17 November 2015: The UN Security Council held a debate on security, development and the root causes of conflict, in which the Members of the Council discussed links with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the report of the Secretary-General on the UN and conflict prevention (S/2015/730). UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that counter-terrorism must tackle such root causes as: bad governance; injustice; exclusion; inequality; mismanagement of natural resources; corruption; oppression; and the frustration and alienation that accompany a lack of jobs and opportunities.

The meeting of the Security Council took place on 17 November 2015, in New York, US.

Ban reminded participants that the 2005 World Summit outcome stipulates that “development, peace and security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing,” while the 2030 Agenda builds on that understanding by taking an integrated approach, and by including Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on achieving peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice and building accountable institutions. “Yet,” he stressed, “we are not yet properly integrating UN action across the inter-dependent pillars of our work: peace, development and human rights.”

Ban underlined four key needs: the need to focus greater energy on prevention, which demands both concerted use of preventive diplomacy and making the 2030 Agenda a bigger part of UN’s strategies, as well-targeted development assistance can help to address risk factors such as inequality and marginalization; a sharper focus on human rights, asking Member States to more fully embrace ‘Human Rights up Front;’ the need to strengthen coherence among all actors, as the 2030 Agenda will require moving from silos to partnerships and the UN system must pool its strengths to bring strong analysis to the Security Council and the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), which was set up in 2005 to address challenges around bridging the gap between security and development; and the need for adequate, predictable financing for UN’s offices, mediation work, the Country Teams, and the Peacebuilding Fund.

Olof Skoog, Permanent Representative of Sweden and PBC Chair, said the international community confirmed in 2015 that sustainable development cannot be realized without peace and security, and welcomed SDG 16. He further set out “three shifts” needed to prevent a lapse or relapse into conflict: more emphasis on prevention, such as building national capacity, strengthening domestic institutions, supporting good governance, and expanding UN standard three-to-five-year programme cycles in this field to a 15-30 year framework; increased inclusivity, including women as actors in all aspects of peacebuilding work and involving all relevant stakeholders; and strengthened coherence, to ensure that the UN system, the international financial institutions (IFIs), and regional and national actors act more coherently.

Among the members of the Security Council, Angola, Chile, France, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Spain, UK and US, stressed that development and security are intrinsically linked, welcomed SDG 16, and called for integration of the development and conflict prevention agendas, as well as for cooperation with the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and other UN agencies and international institutions. Venezuela and the Russian Federation opposed that view, highlighting that the different bodies have separate mandates.

Noting that she is the first development minister in the history of the UN Security Council to preside over the Council, Justine Greening, UK, called for moving from peacekeeping to peacebuilding by investing in basic services in fragile and conflict-affected States. She said progress should be achieved through the UN, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and noted that the UK made a commitment to spending 0.7% of its national income on development, with much of it already spent in fragile states and conflict-ridden countries. The US said the Council must encourage and enable the integration of development concerns into security assessments, peacekeeping strategies and peacebuilding programmes. Lithuania called for the 2030 Agenda to be “part and parcel” of the Council’s preventive efforts. Spain noted that if international commitments to meeting the SDGs are strengthened, the risk of extremist “aberrations” will diminish radically, as citizens will have their basic political and socioeconomic needs satisfied.

Angola said conflict prevention and resolution is an area of intervention for not only the Security Council but also the UNGA and ECOSOC, and only by creating the necessary synergies among these organs will the UN be able to act transversally in addressing conflict prevention. Nigeria stressed that in order to ensure tangible outcomes in the implementation of the SDGs, the Security Council should adopt a comprehensive approach that prioritizes renewed and strengthened partnerships with other UN entities, such as the PBC, ECOSOC and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Chile said it is essential to adopt an integrated approach that seeks complementarity rather than logic based on exclusive competences. Malaysia called on the Council to work in a coherent manner alongside the UNGA and the ECOSOC. He suggested the PBC as the bridge linking security and development at the structural and institutional levels. New Zealand stressed the need for bridging the silos between different pillars of the UN, including development, security and human rights, and for reaching out to enhance cooperation with the IFIs, regional organizations, NGOs and bilateral donors.

Venezuela underscored that it is solely up to the UNGA and ECOSOC to address the economic and social issues, including the process of following up on and monitoring the 2030 Agenda. He drew attention to the fact that it is the intention of the Security Council “to encroach upon areas that are within the exclusive competence of other organs of the UN,” while the Security Council cannot establish just one type of political institutional model to support development processes without violating the principle of sovereignty, one of the basic principles of the UN Charter.

The Russian Federation noted that it “does not take much imagination” to understand that there is a definite link between security and development, but the danger lies in making this an absolute truth “in a hasty attempt to craft some sort of universal approach to resolving problems in the context of security and development.” He stressed that the Council does not have the requisite Charter-based prerogatives or the requisite toolkit for that. To go beyond its purview while the world is witnessing heightened conflicts that demand the Council’s practical intervention, he cautioned, is to risk “seriously degrading” the Council’s effectiveness. He said the UN has the UNGA, ECOSOC and other bodies for promoting development.

France noted that the debate takes place right before the launch of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Stressing that the outcome of the Paris Climate Change Conference will be critical not only for the environment, but also for security and collective well-being, he called on ministers to mobilize their efforts to ensure that the best agreement possible is reached in Paris. [UN Press Release] [UN Secretary-General Remarks] [UN Security Council – Report of the Meeting] [Report of the Secretary-General on the UN and conflict prevention]