S/PV.7976 Security Council

In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite His Excellency Mr. Cho Tae-yul, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea and Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, and His Excellency Mr. Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya and former Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2017/76, which contains the report of the Peacebuilding Commission on its tenth session. I now give the floor to Mr. Cho Tae-yul.

I would first like to congratulate Ambassador Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya, on the strong leadership and commitment with which he successfully chaired the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) last year, working tirelessly to lay the ground for a stronger, more effective and more relevant body. The Commission made important progress in 2016 in implementing the various resolutions adopted regarding the review of the peacebuilding architecture. This year we are building on those achievements as the PBC continues to promote an integrated, strategic and coherent approach to peacebuilding and sustaining peace. In response to the Security Council’s January presidential statement (S/PRST/2017/2) emphasizing the importance of the PBC’s role in convening peacebuilding efforts, the Commission has been making an effort to use its convening role, in collaboration with the United Nations Office in West Africa and the Sahel, to mobilize a greater commitment and partnership between the United Nations, the countries of the Sahel and other international and regional partners with a view to advancing the implementation of the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel. On 6 March, I convened a PBC meeting in which we were briefed by Mr. Pierre Buyoya, former President of Burundi and African Union High Representative for Mali and the Sahel; Mr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel; Mr. Najim Elhadj Mohamed, Permanent Secretary of the Group of Five for the Sahel (G-5 Sahel); and Mr. Angel Losada, European Union Special Representative for the Sahel. Representatives of the countries of the G-5 Sahel also participated in the meeting. In addition, in my capacity as Chair of the PBC, together with the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding, I also attended last week’s meeting of the Ministerial Coordination Platform for the Sahel in N’Djamena. The meeting enabled me to identify opportunities for the PBC to support, on request, the efforts of the countries of the Sahel to achieve development and stability. I look forward to discussing that in more detail at the informal interactive dialogue to be held later this morning. The resolutions that I just mentioned called for the PBC to consider reviewing its working methods so as to enhance efficiency and flexibility in support of peacebuilding and sustaining peace. In that regard, in accordance with its mandate and upon request from the relevant States, the Commission continues its consideration of country- and region-specific situations. At the request of the Gambian Government, the Commission convened a meeting to discuss the peacebuilding priorities of The Gambia, following my visit to the country last March. The meeting was preceded by developments on the ground and important regional initiatives in support of the political situation in The Gambia, strongly supported by the Secretary-General. At the PBC meeting, the Permanent Representative of The Gambia provided a direct account from the perspective of the Government, while the Commission provided a platform to discuss international and regional support. On 7 June, the PBC also convened a meeting on the situation of the Solomon Islands, upon the request of its Prime Minister, who presented the key peacebuilding challenges facing his country at this crucial time, as the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands is expected to withdraw from the country this month. The Commission not only benefited from the direct engagement by the Prime Minister, but also heard from a representative of the Young Women’s Parliamentary Group and key regional partners of the Solomon Islands, including the members of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It was an excellent opportunity for the Commission to demonstrate its unique value as a partnership forum for countries to engage with the international community in connection with challenges involved in peacebuilding and sustaining peace. However, a number of priorities remained for the Commission during its eleventh session, upon which I will elaborate briefly. First, concerning the matter of partnerships, partnerships and cooperation with relevant stakeholders, both within and outside the United Nations, are crucial. The Commission should examine all available opportunities so as to strengthen its collaboration with international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank, as well as with regional and subregional organizations, such as the African Union (AU). Earlier this month, together with the group of ambassadors from the PBC, I met with the President of the World Bank in Washington D.C., a number of executive directors and several other senior officials. We discussed ways to strengthen the partnership between the PBC and the Bank in support of conflict-affected countries that are on the agenda of both the United Nations and the World Bank. That discussion will continue at the PBC’s annual session on 30 June on the partnership for financing for peacebuilding, at which Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank Group, has agreed to attend along with Secretary-General António Guterres. In connection with the African Union, I intend to follow up on the work of my predecessor and visit AU headquarters during the latter part of this year so as to strengthen collaboration with the African Union, especially its Peace and Security Council. Within the United Nations, as well, we need to further explore ways to improve the quality of the advice that we provide to the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. In recent months, the Security Council called on the PBC to advise on a number of regional and country- specific issues, including the Sahel region, the Central African Republic, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau. Those are opportunities for the Commission to prove that, through its convening role, it can provide solid and comprehensive advice upon request from the principal organs of the United Nations. In line with the aforementioned presidential statement on the Sahel, the PBC intends to propose a joint meeting with the Economic and Social Council on the Sahel region on 28 June to look at ways to address the development challenges in the region, the outcome of which we will be ready to report to the Security Council upon request. Secondly, with regard to coherence, the resolutions on the review of the peacebuilding architecture recognize the importance for the Commission to promote an integrated, strategic and coherent approach to peacebuilding and bring sustained international attention to sustaining peace. During the past several years, the PBC has demonstrated that, by bringing together various parts of the United Nations system in one forum, it can induce better integrated and coherent work in the countries concerned. Through discussing country-specific and regional peacebuilding issues with senior representatives of related departments, the PBC has an opportunity to reinforce that message and enhance the United Nations coherent approach to peacebuilding and sustaining peace. I am committed to use the remainder of the current session to work in that direction so as to engage relevant United Nations actors and explore ways to work better together. Thirdly, concerning the issue of gender, in 2016, the Commission adopted its gender strategy, which is now being integrated into the work of the PBC. The Commission will continue to build on past achievements to promote the gender dimension of peacebuilding and provide opportunities for the increased participation of women in peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Fourthly, and finally, with regard to transparency, efficiency and flexibility, the Commission will continue to consider ways to respond in a rapid and effective manner to requests for advice and support, including through newly established focal points on gender, youth, institution-building, financing and national ownership. The PBC is an intergovernmental advisory body to the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. Its relevance depends upon its capacity to provide the kind of advice that can enrich the deliberations of its parent bodies. The PBC remains committed to providing that kind of advice by fully utilizing its convening role and diverse membership, while recognizing that peace, development and human rights are closely linked and mutually reinforcing. We Stand ready to respond to requests to contribute to building and searching for peace.

