor, Ambassador Marc- André Blanchard, and the able Canadian team for their sterling and exemplary stewardship of the PBC during Canada’s chairmanship. The elevated focus on the peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts in my country and in the work of the PBC was most timely and welcomed, considering the unprecedented 2019 referendum on the future status of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Papua New Guinea benefited greatly from our interactions with the PBC over the past two years. We welcomed and embraced two PBC meetings, on 10 October 2019 and 12 May 2020, and a Pacific region meeting with the PBC on 28 July 2020, which focused on the impact of COVID-19 on peacebuilding and sustaining peace in the Pacific Islands. We are pleased to note that the PBC meetings form an integral part of the country- and region-specific engagements of the PBC annual report, and we are also in agreement with the content therein. Our continuing engagement with the PBC further strengthens the hand of national peace and security through peace by peaceful means under the Bougainville Peace Agreement process and the recent second peacebuilding initiative in two provinces of our Highlands region. The Bougainville peace process continues apace, with unbroken peace for nearly 20 years now, but with more challenging work ahead of us in the critical phase that is currently under way, following the successful Bougainville referendum held in 2019 and the democratic election of the new — and fifth — Autonomous Bougainville Government in 2020. In that context, I would like to inform the Assembly that, on 6 July 202,1 the Government of Papua New Guinea, led by my Prime Minister, Mr. James Marape, together with the representatives of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, held the second post- referendum consultation and Joint Supervisory Body meeting, during which several important decisions to move the peace process forward were agreed to and provided under a joint statement. Those decisions included, inter alia, the reaffirmation of both parties’ commitment to the Bougainville Peace Agreement; the importance of peaceful dialogue moving forward, guided by the country’s constitutional and parliamentary processes, including with respect to the outcome of the 2019 referendum; and a joint road map to guide the post- referendum process. There is clear recognition by both parties that much more work remains to be done in this critical phase, and that constructive dialogue, mutual understanding and partnership are crucial for a lasting political settlement on the future status of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and to ensure we do not relapse into further conflict. The post-referendum phase of the Bougainville peace process is now addressed through the Joint Supervisory Board, co-chaired by Prime Minister Marape and the President of the Autonomous Bougainville Government. We are pleased that the United Nations Acting Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative, Mr. Dirk Wagener, chaired the second post-referendum consultation, which was also witnessed by representatives of Australia, the European Union, India, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, the United Kingdom and the United States. We are also grateful to Japan for the grant assistance of $2.73 million in May this year to support the post-referendum economic development efforts in Bougainville, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme. In terms of the recent second peacebuilding and sustaining peace initiative in our Highlands region, it is early days yet, but we are beginning to see positive results, including peaceful dialogue among different tribal groups in conflict, community development efforts, such as local entrepreneurship, as well as on women and girls’ equality and empowerment and the role of women in conflict resolution. The importance of follow-up on the issues noted in the Secretary-General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) cannot be overstated. We therefore see merits in the recommendations in the annex to the PBC report for an informal process to follow up on the examples of good practices as a positive option for the Commission to consider. As a beneficiary of the Peacebuilding Fund since 2016, Papua New Guinea knows all too well the critical crucial role the PBF continues to play in helping my country positively and constructively further the necessary peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts through peaceful means. Papua New Guinea is pleased to be eligible once more for the PBF in July 2020. We are grateful to the Secretary-General for his endorsement, and also for the allocation of $5 million last year to support the important work related to the Bougainville post- referendum process and in our two other provinces. It could not have come at a more opportune time in the context of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the evolving capacity and resource constraints on peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts in my country. In the context of the Pacific region, the challenges posed by COVID-19 to peacebuilding and sustaining peace are also intertwined with the existential threats posed by the adverse impacts of climate change and rising sea levels. Those issues cannot be divorced from each other, but rather need to be addressed in tandem. The importance of the interlinkages and the nexus between peace, security and development cannot be taken for granted. It is from that perspective that my delegation agrees with the PBC report on the importance of the synergy between the work of the PBC and the Peacebuilding Fund, as that will not only complement and reinforce their respective mandates but also, more important, bring to bear, in a practical and meaningful way, the support PBF recipient countries need to foster peacebuilding and sustaining peace. That leads me to the crucial issue of financing for peacebuilding and sustaining peace, which remains a continuing concern, as was again highlighted by Secretary-General Guterres earlier this year at the PBF replenishment conference, at which my Prime Minister, Mr. James Marape, participated. May I reiterate my Government’s commendation and appreciation to the Secretary-General and the co-Chairs — Canada, Germany, Sierra Leone and the Sudan — for a successful conference, and also to the donors to the Fund. We once again join the appeal for financing for peacebuilding and sustaining peace. We strongly support the important leadership role of women in the women and peace and security agenda, which needs to be further encouraged and better supported, as articulated in Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). In my country, we continue to see the peace dividends of women’s engagement and leadership in the Bougainville peace process, as highlighted by the Bougainville Women’s Federation, and also in our two Highlands provinces, where the PBF is lending support. Through that lens, we are interested in the added value of the action plan devised to implement the 2016 PBC gender strategy, which the PBC report speaks to, and how that may be of use to interested parties such as my delegation. Similarly, we also recognize the important role of youth, peace and security and its effectiveness. We are encouraged by the PBC’s continuing efforts in support of youth as positive agents for peace. That is very relevant for my delegation in the context of the Bougainville peace process, as there are youths from the early periods of the crisis, known as the lost generation, who still need trauma and psychosocial support. That is an important area that remains inadequately addressed due to capacity constraints. In the context of fostering United Nations system- wide coherence, which the PBC report addresses, it is pleasing to note in Papua New Guinea that PBF support has galvanized integrated United Nations system responses around my country’s peacebuilding priorities and, more important, around proactive and enhanced engagement with my Government and other relevant parties. We therefore applaud the United Nations country team, under the exemplary leadership of the former Resident Coordinator, Mr. Gianluca Rampolla, for raising the bar to a higher level of meaningful engagement with Papua New Guinea in terms of our development priorities, including the peacebuilding and sustaining peace agenda. In conclusion, we recognize that it is foremost the responsibility of each country to take leadership and ownership of their national peace and security agenda. For Papua New Guinea, I would underscore that we are steadfastly committed to that role. Yet we are also realistic about our capacity challenges to successful peacebuilding and sustaining peace. The COVID-19 pandemic has made that much more challenging. The continued supportive partnership of the PBC, the Peacebuilding Fund and the wider United Nations system, as well as other development partners, will be vital to ensuring the dividends of peace are shared and lasting. In that spirit, may I take this opportunity to say how grateful Papua New Guinea is to our valued bilateral and multilateral development partners, including Australia, the European Union, Japan, China, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations system, for their continuing commitment and support for the Bougainville peace process and the recent initiative in two provinces in the country’s Highlands region. Last but not least, our sincere appreciation goes to the Secretariat, particularly the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, for the continuing professional support and guidance provided to my delegation and to my country.

I now give the floor to the representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer.

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union (EU). I thank you, Madam President, for having convened today’s debate on the annual report of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) (A/75/747) and on the Secretary- General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) (A/75/735). The United Nations and the EU are natural strategic partners, working together across the world in support of peace processes in order to prevent conflicts and resolve crises and to build and sustain peace. The year 2020 marked an important milestone in promoting peacebuilding and sustaining peace. With the adoption of the new resolutions on peacebuilding and sustaining peace (Security Council resolution 2558 (2020) and resolution 75/201), we confirmed the commitment to the fundamental principles that we all agreed on in 2016. That has promoted the United Nations peacebuilding architecture’s adaptation to the new types of challenges the world is facing. Issues such as climate change and environmental degradation are not going away anytime soon. We need to ensure that the United Nations is in a place to mitigate the conflicts that derive from those issues. Particular attention should be paid to how the coronavirus disease pandemic is creating new — and amplifying existing — problems such as socioeconomic divides, gender inequalities, increased insecurity for women and girls and other vulnerable groups, as well as mental health and psychosocial concerns. Progress was made during the year 2020 in the operationalization of conflict prevention throughout the United Nations system, but more is needed to meet the growing challenges. Building and sustaining peace is inextricably linked to inclusive development, resilience and respect for human rights. Peaceful and inclusive societies, good governance, the rule of law, an independent judiciary, an accountable security apparatus and a functioning public sector are the best guarantors for sustainable peace and development. In our view, sustaining peace also requires that human rights and fundamental freedoms be respected, protected and fulfilled. Our endeavours include the continued promotion of the role of women and youth in peacebuilding and sustaining peace in order to secure durable results. In that regard, we welcome the continued focus of the Peacebuilding Commission on the implementation of its own gender strategy to enhance the integration of gender perspectives in peacebuilding and sustaining peace. I turn now to the annual report of the PBC and the Secretary-General’s report on the PBF before us today. Both are comprehensive documents, illustrating the complexity of challenges in peacebuilding and financing for peacebuilding, but also the opportunities and the potential impact those activities can have in addressing situations where the PBC is engaged. We appreciate the work of the Organizational Committee and the Peacebuilding Support Office in guiding and supporting the PBC’s work, in particular by strengthening the bridging role of the PBC among the principal organs and the relevant United Nations entities, enhancing its collaboration with international financial institutions, regional organizations and the private sector and diversifying its working methods in order to enhance its efficiency and flexibility in support of peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Over the past year, the country-specific configurations have again shown to be a valuable platform for bringing together the main actors. As a member of all country-specific configurations of the PBC since their inception, the EU aims at providing the best assistance possible for their success. The Peacebuilding Fund has achieved significant results and continues to demonstrate its important catalytic role in mobilizing resources for peacebuilding. The EU and its member States have been, and remain, staunch supporters of the peacebuilding architecture. Before concluding, I would like to extend our appreciation to the Chair of the PBC, Ambassador Mohamed Edrees of Egypt, and his excellent team, whom we would like to thank for their commitment and the excellent work done.

