UN Deputy Secretary-General, Ján Eliasson, on Tuesday, warned that the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) was currently facing
a shortfall which must be redressed.
The PBF, is a multi-year standing trust fund for post-conflict peacebuilding, established in 2006 by the UN Secretary General at the request of the UN General Assembly.
The fund was established out of the recognition that among the impediments to successful peacebuilding was the scarcity of resources, most notably financial resources.
The fund aims therefore to extend critical support during the early stages of a peace process as its design embodies several key principals:
It would be recalled that Mr Yukio Takasu, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Management, on May 4, informed the UN Administrative and Budgetary Committee that at the end of 2015, there was an unpaid assessments of 976 million dollars for peacekeeping missions.
Consequently, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Ján Eliasson, in his address to UN High Level Thematic Debate on Peace and Security in New York,
therefore, pleaded with the 193 member states to urgently consider financial contributions, saying “the Fund is an invaluable tool for practical peace-building.”
He said “we must eliminate the gap between rhetoric and action. This gap is one of resources but also one of collective will.
“Let us just recall one such example: Can there be any more telling sign of our collective failure to give priority to prevention than the present deep crisis of conflict and displacement, the massive movement of refugees around the world, with its political and human repercussions?” he asked.
Eliasson also said that in two weeks, world leaders would gather in Istanbul for the World Humanitarian Summit “to build a collective response to the unprecedented scale of humanitarian crises and needs now before us.”
The magnitude of the global challenge, he said, was clear and that the number of civil wars had tripled in the past 10 years, making 125 million people in grave need of humanitarian assistance.
He added that 80 per cent of all current humanitarian needs were driven by violent conflicts, and growingly also by climate change, drought and natural phenomena which grew more vehement.
“The conflicts we face today are not only more severe, but are also more complex and more intractable,” he said.
He said that it was against the background of this deteriorating global security environment that a number of policy reviews were launched in 2015 at the UN.
Eliasson said at their core, these reviews aimed to answer a common question: how can we make the UN better fit for security threats in today’s volatile global environment?
“The reviews have common messages that we cannot ignore: Prevention is our central mission. Why wait for mass atrocities if we can act at the early warning signs? he asked.
“We must place higher priority on the search for inclusive, long-term political solutions. We will not succeed without solid partnerships. The word “together” is probably the most important word in the world today.
“Together, the reviews represent a forward and action-oriented roadmap towards a more effective UN, combining peace and security and development.”
He told members that the Secretariat was now implementing roughly 90 per cent of the recommendations in the Secretary-General’s response to the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations.
The identical and visionary resolutions on the Peacebuilding Architecture Review adopted in April by the General Assembly and the Security Council, he added, gives new impetus and new tools for us to focus on longer-term peacebuilding and on preventing the lapse and relapse into conflict.
He also said the findings of the Global Study on women, peace and security show that women’s participation and integration of gender equality are central to peace and security efforts.
The deputy Secretary-General also said the UN is strengthening partnerships with regional and sub-regional organisations.
The Peacebuilding Commission, he also said, is adopting new working methods and focus of areas.
“We have made progress in implementing the Secretary-General’s Seven-Point Action Plan on gender-responsive peacebuilding.
“And we are putting in place strong measures to root out sexual exploitation and abuse.
“This is essential in order to strengthen and in some cases, sadly, restore trust in peacekeeping.
“As you can see, the UN system is fully committed to this reform agenda. But we cannot achieve it alone.
“We need Member States to champion this change, we need your engagement, oversight and investment in change, both political and financial. (NAN)