I thank Mr. Cho Tae-yul for the information that he has provided to the Council. I now give the floor to Ambassador Kamau.

I am pleased to be here today to present the annual report (S/2017/76) of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) on its tenth session. I congratulate you, Sir, for your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council, and commend you for the manner in which you have conducted its affairs. I should like to commend the representative of the Republic of Korea, as Chair of the PBC at its eleventh session, for his leadership, and all the PBC members, including members of the Council, for their continued commitment to the work of the Commission. I also wish to thank you, Mr. President, for your decision, to convene the annual informal interactive dialogue between members of the Security Council and the PBC immediately after this briefing this morning. We look forward to that informal exchange as an opportunity to further enhance the advisory role of the Commission to the Council. I will now turn to the presentation of the Commission’s annual report on its tenth session. The year 2016 was an important one for the Peacebuilding Commission, marked by the adoption of the resolutions on the review of the peacebuilding architecture and several activities that the Commission undertook to implement those resolutions. In April 2016, the General Assembly and the Security Council not only reaffirmed the relevance of the Peacebuilding Commission as an intergovernmental advisory body, but also stressed the Commission’s importance in promoting an integrated, strategic and coherent approach to peacebuilding and bringing sustained international attention to sustaining peace, thereby serving as a bridge among the principal organs and a platform to bring together United Nations States Members and a broad range of partners who are interested in peacebuilding. I should like to direct the attention of the Security Council to the following points. First, during the period covered by the report, the Commission diversified its engagement and expressed its ability to be flexible in response to requests by Member States. It convened a range of country-specific, regional and thematic discussions. The Commission’s consideration of peacebuilding opportunities and challenges after the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa was well informed by a visit by the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission to the region, which explored the subregional peacebuilding opportunities and challenges. Throughout that time, the Commission provided an important platform to address requests of Member States to discuss cross-border and subregional challenges and, at the same time, to improve coherence among various stakeholders. The Commission also benefited from expert briefings from the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the United Nations Development Programme, thereby providing evidence of a further step forward in the Commission’s efforts to enhance a coherent approach to peacebuilding across the system. Secondly, the value of the Peacebuilding Commission lies in its ability to fully utilize its diverse membership to reinforce its bridging role among the principal organs and entities of the United Nations. We all agree that development, peace and security, and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, while acknowledging that development itself cannot guarantee peace, like peace alone cannot guarantee sustainable development. That is why we worked with the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council to discusss possible synergies among peacebuilding, sustaining peace and sustainable development. When requested, we provided advice to the Security Council in a holistic manner — for example, in the case of Liberia and Guinea-Bissau Thirdly, throughout the tenth session, the Commission also made important progress in building stronger relations with key partners, including international financial institutions, regional and subregional organizations and other bodies within the United Nations system. The Chair engaged the African Union Peace and Security Council on issues of mutual interest and potential areas of future cooperation with the Commission, as required in the twin resolutions — General Assembly resolutions 70/262 and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016). I urge the Commission to continue in that direction and to look for opportunities to strengthen its collaboration with Member States, civil society organizations and, where relevant, private sector actors. Fourthly, peacebuilding efforts require predictable and sustained resources. In that connection, in 2016, the Commission continued its efforts to strengthen the synergies with the Peacebuilding Fund. During the tenth session, we had several opportunities to build those synergies. The meeting on financing for peacebuilding in Kyrgyzstan, in October 2016, is only one example of how the Commission can provide a platform to the Peacebuilding Fund recipient countries to discuss the impact of the Fund in support of national peacebuilding efforts. I hope that Kyrgyzstan will be followed by other countries in actively seeking engagement with the Peacebuilding Fund as a platform to share their peacebuilding experiences and success stories. Fifthly, the General Assembly and the Security Council encouraged the Peacebuilding Commission to consider diversifying its working methods to enhance its efficiency and flexibility. Following the adoption of the resolutions of April 2016, the Commission conducted a review of its rules of procedure and working methods with a view to, inter alia, examining possible forms of engagement by the Commission and enhancing its advisory role, including by aligning its work to relevant Security Council meetings. Beyond those five points, there is a lot more that the Commission did in 2016 to support peacebuilding and sustaining peace, including through its country- specific activities, as indicated in the annual report (S/2017/76). I am confident that, under the capable chairpersonship of the Republic of Korea, the Peacebuilding Commission will continue to evolve into an even more dynamic and important platform for the membership to engage on challenges and opportunities for building and sustaining peace. In conclusion, allow me to thank Assistant Secretary-General Fernandez-Taranco and his entire team at the Peacebuilding Support Office for their support throughout the tenth session and their dedication to peacebuilding and sustaining peace. I would also like to wish my Ambassador Cho Tae-yul every success as Chair in 2017.