The coronavirus disease pandemic is one of the greatest challenges facing humankind in our time. It has threatened to reverse our hard-earned development gains, disproportionately increase vulnerabilities and further exacerbate fragilities. Thailand therefore welcomes the report of the Peacebuilding Commission (A/75/747) and the Secretary-General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund (A/75/735). We are pleased to see that the peacebuilding architecture was one of the first to adapt its functions and redirect its agenda to respond immediately to the pandemic. We also commend the able leadership of Canada, as the Peacebuilding Commission Chair last year, and the continued efforts of Egypt to prioritize enhancing the impact of peacebuilding against the backdrop of emerging challenges and increasing needs. Thailand continues to stress that sustainable development, South-South cooperation and capacity- building are crucial tools for peacebuilding and conflict resolution and prevention. As we look forward to the continuing work of the Peacebuilding Commission, the Peacebuilding Fund and their coordinated peacebuilding efforts, my delegation wishes to stress the following points. First, a comprehensive political strategy across the entire peace continuum is key to successful peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Peacebuilding efforts must be built upon supporting national ownership through system-wide coherence, joint planning and assessment and partnership with all stakeholders, especially women and youth, as well as international financial institutions. Clearly identified peacebuilding and development priorities allow all partners to take part in non-linear, non-sequential and cross-cutting peace processes, based on their expertise and mandate. For our part, Thailand’s approach has been grounded on the diverse work of the Thailand International Cooperation Agency, the roles of our peacekeepers as early peacebuilders and the guidance of homegrown and locally driven development approaches, especially the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. We will continue to ensure that our peacebuilding and development partnerships respond to local needs. Secondly, in the light of existing fragilities and emerging challenges, supporting institution building is central to peacebuilding and the prevention agenda. Efficient, transparent and accountable institutions capable of responding to public needs will strengthen the social contract, and therefore increase trust in Governments to provide long-term socioeconomic resilience. In that respect, human security offers a comprehensive analytical lens that puts people at the centre of our responses. Universal health coverage, a social safety net, welfare and equitable access to coronavirus disease vaccines, among other things, place national institutions in a better position to respond to global public health challenges and humanitarian emergencies, as well as preventing such challenges and emergencies from becoming or contributing to security risks. Thirdly, sufficient peacebuilding financing remains imperative. In response to the Secretary-General’s call for a “quantum leap”, Thailand pledged $100,000 at the Peacebuilding Fund Replenishment Conference in January this year. However, it has become evident that, even though the Peacebuilding Fund has received large contributions for the 2020 to 2024 strategy, the need for the Fund to finance peacebuilding projects has grown even larger. Our task at hand is not only to diversify sources of financing for the Peacebuilding Fund and beyond, but also to ensure that such financing is peace positive, promotes equality and addresses fragilities. Thailand welcomes the efforts to explore additional financing, ensure good peacebuilding donorship and strengthen partnership with international financial institutions. We look forward to the high-level meeting on financing for peacebuilding next year. In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm my country’s commitment, as a proud member of the Economic and Social Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, to the promotion of international peace and security and to the pursuit of peacebuilding and sustaining peace.

I thank you, Madam, for availing me of the opportunity to make this statement at this very important annual debate of the General Assembly on the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). It is indeed an honour to address this meeting on behalf of the Group of African States as its Chair for this month. Please allow me to express my profound gratitude to the President of the General Assembly and to the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission for their dedication and commitment to this annual debate. My special thanks also go to Ambassador Robert Rae of Canada and his predecessor, Ambassador, Marc-André Blanchard, as well as Mr. Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support. The African Group is grateful for the excellent and very informative report of the Peacebuilding Commission (A/75/747) and the Secretary-General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) (A/75/735). On behalf of the African Group, the Gambia welcomes the annual debate between the Peacebuilding Commission and the General Assembly, which encourages States to engage with the Commission and its report. This annual exchange provides an opportune moment for States and regional groups to speak on enhancing the work of the PBC and PBF. This debate also provides an opportunity to speak to the importance of partnership with regional organizations and other stakeholders, as well as to identify practical ways to enhance synergies and complementarities among the relevant institutions of the United Nations and regional groups, in our case the African Union, with a pertinent view to promoting joint, coordinated and coherent actions in support of nationally owned peacebuilding efforts. Africa is grateful to the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund for the existing partnership, which has immensely impacted African lives in various ways across the continent. We therefore welcome the continued convening of this annual meeting of the General Assembly and the PBC with a view to deliberating on ways and means of strengthening the existing partnership between States and the PBC, as well as the PBC and regional groups. The benefits of those partnerships are vast and have the potential to grow from strength to strength, as long as we are willing to engage and collaborate with existing institutions, such as the African Development Bank, to fast-track Africa’s development and peacebuilding priorities. We are therefore encouraged by the bold steps taken by the PBF in its 2020 to 2024 strategy aimed at strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 hinges greatly on the partnership between the United Nations and the African Union to strengthen their efforts in a coordinated and coherent manner with a view to supporting prevention during- and post-conflict recovery. The hopes and aspirations of the Agenda 2063 must be attained — and shall be attained if we continue to commit and innovate ways that will lead this partnership to yield results. We must endeavour to benefit from the opportunities available to us as representatives of States during these exchanges to enhance partnership. The collaboration between the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission should take into account the endorsed Common African Position from September 2020 on the 2020 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. It would be remiss of me to conclude without paying tribute to my dear brother Mohamed Edrees, Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, for his successful term of office. His open-door policy vis-à-vis all States engaged with the PBC has led to many success stories for beneficiaries of both peacebuilding material and technical support. The projects approved by the Peacebuilding Support Office during the second quarter of 2021 were, under your leadership, officially brought to the attention of States during yesterday’s Peacebuilding Commission briefing by Assistant Secretary-General Taranco. The good news was well-received and will provide support for capacity- building in Burundi; for the work continuity of the PBF secretariat in Guatemala; for the electoral process in Haiti; for the Fund’s work continuity, including the identification of new PBF support, for Liberia; and for governance implementation and monitoring systems regarding PBF intervention programmes in new PBF support phases in the Niger, through capacity-building. We are grateful that, going forward, the PBC will continue to serve as a reliable platform for fragility, transition and prevention during conflict and post- conflict phases to discuss ideas that would preserve the gains of our peacebuilding efforts, including through meaningful support to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration in the Great Lakes region, the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the rest of Africa.

I will begin my statement by expressing my gratitude for the work led by the delegations of Canada and Egypt and for the reports submitted by the former and the current Chairs of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ambassador Rae and Ambassador Edrees, respectively. We would also like to welcome the work of the Secretariat under Mr. Oscar Fernandez- Taranco in supporting the Commission. We are at one of the most difficult stages in our history. It is therefore crucial to tackle head on the root causes that have led to the increase in conflicts and threats and have made the environment in which United Nations peacekeeping efforts operate more dangerous. The need to adopt a coordinated, coherent and integrated approach to peacebuilding and post-conflict reconciliation should be the baseline underlying the Peacebuilding Commission’s activities. In that regard, the present and the future of the PBC depend on creating a more effective and more democratic multilateralism. It is therefore essential to strengthen the multifaceted world order, which brings together all the States Members and observers of the United Nations system. To that end, as States, we all should renew our political commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, in particular the obligation not to resort to the threat or use of force in order to resolve international disputes. It is essential to promote the links among peacebuilding, human rights and sustainable development by strongly emphasizing the relationship within the work of the United Nations, since those pillars are interdependent and interrelated, requiring the promotion of a consistent approach among those pillars. We cannot talk about peacebuilding while hunger and poverty persist. Peace and security are linked to sustainable development. The implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals should be a fundamental component of peacebuilding. The political commitment to ensuring funding, technical cooperation and technology transfer is therefore also crucial. We must strengthen preventive diplomacy by emphasizing the need to prevent and avoid conflicts before they emerge. With regard to efforts for regional peace, Ecuador, committed to its humanitarian role for the protection and local integration of refugees, undertakes substantial work. Our country has the greatest number of recognized refugees in the region, with more than 70,000 individuals historically acknowledged as being in that situation up to December 2020. In addition, we currently host more than 400,000 refugees from Venezuela as a result of the migratory flows from that brotherly country, which has been experiencing a difficult economic situation. In the national context, I would also like to recall the strong commitment of Ecuador and its institutions to building a culture of peace and the role of women in defence, as demonstrated by the adoption in 2015 of a gender equality policy in the armed forces, becoming the third country in Latin America to do so. It is 16 years since the creation of the PBC in 2005, which has enabled the Organization to establish a significant body of law, built on resolutions and reports of high-level groups, the reviews of previous years of the peacebuilding architecture and reports of the Secretary-General. The identical resolution 75/201 and Security Council resolution 2558 (2020), adopted in 2020, set out a broader notion of peacebuilding and strengthen the mandate of the Commission. Its very name enables us to describe as positive the efforts made and to focus on a renewed commitment to the United Nations and its main legislative bodies in order to deal with the challenges encountered in establishing and building peace.

