9 June 2016: In a briefing to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed the UN’s reviews on peace operations and peacebuilding as well as UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. He said the three reviews represent a roadmap towards a more peaceful future, supported by a multilateral peace and security architecture that is fit for purpose. Ban also launched requests to UN Member States with regard to each review.
The briefing took place on 9 June 2016, in New York, US, convened by UNGA President Mogens Lykketoft, with reference to the conclusions and observations of the High-Level Thematic Debate, titled ‘A World of Risks, A New Commitment for Peace,’ which took place on 10-11 May 2016.
Ban noted that the reviews call for: more effective conflict prevention, stronger partnerships, more predictable financing, and greater participation of women and youth. Ban further highlighted that success demands a strong sense of shared responsibility among Member States and between Member States and the Secretariat.
On peace operations, Ban said they must: be flexible; be tailored to prevailing conditions; and benefit from a comprehensive understanding of the operating environment. He stressed the need for: improving system-wide planning and analysis by drawing on expertise across the UN to inform recommendations to the Security Council; acting decisively to stop the crime of sexual exploitation and abuse and assisting victims; and ending impunity and ensuring accountability. He called on Member States to: pledge new units and deploy them; furnish high-quality personnel for their operations, especially more female and Francophone peacekeepers; and do their part in fulfilling the shared responsibility of ending sexual exploitation and abuse.
On peacebuilding, he noted that the UN is already strengthening collaboration with partners such as the African Union (AU) and the World Bank, and that the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) has broadened its scope and will jointly meet with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and soon adopt a gender policy. Ban encouraged Member States to strengthen the Commission’s advisory role to the Security Council, to reflect the growing consensus on preventing conflict and sustaining peace.
On women, peace and security, the Secretary-General said: the Security Council established an Informal Experts Group on women, peace and security that has already met to discuss Iraq and Mali; the UN established the Global Acceleration Instrument to channel resources to civil society actors working on women, peace and security issues; and the Peacebuilding Fund is the first entity to reach the target of 15% allocation for projects focusing principally on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Ban launched three requests to Member States: help end fragmentation, including by backing politically the mandates of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Human Rights Up Front initiative and the World Humanitarian Summit’s Commitment to Action, which aim for comprehensive approaches and for ministries to be united in purpose; focus on prevention, by putting conflict prevention at the heart of the UN’s work; and provide the UN Secretariat, the Peacebuilding Fund, and the UN’s women, peace and security activities with the necessary funding.
Other participants in the briefing included: Jeffrey Feltman, Department of Political Affairs (DPA); Oscar Fernández-Taranco, Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO); Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women; Catherine Pollard, Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM); Atul Khare, Department of Field Support (DFS); and Dmitry Titov, Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). [UN Secretary-General’s Statement] [Letter of UNGA President Convening Briefing] [Conclusions and Observations of High-Level Thematic Debate ‘A World of Risks, A New Commitment for Peace’] [UN Media Record]