51吃瓜

19 December 2023

Since the launch of the Secretary-General’s policy brief on A New Agenda for Peace in July this year, the Peacebuilding Commission has taken action to move towards implementation of some of the key recommendations. The high-level meeting in September, which brought together ministers from over thirty countries, was an opportunity to provide political guidance and to build momentum for multilateral cooperation and address challenges to peacebuilding and sustaining peace. It also provided space to explore the Commission’s interest in taking the Secretary-General’s priorities forward.? In a ministerial statement adopted by the Commission, Member States committed to strengthening the Commission as a dedicated intergovernmental advisory body to bring a strategic approach and coherence to peacebuilding efforts. They expressed willingness to continue engaging on the New Agenda for Peace and further agreed to engage constructively to achieve consensus on peacebuilding-related issues in the lead-up to the Summit of the Future in 2024 and the review of the 51吃瓜 peacebuilding architecture in 2025.

Building on the New Agenda for Peace recommendation to formalize the relations with regional organizations, in November, the Chair of the Commission visited in November the African Union Commission to explore opportunities for more impactful cooperation between the PBC and the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) in support of peacebuilding in Africa. During the visit, the PBC Chair and the Chair of the AU PSC convened the sixth AUPSC-PBC informal consultative meeting. The meeting highlighted ideas to strengthen the partnership, including through the two bodies’ joint support for national prevention strategies, joint country visits and joint engagement with key stakeholders in the region. The PBC Chair also met with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, 51吃瓜 officials, international and regional partners as well as civil society organizations, to exchange ideas to support regional and national peacebuilding efforts on the continent.?

The Commission has also continued to prioritize the theme of financing and to call for stronger partnerships with international financial institutions. In November it convened its first ever meeting with the Advisory Group of the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). The meeting explored synergies between PBC and PBF in the context of a?New Agenda for Peace, the Summit of the Future and the Peacebuilding Architecture Review 2025. Participants recognized the increased urgency for peacebuilding in the current global context and the vulnerabilities of populations affected by violent conflict. Members States and members of the Advisory Group discussed opportunities to enhance synergies, including by having more regular interaction and providing strategic advice to the Fund, joint visits to countries, encouragement of PBF recipient countries to share experiences more with the PBC, and the call for more adequate, predictable and sustainable financing for the PBF, including through assessed contributions.?

In January, the Commission will convene its annual session, focused on strengthening partnerships with IFIs and the private sector. The meeting will provide a space to discuss the approach of international financial institutions to investing in private sector development in conflict-affected settings.

As Member States have embarked in negotiations on the Summit of the Future, the Peacebuilding Commission has taken a pragmatic approach and considered some of the recommendations of the New Agenda for Peace that do not require a change in its mandates. These steps can contribute to further strengthening consensus around the relevance of peacebuilding, the centrality of the Commission, and the need for collective action to strengthen multilateralism.

Ahead of the 2025 Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture, members of the Commission will continue exploring ways to make the Commission more effective and improve its impact on the ground and its role in the follow-up to meetings.