I thank the President for bringing us together for this valuable debate. Switzerland welcomes the annual reports (A/75/747 and A/75/735) under consideration today. I would first of all like to thank the briefers, former Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) Ambassador Robert Rae and current PBC Chair Ambassador Mohamed Edrees, not only for their briefings but also, above all, for their important work for peace throughout a very extraordinary year. The reports cover a period dominated by a pandemic that has not spared any country and has affected millions of people, including in countries supported by the PBC and those eligible for the support of the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). While the number and complexity of crises have not diminished, the consequences of the coronavirus disease pose an additional challenge to conflict prevention and to sustaining peace. The question of whether our efforts, our instruments and our approach are up to that challenge is therefore now more urgent than ever. It is encouraging to find answers to that in the two reports — clear and convincing answers that can guide us in our work. We congratulate the Commission, under the successive chairpersonships of Canada and Egypt, on having rapidly adapted its work to the new realities. The annual report demonstrates that the Commission has not only been very active but also especially played its convening role. For its part, the Fund has provided key support in the response to the pandemic. I would also particularly like to thank the Assistant Secretary-General, Mr. Oscar Fernandez- Taranco, and his entire team. Switzerland welcomes the way forward outlined in the reports. Allow me to emphasize three issues. First, strengthening synergies and coherence across the pillars of the United Nations remains relevant. In fact, it was one of the reasons for the founding of the Commission. The 2020 twin General Assembly resolution 75/201 and Security Council resolution 2558 (2020) reaffirm the centrality of sustaining peace for inclusive, nationally owned efforts, supported by consistent international engagement. The full implementation of those resolutions is essential to rendering the peace efforts of the entire United Nations system more effective and to ensuring coherent comprehensive action by the United Nations, its Member States and its partners on the ground. Secondly, the predictable and sufficient funding of all those efforts remains pivotal. In January, Switzerland therefore increased its annual contribution to the Fund up to the end of the 2020-2024 strategy. In order to maximize the Fund’s catalysing potential, innovative ways of funding and new partnerships for peacebuilding need to be explored. We must also improve how we measure the preventive impact of our investments in peace and their long-term results, as well as how we communicate those results to engage partners. Thirdly, the Commission benefits from the increasing diversity of stakeholders. It strengthened the participation of women peacebuilders and civil- society actors, while providing space for discussion on horizontal issues. The task now is to continue those efforts, including by implementing the Commission’s gender equality strategy and action plans on women and peace and security and youth and peace and security. We must also work to sustain and expand partnerships across and beyond the humanitarian, development and peace nexus. We encourage Member States and the United Nations system to use the full potential of the human rights instruments and to more systematically draw on the expertise of Geneva-based agencies and organizations in the areas of human rights, arms control, employment, health and trade. The Commission advises, convenes, builds bridges, enables dialogue and fosters partnerships to strengthen the impact on the ground. Together with the Fund, it has a crucial role to play in our efforts to build back better from the pandemic. We reaffirm our support for the Secretary-General’s reform agenda and his efforts to sustain peace and prevent violent conflicts. Switzerland will continue its commitment to peacebuilding as a member of the Organizational Committee of the Commission, as Chair of the Burundi configuration, as a donor to the Fund and as a candidate for a seat on the Security Council. I would like to conclude with special thanks to our current Chair, Ambassador Mohamed Edrees, who is about to complete his term.

The reports (A/75/747 and A/75/735) under discussion today are a solid example of the crucial role that the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) have been playing. We commend the work of the Canadian and Egyptian chairpersonships of the PBC, as well as that of the Peacebuilding Support Office, for the swift adaptations put in place to overcome the constraints presented by the pandemic — a context that makes the PBC more important than ever. Sustaining peace can be achieved only if peacebuilding is implemented in partnership with local communities, including women and young people. The PBC has been at the forefront of advancing the women and peace and security agenda and promoting the full, effective and meaningful participation of all women at all levels in peacebuilding efforts. The PBC’s gender perspective needs to filter down through the country- specific configurations and inform every aspect of peacebuilding work on the ground. The biannual experts’ meetings and the yearly meeting of the PBC on gender issues foreseen in the gender strategy would benefit, we believe, from being open to the wider membership. We appeal for increased openness to the wider membership at the PBC. We welcome the steps taken in that regard by Egypt, as the current Chair. The wider membership should be allowed to accompany and, whenever possible, participate in the PBC’s meetings. Portugal views the country-specific configurations as the best example of the implementation of the PBC mandate. Their concrete focus on the field allows a permanent feedback loop between Headquarters and the actors on the ground. It enables the promotion of local appropriation and a better integration and coordination of efforts. However, we should work at promoting a different perception of country-specific configurations, underlining their characteristic of national ownership and overcoming the idea that they are heavy structures. They are the most concrete and efficient tool of the PBC — a tool for Member States to make use of when they seek support for their peacebuilding efforts. In the specific context of transitions of United Nations presences, the action of the PBC is of critical importance. As there can be no one-size-fits-all approach to transitions, the PBC, particularly through country-specific configurations, may be the best body to develop tailor-made approaches. Transition plans and development frameworks would also benefit from a renewed focus on how the promotion of climate resilience may sustain peacebuilding efforts. The PBC can play a role in mobilizing knowledge on the interlinkages among climate change, conflict prevention and sustaining peace and in mainstreaming it across the United Nations system. In addition, a closer involvement by United Nations agencies, funds and programmes could bring added value to our discussions. We should take advantage of the PBC advisory role to the Security Council to draw greater attention to the climate and security risk interlinkages in concrete discussions on peace and security. We should also continue to develop that advisory role, as well as interaction with the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. We should ensure that peacebuilding receives adequate, predictable and sustainable funding. The PBF needs to carry out its important, successful and risk- tolerant role. In that regard, the engagement of regional and subregional organizations, international financial institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector could be further promoted. In order to ensure predictability in financing for peacebuilding, we have decided to make a multiannual pledge to the PBF until the end of this cycle. Taking into account the most recent contributions that we have made, Portugal’s accumulated contribution for the Fund will exceed $1.1 million by the end of the current cycle. In conclusion, let me reiterate that the PBC and the PBF can continue to count on Portugal’s steadfast support for their work.

Let me first express my gratitude to Ambassador Edrees, Permanent Representative of Egypt, and previous Chairs of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) for their personal commitment to efficient peacebuilding and sustaining peace in a number of countries. Let me also thank Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his entire team for their excellent work. As demonstrated by the annual reports (A/75/747 and A/75/735) and presentations today, the coronavirus disease pandemic and its indirect consequences pose vast challenges to peacebuilding and sustaining peace worldwide. It has also given us all a sober reminder of the centrality of cross-cutting approaches, a focus on the nexus and partnerships. The pandemic has thus accentuated the need for the work of both the PBC and the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), as the reports clearly show. We welcome the annual report and the focus on impact. A clear focus on impact on the ground in the reporting helps to improve the understanding of how the PBC and the PBF support nationally owned efforts to build peace and address the root causes of conflict. Looking ahead, it is essential to ensure that the work of the PBF and the PBC continues to address the most pertinent risks and challenges to sustaining peace, climate-related security risks being one such challenge. Lived realities on the ground must be reflected and fostered through partnership and access to funding for civil society actors. In that regard, a key aspect is to ensure that the gender perspective and the women and peace and security agenda are an integral focus of both the PBC and the PBF, not least in view of the ongoing pandemic. The PBC gender strategy and its recently adopted action plan are much welcomed. However, they are not an end in themselves. Rather, they are tools to be implemented and continuously followed up. In that regard, the reported increase in the PBC’s engagement with women peacebuilders is positive. Moreover, it is clear that financing for peacebuilding remains a challenge. Adequate, predictable and sustained funding will continue to be needed as we move forward, and the level of funding needs to be increased. To that end, we need to continue to broaden the donor base and ensure more cooperation and coherent approaches within and among key actors, including international financial institutions. The high-level meeting on financing for peacebuilding, to be held by the General Assembly during its seventy- sixth session, is an opportunity that should be utilized in that regard. Sweden will continue to be active through its good peacebuilding financing initiative. As we build back, better partnerships are crucial. Both the PBC and the PBF are uniquely positioned to bring together the different United Nations actors, the international financial institutions, regional and subregional organizations and civil society. In terms of the country-specific and regional issues on which the PBC and PBF engage, we need to promote even more flexibility. It is positive that the geographical scope of the PBC’s engagement has increased. More geographical diversity should be a clear ambition going forward. Regarding the PBC, the important advisory role to the Security Council cannot be stressed enough. That role should be further strengthened. The PBC’s relevant and added value should be recognized, not least in the Council’s consideration of peacekeeping operations and special political missions. We also welcome close cooperation with the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. Sweden is and will remain a steadfast supporter of the PBF and the PBC. We will continue to provide our strongest political and financial support.

I would like to begin my statement by thanking Ambassador Mohamed Edrees for his dedication and leadership as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission. I am also grateful for the two reports (A/75/747 and A/75/735) presented, which cover an extraordinary period of work under the chairpersonships of Canada and Egypt. The annual report clearly reflects the attainment of the Commission’s objectives and, as Ambassador Robert Rae mentioned, there are many accomplishments that have been achieved. I would also like to recognize his commendable work. I would like to highlight the adoption of the twin resolutions (General Assembly 75/201 and Security Council resolution 2558 (2020)) in the context of the third review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture. It is important to continue striving to ensure that the various bodies of the system work in a coordinated way so as to obtain better outcomes in the area of our expertise. There are various lessons learned, one of which is that we must work together towards common goals in order to deal with the pandemic as rapidly as possible. To that end, I echo the idea put forward by Ambassador Rae when he pointed out that the Commission was clearly a flexible platform to overcome the challenges posed to countries by the coronavirus disease in a more inclusive way. In addition, the Sustainable Development Goals, eradicating poverty, education and overcoming violent conflicts are goals that we all share. The Commission’s work must continue to seek synergies to achieve peacebuilding in the different regions of the world. Among those synergies, Columbia attaches particular importance to the coordinated work of the Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund. Columbia has benefited from the Fund. In previous years, my country appeared before the Commission to share its peacebuilding experience and, in particular, to express its thanks for the support provided by the United Nations. The message therefore still holds: the importance of coordinated support among countries that receive United Nations assistance, even within the system itself, for more effective peacebuilding. I would like to thank Mexico for its kind and generous mention of our work. We believe that the work of the Commission and the Fund go hand in hand. Mr. Oscar Fernandez-Taranco has done sterling work, and today, in honouring the independence of the Fund’s decision-taking process, I welcome the recent trend towards more and more discussions about the Fund’s activities. Finally, I would like to underscore the importance of the Commission’s work in the context of preparing for the high-level meeting of the General Assembly next year. We look forward with interest to that debate. The Assembly can count on us this year to continue strengthening the Peacebuilding Commission. Allow me to conclude, as I began, by thanking dear Ambassador Mohamed Edrees and by expressing my best wishes to him for his future endeavours. The Commission has enabled us all to understand his work and his commitment at close hand and, in my case, to be a friend for life.