I thank Mr. Kamau for his briefing and for the work he has carried out. I shall now give the floor to the members of the Security Council who wish to make statements.

First and foremost, Uruguay would like to express its solidarity with the Governments of Colombia, Mali and the United Kingdom in the light of the attacks that have taken place in those countries recently. We extend our deepest condolences to the relatives of the victims. I thank the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ambassador Cho Tae-yul, and the former Vice-Chair and former Chair of the Commission, Ambassador Macharia Kamau, for their informative briefings and the work they do in leading the Peacebuilding Commission. Since the Security Council and the General Assembly adopted substantially identical resolutions on peacebuilding — resolution 2282 (2016) and resolution 70/262, respectively — the Peacebuilding Commission has been revitalized and has made progress in implementing its goals and considering many situations that go beyond those within the purview of the country- specific configurations. In January, the Security Council acknowledged the cooperation between the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel and the Peacebuilding Commission and underscored the importance of the work of the Commission in consolidating peace in West Africa and in encouraging deeper commitment and strengthening partnership among the countries of the Sahel and other partners in order to promote the implementation and adaptation of the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel. The conflicts that have been witnessed in the Sahel countries and in the Lake Chad basin are exacerbated by a number of contributing factors, such as the spread of the terrorist threat, the scarcity of State authority, the humanitarian and food crises, and the effects of change climate, among others. Against that backdrop, we pay tribute to national, regional and international efforts aimed at relieving the situation and providing financing to the Sahel region and the Lake Chad basin. Both the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad basin and the initiative to establish the Group of Five for the Sahel are clear examples of coordinated regional efforts that have played key roles in responding to situations of this nature, which have transboundary elements and affect entire regions. We believe that the work of the Peacebuilding Commission lends a holistic and comprehensive vision to the challenges presented by both regions. The Peacebuilding Commission, as a coordinator of all efforts under way, will undoubtedly strengthen the cooperation of all parties, including that among the bodies and agencies of the United Nations; regional and subregional organizations, such as the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States; as well as cooperation among international financial institutions and donor countries. Such coordination is vital if we are to approach these situations in a comprehensive and inclusive way that addresses peacekeeping and security concerns, humanitarian assistance and development cooperation. In that connection, Uruguay believes that closer contact and interaction between the Peacebuilding Commission and the Security Council is a priority. To that end, we underscore the usefulness of interactive meetings, such as the one scheduled today, and the need for more frequent contact between both bodies. In conclusion, I would like to congratulate the Peacebuilding Commission for including a gender perspective in its work, as it is clear that women are key actors in both preventing and resolving conflicts and they have a key role to play in the recovery of societies and in the processes of building sustainable peace.