At the outset, I would like to thank Ambassador Edrees of Egypt, the current Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, as well as Ambassador Rae of Canada for their able leadership. In 2020, the global situation became more vulnerable due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on societies and economies worldwide, especially for the poorest and the most vulnerable. Moreover, the pandemic not only threatens hard-won gains in development and peacebuilding but also poses the risk of re-emerging and refuelling old and new conflicts. The COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on human life and health, global humanitarian needs and the protection of human rights, all of which may affect the international community’s joint efforts in reaching the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We need to tackle discrimination and hate speech and to foster the engagement of a wide range of actors, including political and religious leaders, women and young people, in order to maintain the global community’s unified presence in responding to the pandemic. In that regard, the Kyrgyz Republic supported the adoption of several General Assembly resolutions, namely, on preventing discrimination against people, including women and children, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also became a co-sponsor of some other initiatives. In two resolutions on the review of the peacebuilding architecture (General Assembly resolution 75/201 and Security Council resolution 2558 (2020)), Member States recognized that preserving peace in a broad sense is the goal and process of building a shared vision of society based on the needs of all groups, and noted the need to increase the effectiveness of their collective efforts to preserve peace at all stages of conflict and in all its dimensions. They further stressed that the preservation of peace is essential to preventing the emergence, escalation and reoccurrence of conflicts. We welcome the presentation of the report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding and sustaining peace (A/74/976). We note with satisfaction that the recommendations and views contained therein are undoubtedly aimed at practical solutions to existing issues in the peacebuilding architecture and are the basis for further discussions by Member States. We agree that sustaining peace is a common task and responsibility of Governments and all other national stakeholders. Such work includes the framework of inclusiveness, the setting of priorities, the implementation of strategies and the management of activities to preserve peace. The Kyrgyz Republic pays great attention to further cooperation with the Peacebuilding Fund. Over the past 10 years, the Kyrgyz Republic has received substantial support for the implementation of projects from the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund. Those investments, for which we are grateful, have helped to strengthen social cohesion and expanded the country’s ability to prevent violent extremism, and more. As noted in the Secretary-General’s report (A/75/735), in Kyrgyzstan, the second peacebuilding priority plan was concluded in 2020. The plan was focused on institutional capacities at the national and local levels to prevent violent extremism, improve the penitentiary system to reduce the risk of radicalization and increase local communities’ resilience to radicalization. In addition, through an initiative implemented in 2020, young people produced the first national youth-led report in Kyrgyzstan, which outlined young people’s perception of the Government’s progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 16. We express our gratitude to the Secretary-General for the decision to continue to provide support from the Fund for projects in Kyrgyzstan for the next five years. As part of the next phase of the Peacebuilding Fund’s projects, we consider it necessary to conduct a qualitative assessment of the needs of the border areas and to focus on the socioeconomic aspect, trade, education and cultural and humanitarian cooperation. In the course of the implementation of transboundary projects, in order to avoid the occurrence of problems similar to the situation with the Kaiyrma canal, it is advisable to avoid including sensitive issues in the projects, such as the delimitation of borders and the distribution of water and land resources, and so on. In conclusion, the Government of Kyrgyzstan is ready to undertake joint efforts and work closely with the Fund, including through the United Nations office in Kyrgyzstan, for the further successful implementation of projects, which will undoubtedly contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

I would like to thank Canada, Colombia and Japan for their excellent work as Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in 2020. Special thanks go to Ambassador Bob Rae and his fantastic team for Canada’s great leadership and for navigating the Peacebuilding Commission through the challenging year 2020. I would also like to extend my very warm thanks to the outstanding team at the Peacebuilding Support Office, especially Oscar Fernandez-Taranco. I would like to especially commend the Peacebuilding Commission’s ability to adapt its modus operandi against the backdrop of the coronavirus disease outbreak, as well as the Commission’s ability to swiftly address and include the impact of the pandemic in its consideration, statements and written advice. Germany would also like to point out that we see the positive trajectory that the Peacebuilding Commission is on. We encourage the Commission to continue on that path and to address key issues for sustaining peace such as the inclusion of women, youth and civil society, climate change and transitions. On the advisory role of the Peacebuilding Commission, we encourage the Commission to remain active in its advisory role to the Security Council. That is something that we invested heavily as in as informal coordinator between the Security Council and the Commission in 2019 and 2020, for instance through informal interactive dialogues or briefing roles. We commend the Commission for a record number of written advice statements submitted to the Council in 2020. Germany also welcomes the initiative to identify informal coordinators between the PBC and the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. That, too, is a step in the right direction. On the peacebuilding architecture review, 2020 was an important year. Germany welcomes the fact that both the Security Council and the General Assembly recommitted themselves unanimously to the underlying and comprehensive concept of sustaining peace. We welcome the fact that the growing importance of the PBC as well as the importance of the women and peace and security agenda were acknowledged in the twin resolutions adopted last December (resolution 75/201 and Security Council resolution 2558 (2020)). Let me say a word on financing. It was very important that Member States, through the twin resolutions, also committed themselves to the issue of peacebuilding finance, since we know how crucial reliable, predictable and multi-year commitments to peacebuilding are. The Secretary-General’s replenishment conference for the Peacebuilding Fund in January was an important step. Germany announced a multi-year contribution for 2021-2022 of €50 million. Yet we now need to put peacebuilding financing on a more solid and reliable footing. As Member States, we now have this opportunity as we near the high-level meeting on financing to be held during the seventy- sixth session of the General Assembly this year. We welcome the Peacebuilding Commission’s leading role in that regard, and we commend the Chair for the initiative to dedicate both the PBC’s annual retreat as well as the PBC’s annual session to financing. We look forward to contributing to that process and welcome the United Nations leadership’s showing its commitment to that process at the highest level. We believe that it will be important to be creative and to look at all options on the table. In that regard, we have been strongly advocating for the further exploration of innovative financing options, for instance, of blending financing. Germany presented a study on that subject earlier this year in the PBC. We also organized, together with the Peacebuilding Support Office and Colombia, a high-level round table on innovative financing in May that brought together a wide range of actors from the private sector, international financial institutions and development finance institutions. We are currently conducting more work on the various options for innovative financing, and we hope to contribute with concrete results in the ongoing process. We invite and very much welcome others to join that important effort.

We associate ourselves with the statement delivered by the representative of the Gambia on behalf of the African Group of States. We congratulate Egypt for its able leadership of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in 2021. We also thank Canada for its statement this morning as the former Chair of the PBC. We express our support to the Peacebuilding Support Office and Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco. We commend the work of the PBC and the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) in supporting peacebuilding initiatives across the world despite the restrictions caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic. The Commission has remained flexible and adaptive in delivering on its mandate. South Africa seeks to contribute to peacebuilding and sustaining peace using our enduring experience in conflict prevention, management and resolution. We consistently underscore the importance of the national ownership of peacebuilding processes, as it provides a better guarantee of their sustainability. Mobilizing partnerships and institution-building are also key elements of success for peacebuilding. Furthermore, we view peacebuilding as part of the sustaining peace continuum that also includes conflict prevention. Indeed, successful peacebuilding efforts help to avert a relapse into conflict. That was the basis for the creation of the PBC. We appreciate the work of the PBC in support of the full implementation of the women and peace and security agenda in line with its gender strategy, including through more systematic engagement with women peacebuilders. The work of the PBC therefore directly supports the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and its successor resolutions. We note that this has also contributed to the inclusion of the gender dimensions of peacebuilding into the Commission’s analysis and written advisory opinions as well as its regular work. We also commend the Commission’s work in consideration of the youth, peace and security agenda and the implementation of resolution 2250 (2015) and subsequent resolutions. The Commission has been consistent in its calls for the inclusion of youth in all peacebuilding initiatives and processes. The PBC must continue to enhance its advisory role to the General Assembly and the Security Council. We note the progress that has been made in this area, as highlighted by the Chair in his statement this morning. In that context, we are pleased that South Africa was appointed as the first informal coordinator between the PBC and the General Assembly, and we look forward to working with all Member States in the fulfilment of that function. We must also work for improved cooperation between the PBC and the Economic and Social Council. With regard to partnerships and engagement with other stakeholders, the PBC is in a unique position to continue engaging with regional and subregional bodies such as the African Union, as well as civil society and women peacebuilders in particular. As highlighted by the Chair this morning, “the United Nations-African Union (AU) peacebuilding partnership will continue to receive the requisite attention with a view to supporting the AU’s evolving efforts and ownership of its post- conflict reconstruction and development, as well as its prevention efforts”. Engagements with local peacebuilders and peacebuilding organizations help ensure that the deliverables on peacebuilding are relevant to the societies being served. In addition, we must continue to allow Member States that are not members of the PBC to also participate in its meetings. That will engender broad ownership of the work of the PBC by all Members of the United Nations. Successful peacebuilding requires strong financial support, as the countries in need are mostly emerging from conflict with weak economic and financial bases. There are also usually high expectations by the population in such countries of a peace dividend that should improve lives and livelihoods. As the international community, we cannot be found lacking in that regard. South Africa therefore supports initiatives that would bolster the PBF and ensure the sustainability of its resources. We believe in that regard that part of the funding for the PBF should also come from United Nations assessed contributions. The PBC must furthermore continue to enhance its relations with the international financial institutions as well as regional development banks. We should also explore the role of the private sector in the financing of peacebuilding. The private sector has a stake in peacebuilding because it thrives better when countries are peaceful. South Africa is ready to work with other delegations in exploring further the role of the private sector. We look forward to the High-Level Meeting on Financing for Peacebuilding, to be held during the seventy-sixth session of the General Assembly.

At the outset, let me commend His Excellency Mohamed Edrees for his excellent work as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). Let me also express my delegation’s sincere appreciation to His Excellency Ambassador Bob Rae, Permanent Representative of Canada, for his outstanding leadership as the former Chair of the PBC during its fourteenth session, including the steering of the 2020 review of the PBC architecture. I also wish to recognize the exceptional work and contributions of Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the Peacebuilding Support Office and all the Chairs of the country-specific configurations. My delegation aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the Group of African States, and I would now deliver the following statement in my national capacity. Building and sustaining peace remains a challenging process in many conflict-affected countries. National ownership, including a long-term commitment from the Government, national stakeholders, civil society and the private sector, is key to achieving lasting peace. Likewise, effective partnerships, including regional and international cooperation, are critical to securing funding and building capacity for peacebuilding. It is in that regard that my delegation welcomes the report of the Peacebuilding Commission (A/75/747) and the Secretary-General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) (A/75/735), which highlight the immense contributions of the PBC and PBF towards a comprehensive United Nations approach to peacebuilding. On our part, Nigeria is fully committed to building sustainable peace across the world, especially in the Sahel and Lake Chad basin regions of Africa, and has been at the forefront of activities geared towards achieving that. Nigeria championed the establishment of the Multinational Joint Task Force with Benin, Cameroon, Chad and the Niger, as well as the Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit, to help countries in the region overcome security challenges, especially the threat of terrorism and armed conflict. In the light of the prolonged challenges resulting from the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, including the lack of universal access to vaccines, fragile and conflict-affected States remain exposed to the risk of seeing the reversal of the hard-won peacebuilding gains and nationally owned efforts towards building more peaceful, inclusive and responsive societies. In that context, peacebuilding assistance remains one of the most effective tools in the United Nations toolkit for providing support to such States to prevent a recurrence of conflict during the pandemic. We also reiterate the importance of the United Nations system in ensuring equitable and universal access to safe, effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and treatment by fragile and conflict-affected States, recognizing that vaccines should be treated as global public goods worldwide. In many countries, the pandemic has also exacerbated the challenges of governance, underscoring the need to strengthen institutions and rebuild trust. In a measure of support for building resilience, international partners can leverage existing synergies from local and regional agreements and frameworks to further promote national ownership. In that regard, the PBC and the country-specific configurations should continue to strengthen collaboration with existing United Nations political and peacekeeping missions to take advantage of lessons learned in order to best provide tailored support that would continue to enhance the participation of more local stakeholders, especially women and youth, in the peacebuilding process. We commend the PBC on the effective use of its convening role to engender stronger partnerships and greater cooperation with regional authorities, including the African Union and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. We are also particularly pleased by the Commission’s efforts to galvanize support for States in the Gulf of Guinea and West Africa, including Guinea- Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as its ongoing efforts towards the mobilization of funds to support the electoral process in the Gambia. We also welcome the Commission’s efforts to enhance its advisory role, noting its recent briefing to the General Assembly on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, as well as to the Security Council on peace and security in Africa. Sustaining that effort, as mandated in the twin resolutions (resolution 75/201 and Security Council resolution 2558 (2020)) of the 2020 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, will not only strengthen its relevance but also ensure that the peacebuilding agenda of the United Nations is prioritized. With regard to agenda item 116, entitled “Report of the Secretary-General on the Peacebuilding Fund” (A/75/735), my delegation commends the PBF for its central role in helping the United Nations achieve positive results in peacebuilding, particularly through its unique ability to rapidly disburse funds to countries. In the light of the growing consensus on the need to improve financing for peacebuilding, it is essential for the Fund to consider more options for ensuring adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding so as to safeguard its ability to deliver the much-needed resources for its 2020-2024 strategy. In that regard, we commend the gracious donations of all contributors to the Fund during the high-level replenishment conference. While the resources of Member States can be limited, it is important for the Fund to enhance partnerships with international financial institutions to secure additional sources of blended finance as well as help scale up responses for specific country funds in a rapid and timely manner. In conclusion, let me reiterate that it is Nigeria’s hope that the activities of the PBC and PBF continue to engender national ownership of the peacebuilding process, build relevance in its advisory role and boost funding for peacebuilding and prevention. We remain fully committed to supporting both the PBC and the PBF in order to further strengthen the consolidation of peacebuilding and sustaining peace where needed.

Let me start by expressing the United Kingdom’s enormous gratitude to Canada for its energetic chairmanship of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) during a year that challenged us all. The PBC’s many achievements in 2020 were possible only thanks to the hard work and commitment of Ambassador Rae, his predecessor and his team. Indeed, 2020 was the first year in which more non-United Nations stakeholders briefed the PBC than United Nations stakeholders. The Commission engaged a record number of women peacebuilders, Sierra Leone graduated from country configuration, and a broader array of countries, from Burkina Faso to Pacific islands, sought the PBC’s support. At 15 years old, the Peacebuilding Commission is the teen-ager of intergovernmental bodies at the United Nations, and it is heartening to see how far it has come. The United Kingdom is committed to maximizing the PBC’s impact to the benefit of the countries that choose to engage with it. The Commission has come a long way, and we are convinced there is scope to go even further. We can do more to strengthen the Commission’s engagement with the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. We can do more to play a convening role among diverse stakeholders, including United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, international financial institutions and civil society. We can do more to increase the impact that our discussions have on the ground. The United Kingdom is delighted at how Egypt has taken on the mantle of driving a more flexible, action-oriented Commission, so I thank Ambassador Edrees. With regard to the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), the United Kingdom remains among its staunchest supporters. As a top donor and co-Chair of the Group of Friends of the PBF, we are deeply committed to its work. We welcome the Fund’s increased focus on women- and youth-led peacebuilding, the UN Transitions Project and addressing cross-border challenges to peace. We welcome the PBF’s commitment to transparency and evaluations, which is fostering innovation based on critical exchange. As the long tail of the coronavirus disease threatens to increase instability, the Fund’s catalytic support will be more important than ever. This financial year, the United Kingdom contributed $14 million to the Fund, continuing a long-running history of support totalling more than $220 million since 2006. The PBF pledging conference early this year was a milestone, but the need to broaden the Fund’s donor base further is acute. Looking ahead, demonstrating sustained in-country delivery and results should be at the heart of the Fund’s work. Donor Governments need the support of members to show through data the Fund’s catalytic impact in averting conflict or its reoccurrence. Finally, let me end with a word of thanks to the Peacebuilding Support Office and to Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his team for all that they have done to facilitate our work.

I would like to begin by thanking the President of the General Assembly for having convened this joint debate on peacebuilding and sustaining peace, which is one of the issues that we believe is very significant to the work of the Organization and is therefore of compelling interest to my country. El Salvador commends the work of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) at its fourteenth session, during which, in spite of the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, it was able to carry out a substantive programme, with the highest number of meetings since its establishment. We would like to commend the Ambassador of Egypt, Mr. Mohamed Edrees, for his leadership at the helm of the Commission. My country acknowledges the work of the Commission as an important platform for the analysis of measures and initiatives aimed at mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to fulfil its mandate of building peace in the countries on its agenda. We believe also that the enhanced geographical scope is a good thing, as is the analysis of thematic and cross- cutting issues in the work of the Commission, thus maintaining the trend that was begun in 2016. That is undoubtedly a clear indicator of the important advisory role played by the Commission and of the trust placed in its work by Member States. Along those lines, I wish to underscore the heightened efforts made to support the women and peace and security agenda through the promotion of peacebuilding with a gender perspective. El Salvador believes that those efforts must continue, especially in the context of increased violence against women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. My country also echoes the recommendations of the Commission regarding the youth, peace and security agenda with respect to the need to ensure adequate financing to help empower young people so that they can fulfil their potential as positive agents of change. Turning to the promotion of consistency throughout the United Nations system, El Salvador underscores the fact that the Commission has highlighted the importance of continuing to support the peacebuilding activities of the United Nations on the ground, on the one hand ensuring the coordination of efforts and, on the other, enhancing the capacity of the system to yield tangible results. We also believe that the review of the peacebuilding architecture once again put conflict prevention at the heart of our work and once again underscored the need to address the structural causes of conflict and ensure inclusive and participatory processes. In that respect, we call for the role of the PBC to be enhanced in its advisory, bridging and convening functions to support priorities in the countries and regions on its agenda. Thus, its interrelation with other United Nations organs is not only appropriate but necessary and urgent, so as to harmonize the efforts of the United Nations system as a whole in the process of preventing conflict and building peace. In January this year, El Salvador took part in the high-level replenishment conference of the Peacebuilding Fund, with the full conviction that this is one of the most important instruments that the Organization has in its peacebuilding efforts. At that meeting, we recognized the invaluable work carried out by the United Nations to move towards a strategic peacebuilding agenda at the global level as well as the role of the Fund as an important ally of El Salvador. The context makes clear that as the world faces the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the requests of countries facing complex economic, social and security situations will only increase. That is why El Salvador believes that the efforts to ensure that the Fund has sufficient capital to deal with those issues are more important today than ever. In Central America, the Fund has been decisively supporting a project that includes Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, with the involvement of the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Development Programme. El Salvador believes that the project has yielded very significant results in providing coordinated approaches between the Governments of the three countries to address the issue of human mobility in the subregion. In El Salvador, the financial support of the Fund has made it possible to implement initiatives to help the transition of migrants returning to the country, providing them with immediate support, including psychosocial support and certification of their work skills. Recently that support allowed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement initiatives to ensure timely support to El Salvadorans in diaspora. My country has also implemented initiatives to counter violence against women through the Fund, including a range of notable forms of support provided in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We acknowledge that this kind of initiative is closely linked to the Fund’s role as a leader in peacebuilding with a gender perspective. All this will be consolidated through initiatives to build peace and uphold human rights through transitional justice, countering corruption and building transparency, which rely on the Fund’s valuable support. El Salvador therefore recognizes the importance of that body having sufficient and predictable financing to ensure that it can continue to discharge its important role in its peacebuilding efforts, with catalytic effect. My country is therefore grateful for the opportunity provided to make proposals in the context of initiatives on issues related to youth and gender perspective with regard to the Fund. Finally, I wish once again to reiterate El Salvador’s commitment to the efforts undertaken by the United Nations to build and sustain peace at the global level.

Kenya associates itself with the statement made by the representative of the Gambia on behalf of the Group of African States. I make this statement in my national capacity. I begin by congratulating and commending the current and former Chairs of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC)  — Ambassador Mohamed Edrees of Egypt and Ambassador Robert Rae of Canada, respectively  — for their able stewardship of the Commission during its fourteenth and fifteenth sessions. I also thank Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his team for their great work. The year 2020 was extraordinary, but despite the unique and challenging circumstances the PBC was able to continue with its work and manage to propose important action plans, including on the agenda strategy and youth and peacebuilding. As we heard earlier, the PBC convened a total number of 37 meetings — the most since its inception and most of them with an immediate targeted focus on the impact of the coronavirus disease pandemic on countries and regions engaging with the PBC. I also acknowledge the continued work and partnership between the Commission and the national representatives of the countries engaging with the PBC and those that are recipients of the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), as reflected in the annual reports (A/75/747 and A/75/735). The PBC annual report under consideration today captures critical peacebuilding and sustaining peace priority areas, two of which I want to focus on. The first one concerns financing. The review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, the report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding and sustaining peace (A/74/976) and the Common African Position on the United Nations peacebuilding architecture have consistently underscored the importance of adequate, predictable and sustained financing for national and local peacebuilding and sustaining peace initiatives. The Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund has continued to provide rapid and flexible funding during recovery and peacebuilding transition phases, but as the report (A/75/735) notes, the demand for critical peacebuilding financing continues to outpace the Fund’s resources. As we look forward to and beyond the General Assembly’s high-level meeting on financing for peacebuilding, scheduled for the seventy-sixth session, Kenya urges the PBC to continue capitalizing on its convening, bridging and resource-mobilization mandate to support fragile and conflict-affected countries in order to establish nationally led transition infrastructure and governance institutions that prioritize and sustain localized and domestic investments in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as environmental, social and governance benchmarks for investments. The second priority is partnerships. The annual report notes that part of the PBC’s forward-looking agenda in support of conflict-affected countries is to foster stronger partnerships with regional and subregional organizations, international financial institutions, civil society and the private sector. We note that there has been much progress in that area We also urge the PBC to enhance partnerships in health and related manufacturing sectors, as part of the peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts of building back better and building back together after the pandemic. As reflected in the Commission’s report, during the Ebola recovery years the PBC, the PBF and regional and subregional organizations came together to address the challenges exacerbated by the crisis. The peacebuilding implications of the current pandemic also call such for partnerships, including with the World Health Organization and regional centres for disease control and prevention, in order to address the gaps, inequalities, vulnerabilities and economic hardships that have implications for peacebuilding efforts, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Lastly, let me reaffirm the commitment of Kenya, as informal coordinator between the PBC and the Security Council, to strengthening the Commission’s advisory role in the Council.

I thank Ambassador Bob Rae for presenting the annual report of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) (A/75/747), and I take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to him for his leadership of the Commission in 2020 in a very challenging year. Despite the onslaught of an unprecedented global crisis, the PBC not only continued its key functions but also created a new record in the number of meetings held — 37 in one year, the most since its inception. It also successfully conducted the preparatory work for the 2020 review of the peacebuilding architecture. I would also like to take this opportunity to commend the current Chair, Ambassador Mohamed Edrees, for skilfully carrying forward the agenda and mandates of the PBC and expanding the bridging the advisory role of the PBC in exploring new avenues of cooperation. I also express our deep appreciation to Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his team for their excellent work and support. We take note of the PBC’s meaningful and consistent engagements in various countries under its consideration during the year 2020. The region-specific engagements of the PBC, based on a general as well as a thematic focus, such as in the Great Lakes region and the Pacific islands, are welcome developments. We also appreciate the greater synergy between the PBC and the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and the gradual integration of the women and peace and security agenda and the youth, peace and security agenda in the PBC’s activities. We recognize the bridging role played by the PBC among the principal organs the relevant entities of the United Nations. The joint meeting with the Economic and Social Council to discuss the socioeconomic impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in conflict-affected countries was a very welcome initiative in that regard. We also appreciate the Commission’s enhanced engagement with non-United Nations partners and stakeholders. We also welcome the PBC’s continued emphasis on reinforcing national ownership and partnership with national and local stakeholders in countries under consideration. We thank the Secretary-General for his report on the Peacebuilding Fund (A/75/735), which also highlights the synergies among the United Nations organs and entities, as described in the PBC’s annual report. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are happy to see the continuity of the PBFs investment, including new declarations of eligibility and renewals. We consider the enhanced cross-border activities with the Fund a promising idea. As a top troop-contributing country to United Nations peacekeeping, we appreciate the PBF’s investment in transition settings, which contributes to ensuring greater sustainability in terms of the positive footprint left by peacekeepers. We would like to encourage the further expansion of such investments. I should like to make a few specific points. First, the principle of national ownership should continue to remain the fundamental premise for the PBC’s work in country situations, as highlighted in the twin resolutions adopted in 2020 by the General Assembly (resolution 75/201) and the Security Council (resolution 2558 (2020) on peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Aligning the PBC’s work and the PBF’s investment with national plans and priorities will be critical in that regard. Prevention is key, and there should be additional emphasis on and provisions for national capacity-building and local institutions. Secondly, we need to address the perennial funding gaps through predictable and sustainable financing mechanisms. The high-level replenishment conference for the PBF held in January was a positive development. However, we must find permanent solutions to the problem. In that regard, we look forward to the high- level meeting on peacebuilding financing to be held at the seventy-sixth session and the prospect of a tangible outcome. Thirdly, I would like to reiterate the importance and urgency of more robustly integrating the women and peace and security agenda and the youth, peace and security agenda in the work of the PBC and the PBF. Both reports have shown progress in that regard, which we welcome. We need to continue and accelerate our work in line with the PBC’s gender strategy and youth, peace and security implementation plan to ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in peacebuilding. Fourthly, the work of the PBC must be adjusted to the new realities in conflict-affected countries, where the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated vulnerabilities. Combating the COVID-19 pandemic through global solidarity and enhanced international cooperation, including by ensuring vaccine equity, is extremely important and cannot be separated from the PBC’s work. The PBC’s engagement and the investments of the PBF will need to be aligned with national COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts as soon as possible. Lastly, we appreciate the augmented activities of the country-specific configurations. We expect enhanced advisory and convening roles for the PBC in that regard to achieve peacebuilding and sustaining peace objectives, including in the areas of the protection of civilians, institution-building and the empowerment of women and young people. Bangladesh attaches great importance to the work of the PBC, which plays a critical role in helping conflict-affected countries become self-sustaining, resilient and peaceful. We shall continue to extend out support to the PBC in fulfilling those commitments.

At the outset, let me thank the current Egyptian Chair and the former Canadian Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). Under their leadership, the Commission pursued the strengthening of its role, as recognized by the review of the peacebuilding architecture that we concluded last year. I commend the outstanding work done by Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his team. The Commission has demonstrated its true added value in its convening and advisory roles, especially with regard to regional and cross-border matters, as demonstrated recently in the Great Lakes region and by the promotion of sustainable peace in Africa. I welcome the valuable work done by the country- specific configurations and the personal commitment of their Chairs. In particular, I welcome the fact that the Central African Republic configuration advised the Security Council to renew the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic. The work of the Peacebuilding Commission on thematic issues has fully demonstrated its importance in prioritizing the role of women and young people. At the same time, it must further explore the link between climate change and conflict prevention, as well as the impact of the coronavirus disease pandemic on development and peacebuilding. Efforts must be pursued to make the Commission as operational as possible, especially with regard to its advisory role. Strengthening partnerships between the Peacebuilding Commission, especially the World Bank and regional organizations, must be an additional priority. Lastly, our work must support the complementarity and catalytic work of the Peacebuilding Fund, to which France has quadrupled its contribution this year. The General Assembly will discuss the major issue of financing the Peacebuilding Commission at its seventy-sixth session. We must also pursue our efforts to strengthen the sustainability and predictability of its funding.

China thanks Ambassador Bob Rae, Permanent Representative of Canada and Chair of the fourteenth session of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), for his presentation on the work and achievements of Commission over the past year. China will strongly support the work of the Permanent Representative of Egypt, Ambassador Mohamed Edrees, as the Chair of the fifteenth session of the PBC. Since the establishment of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, in 2006, the Peacebuilding Commission, the Peacebuilding Fund and the Peacebuilding Support Office have performed their respective duties, cooperated with each other closely and executed the mandates conferred upon them by the relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, thereby playing an important role in helping post-conflict countries to build peace. China commends the PBC for its work over the past year. At the same time, peacebuilding is a long-term, complex and arduous task, and the PBC also faces many challenges in its work. I would like to share the following observations. In order to build peace, we must adhere to the principle of national leadership and ownership. The countries concerned are the lead actors in peacebuilding. Therefore, their actual needs, development stages and priorities, as they define them, should be respected. That will enhance the relevance and effectiveness of peacebuilding efforts. We must also attach importance to supporting the countries concerned in strengthening their own capacity-building and helping them with their transformation in a timely manner so that they can advance their development on their own. In order to build peace, we must address the root causes of conflicts. Scaling up investment in development and eliminating the development deficit are the most important factors in conflict prevention and yield the best returns on peacebuilding endeavours. China encourages peacebuilding work to form synergies with regional and international organizations and financial institutions in order to increase investment in development and help post-conflict countries break free from the vicious cycle of poverty and chaos so that their people can enjoy the dividends of peace. The PBC should fully leverage its advisory role. As an entity jointly established by the General Assembly and the Security Council, the PBC has the advantage of working across political, security and development areas. In the past year, the PBC advised the Security Council on 12 occasions, including at a briefing on the challenges and opportunities related to peacebuilding in the Sahel (see S/2021/484). During its presidency of the Security Council in May, China was invited to an interactive dialogue with members of the PBC on advancing post-pandemic rebuilding and eradicating the root causes of conflict in Africa. We expect that the PBC and its country-specific configurations will further enhance communication with the General Assembly and the Security Council to jointly help the countries concerned build on the benefits of peace. Currently, the spread of the coronavirus disease pandemic has added new complications to the efforts of post-conflict countries to maintain peace and stability. We should take seriously the severe challenges posed by the pandemic to peace and development in post- conflict countries, especially African countries. We encourage the PBC and the PBF to remain committed to putting people and lives first by actively coordinating the efforts of the international community to stepping up assistance to post-conflict countries, including African countries, in terms of vaccines, anti-pandemic supplies and funds. As always, China will vigorously support and actively participate in peacebuilding work and continue to duly contribute to helping post-conflict countries achieve lasting peace and sustainable development.

We welcome this opportunity to discuss the valuable work of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). Given the tumultuous global context and ongoing institutional obstacles to upholding peace faced by other relevant United Nations bodies, the work of the PBC and the PBF could hardly be more relevant. They both play an indispensable role in the work of implementing many of the thematic agendas outlined by the Security Council. There is also an essential bridging function in situations where peacekeeping operations are discontinued or scaled down. The pandemic has considerably deepened socioeconomic vulnerabilities and exacerbated inequalities within States. Consequently, the role of both the PBC and PBF in shoring up resilience at the local and national levels has become ever-more significant. We appreciate the innovative way in which the PBC has continued to carry out its mandate. The movement towards a greater emphasis on regional efforts is welcome, as is its increased thematic work. The PBC therefore can employ flexibility in its work and be resourceful, while designing its methods of work will be more fit for purpose. It is particularly good to see innovation in developing the preventive aspects of the PBCs work. Peacebuilding is an investment in the future to create frameworks that not only promote peace but also prevent tensions in societies from emerging into violence and conflict. We would like to see that preventive aspect made more explicit, and we encourage further development of work in that direction, which we believe both the PBC and PBF have the tools to do. The Peacebuilding Commission was created many years before we agreed on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. There is a direct overlap with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which remain our blueprint for building back better from the coronavirus disease pandemic. The work of the PBC and PBF is vital to achieving SDG 16 in particular. At the same time, the achievement of SDG 16 is key to ensuring that the PBC and the PBF can fulfil their mandates. A crucial aspect of sustainable peace, as reflected in SDG 16, is reconciliation and accountability for the most serious crimes under international law. Naturally, the reports (A/75/747 and A/75/735) before us show a significant footprint, particularly of the PBF, on issues of transitional justice in various situations, such as in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia and the Sudan. Given the breadth and importance of that work  — for example, the funding of the Colombia Truth Commission as well as relevant situations, such as in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Gambia, which were discussed in the PBC report — there is a good case for holding a stand-alone thematic discussion on transitional justice, post-conflict reconciliation and accountability along the lines of other similar discussions that have been held. In doing so, the PBC would reinforce the vital part it plays in implementing and complementing the thematic agendas of the Security Council  — an important synergy that we hope will continue. On that topic, we wish to put on record our support for the increased integration of the climate-security nexus into the work of the PBC and the PBF and to highlight, as a positive example, the collaboration with low-lying island atoll nations to investigate the links between climate change and conflict and identify appropriate counter-measures. Liechtenstein also sees work to address political questions, such as self- governance in Papua New Guinea, as being highly valuable. Those questions underlie many protracted conflicts and therefore require further consideration from mediators and peacebuilders alike. Overall, we see the work of both the PBC and the PBF as fulfilling the core mandate of the United Nations to end and prevent conflict, foster sustainable peace and uphold human rights and development. Such important and valuable work deserves financial support from the United Nations as a whole through both assessed and voluntary contributions.

Let me begin by thanking Ambassadors Robert Rae of Canada and Mohamed Edrees of Egypt for the contribution of their respective delegations to the work of peacebuilding in the extremely challenging times brought forth by the pandemic. Over the course of the past year, the Peacebuilding Commission was perhaps the first United Nations body to not just rapidly shift to a virtual mode but also nimbly adjust its programme of work to serve as a demand-driven platform to discuss ways in which to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on development and peacebuilding in countries under its consideration. Furthermore, it did not let the pandemic slow it down, managing to hold a total of 37 formal meetings — the greatest number since its inception  — and engaging in support of 15 country- and region-specific contexts  — also a record  — including new regional engagements with Central Africa and the Pacific islands and renewed engagement in support of peacebuilding in countries such as Somalia and the Great Lakes region as a whole. The Commission also provided advice to the Security Council a total of 12 times in 2020, thereby attaining yet another high-water mark. During the 2020 review of the peacebuilding architecture, the Commission convened a series of thematic consultations focused on a range of issues relating to peacebuilding. We appreciate that, in a situation in which the world was reeling owing to the pandemic, many of those discussions placed particular emphasis on the need to tailor the socioeconomic responses to COVID-19 to nationally defined peacebuilding priorities, with special emphasis on community resilience, social innovation, and protecting and empowering people in vulnerable situations. As we commemorated the twentieth anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), the Commission also increased its efforts in support of the women and peace and security agenda, in line with the commitments set out in its new gender strategy. Peacebuilding rests precisely on the foundation of a gender strategy, especially in post-conflict situations. In short, the Commission used its convening role to support greater coordination and coherence across the United Nations system in conflict-affected settings. My delegation would like to recognize the contribution of Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his entire team and pay tribute to the work of the Chairs and the Vice-Chairs of the various country-specific configurations. As a democracy, India is conscious of the need to prioritize institution-building, in particular governance structures, in order to strengthen institutional capacity and the rule of law, while taking into account the views of the host Government. Consequently, those need to be the building blocks on which peacebuilding should rest. India, through its extensive development partnership with developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, has always played a constructive and significant role in the context of peacebuilding. I would also take this opportunity to touch on the India-United Nations Development Partnership Fund, which was established in 2017. In the short span of four years, the Fund has developed a portfolio of 64 development projects in partnership with 48 developing countries, including 17 countries in Africa, focusing on South-led, demand-driven development and transformational projects. Through those funds, it has been our endeavour to focus on, inter alia, climate resilience, environmental sustainability, gender equality, renewable energy, improving maternal health, water and sanitation, education, employment, livelihoods, disaster recovery, risk management, agricultural development and infrastructure. India has assisted, and continues to assist, countries bilaterally in post-conflict situations by providing substantial grants and soft loans. In the sphere of training, for example, for countries emerging out of conflict situations in Africa, our focused training in areas of electoral administration and good governance, among others, has been deeply valued by those countries. In our neighbourhood  — for instance, in Afghanistan — India is also contributing to peacebuilding efforts. Our development partnership includes more than 550 community development projects covering all 34 provinces of the country and is aimed at strengthening Afghanistan. We appreciate that, as part of its 2020 to 2024 strategy, the Peacebuilding Fund has put forth a comprehensive scenario covering a horizon of five years. However, in the middle of the pandemic, as funds are increasingly being programmed away to humanitarian assistance other than peacebuilding activities, it is necessary to reaffirm our commitment and efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals so as not to falter in the context of COVID-19. We need to consequently prioritize our focus on the specific aspects of peacebuilding that will have the highest impact in post-conflict situations so that the funds are optimally utilized. As a token of its engagement, at the high-level replenishment conference convened by the Secretary General in January, India announced a fresh pledge of $150,000 to the Fund’s activities and programmes planned for this year. In conclusion, India has always been known for its unflinching commitment to peacekeeping. We are convinced that nation-building activities will be strengthened even more if the road ahead includes strong support for peacebuilding as well.

Let me begin by thanking the President of the General Assembly and the current and previous Chairs of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) for their leadership and invaluable contributions to this joint debate. Despite the many challenges of 2020, the fourteenth session marked another important year for the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). Last year afforded us an opportunity to shape the kind of peacebuilding architecture that will be relevant and effective, of course, in the interest of member States. As one of the co-facilitators for the 2020 review of the peacebuilding architecture, my delegation commends the constructive engagement and support of the Commission, together with the Peacebuilding Support Office, as well as all member States. The 2020 twin resolutions (resolution 75/201 and Security Council resolution 2558 (2020)) on the review have strengthened the foundation to help guide our work moving forward on this important agenda. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines wishes to emphasize that peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding must all be pursued in complementarity, as part of a peace and security, development and humanitarian continuum. As the saying goes, there can be no peace without development and no development without peace. Both are intertwined and neither can flourish without the other. Furthermore, we encourage coherence and complementarity across the development, peace and security and human rights nexus. Operationalizing that nexus requires enhanced cooperation between the Security Council and the other main organs of the United Nations system, such as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. The Commission’s advisory and bridging roles with the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council remain crucial in sharing advice on peacebuilding priorities and enhancing coherence among principal organs. We underscore the need for a strengthened institutional relationship between the PBC and the Security Council, relative of the value of a more integrated approach to peacekeeping, peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Moreover, we applaud the mobilizing powers and the continued efforts of the Commission in bringing together all relevant parties to share best practices and lessons, address challenges and acquire resources. Notwithstanding, there is still need for greater coherence and collaboration with the entire system — international financial institutions and regional, subregional and international partners. That remains fundamental to greater success. The critical financial support offered by the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund is an essential tool but remains significantly underfunded. We need to ensure adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding in order to make progress in sustaining the peace agenda. We also look forward to the high- level meeting during the seventy-sixth session of the General Assembly on ensuring adequate financing for peacebuilding. It is imperative that the Commission continue to deepen substantive discussions on the critical components of peacebuilding and sustaining peace, such as institution-building and financing for peacebuilding, and ensuring the promotion of the youth, peace and security and the women and peace and security agendas, which are vital factors in development progress. Before I conclude, I must emphasize that we must not be selective in our efforts to advance the peacebuilding and sustaining peace agenda. As such, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines calls on member States to support efforts aimed at exploring all possible effective and useful channels that align with the peace and development priorities of countries, as traditional financing is proving insufficient to satisfy needs. We must intensify our collective efforts in addressing all issues that undermine sustainable peace and development progress in the short, medium and longer term. Finally, allow me to commend the contribution of Ambassador Edrees not only to the PBC but, more broadly, to our work here in New York during his tenure at the United Nations. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours. We will miss him but peace profound to our brother.

We appreciate the holding of today’s event. We thank the former Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), Ambassador Edrees of Egypt, and Ambassador Robert Rae of Canada for their comprehensive briefings and energetic efforts in guiding the work of the Commission. United Nations peacebuilding is one of the most effective instruments in the Organization’s arsenal. It assists States in overcoming the consequences of conflict and in preventing their recurrence. For more than a decade, the Peacebuilding Commission has played an important role in such efforts. It is both an intergovernmental advisory body and a bridging platform where stakeholders can consider the views of a broad spectrum of interested parties on vital issues. The trend to extend its geographical coverage reaffirms the effectiveness of the work of the Commission and its potential. In addition to its country configurations on Burundi, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, the Central African Republic and Sierra Leone, for the first time the Commission held meetings on the Central Africa region and the Pacific islands. It also resumed its activities in support of peacebuilding in Somalia and the Great Lakes region. We must underscore that last year was extremely difficult for the PBC, which nevertheless demonstrated its relevance in promoting and implementing peacebuilding objectives in spite of the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its negative impact on the implementation of peacekeeping processes. It is important to emphasize that at the centre of the work of the Commission and processes of all kinds in the areas of building and sustaining peace, we inevitably find comprehensive respect for the sovereignty of the host country and for honouring its priorities. Our experience has demonstrated that international assistance in the area of peacebuilding is most effective when it is based on the principle of national ownership, whereby Governments, taking into account the needs of society, determine and carry out the most important tasks and strategies in peacebuilding. In that connection, it is extremely important that the PBC operate clearly within the framework of its mandate while supplementing the work of other intergovernmental bodies. The numerous programmes established to assist States in the area of peacebuilding and sustaining peace require cooperation in efforts and the proper division of labour. Only collective and targeted activities that do not give rise to a conflict of competence can achieve the desired result. It is important not just to take into account that interrelationship but also to have a clear understanding of the differences among the processes and which body in the United Nations structure bears responsibility for each of the areas addressed. The PBC shows potential for qualitative improvement in the advisory services offered by that body to the Security Council on the issues that appear on the agendas of both entities. We are convinced that the value of the Commission lies in the fact that it can convey the peacebuilding priorities of the host country to the Council. A comprehensive approach that takes into account the priorities of the host country’s Government, the views and aspirations of civil society and an assessment of the representatives of the United Nations system and other national and international stakeholders would be an extremely useful addition to the reports of the Secretary- General. That could be necessary in the concluding transition phase of peacekeeping operations. The added value and relevance of the recommendations of the Peacebuilding Commission have decisive significance when it comes to their possible consideration in the work of the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. The Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has proved to be a reliable instrument in the timely and targeted funding of activities. The prompt response of the PBF to new social challenges and security problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its undesirable consequences and restrictions, as well as its ability to continue providing support for the development and implementation of programmes, even in difficult circumstances, demonstrates the Fund’s ability to adapt. That merits the trust of partners and can make a major contribution to the establishment of peace processes and to support for sustainable development, even at the height of crises. Many basic PBF projects are designed to support national reconciliation, stimulate political dialogue, implement social programmes and strengthen State institutions. In that connection, any international support through the Fund should be fully in accordance with strategies and priorities, as defined at the national level. We advocate the continuation of the Fund’s efforts to strengthen interaction with the PBC. We believe that it is important to enhance the level of coordination and complementarity between the PBC and the PBF, which will help eliminate fragmentation in peacebuilding assistance; enable us to avoid any duplication of effort; and make the Fund’s activities more transparent. We are convinced that the transparent and accountable application of funds would have a positive influence on issues related to the funding of peacekeeping projects. Ultimately, the primary goal of the United Nations in the area of peacebuilding and sustaining peace is to help States exert their own potential so that in future they can manage without international assistance and themselves be able to help others in need.

I thank the President of the General Assembly for convening us for today’s important joint debate. I would like to commend the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), His Excellency Ambassador Mohamed Edrees, for his statement and his contribution to the work of the Commission. I also appreciate Canada for its work as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission in 2020. The report before us (A/75/747) highlights the PBC’s growing region-specific engagements. For the first time, for example, the Commission has held meetings on Central Africa and the Pacific islands. That is a sign of increasing trust and of the Commission’s ability to complement national peacebuilding efforts. It also indicates the PBC’s greater focus on leveraging the regional dimensions of peacebuilding and sustaining peace. That approach has rightly placed regional organizations and subregional groups at the heart of the peacebuilding debate. We are confident that regional peacebuilding, with its emphasis on cross-border networks, trade and cooperation, will accelerate the progress towards durable peace and stability in war- affected countries. Pakistan has seen at first-hand the outcome of the work undertaken by the PBC, both as a member of the Commission and as one of the top troop-contributing countries that are part of peacebuilding endeavours. That experience confirms our belief that strengthening the peacebuilding architecture and advancing the peacebuilding agenda are not just important, but imperative for sustainable peace. The 2020 report of the PBC encouragingly commits to exploring opportunities to strengthen the advisory role of the Peacebuilding Commission. We appreciate that commitment and look forward to its realization, particularly in the context of the PBC’s relationship with the Security Council. The PBC’s diverse membership gives it a unique vantage point to offer practical, realistic and nationally owned advice to Council members. Similarly, the Commission’s convening role provides leverage to bring together a wide array of partners, including the United Nations, regional entities, international financial institutions and the core countries of the region. It is quite obvious that that convening power allows the PBC to generate a vast reservoir of critical information. Such information could be used by the Council to introduce meaningful peacebuilding initiatives, which, in several cases, are required early in the life of peacekeeping missions. Complementing security mandates with peacebuilding missions is key to achieving sustainable peace and development in conflict-prone countries. Pakistan also commends the Commission’s continued efforts to support national reconciliation processes. Well defined comprehensive reconciliation and conflict prevention strategies could accelerate transitions and consolidate peace. Such strategies should aim at offering dividends of peace to all citizens, with a focus on promoting a more equitable distribution of national resources. We believe that an inclusive peace process should be at the centre of the PBC’s women and peace and security, and youth and peace and security agendas. The 2020 review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture underlines the vital importance of adequate predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding. In these challenging times, our success will depend on mitigating the impact of the pandemic and recommitting to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As the Secretary-General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund (A/75/735) points out, the demand for PBF contributions has significantly outpaced its resources. To overcome that deficit, contributions to the Fund should be enlarged by traditional donors. We should also explore and pursue the objective of broadening contributions from countries, foundations and charitable organizations, which are presently not among PBF donors. At the same time, while traditional sources of funding are constrained, finding innovative ways to finance national peacebuilding needs may hold the key to expanding the role of the PBF. For example, there may be specific projects in post-conflict and fragile countries, which could prove to be financially viable and produce a return on investment. For such projects, the model of blended finance could be a viable option. The grant element of such products could be generated by the allocation of a percentage of the peacekeeping budget for financing the early stages of projects, especially towards the end of a peacekeeping mission. Similarly, Member States could consider implementing the Secretary-General’s proposal, calling on donors to spend 20 per cent of official development assistance on peacebuilding priorities in conflict- affected countries. As we map the possible funding opportunities, it is vital to make a distinction between short-term and long-term peacebuilding needs. For example, there are short-term urgent projects that the United Nations development agencies and the multilateral development banks are ill equipped to address. That gap can be filled by the Peacebuilding Fund, given its niche in supporting quick-impact short-term projects, such as those for the provision of food supplies, water and emergency health care. For the long-term projects, such as rule of law, institution-building, security sector reform and private sector development, extended support could be sought from international financial institutions. There are also medium-term projects, such as disarmament demobilization and reintegration programmes, which could be jump-started with PBF funding and continue to advance with concessional financing from the international financial institutions. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that all peacebuilding investments should be centred on the core principle of national ownership. Sustainable peace within nations cannot be imposed externally; it has to evolve from within countries. International peacebuilding succeeds only when it connects with local and community-level efforts.