National ownership critical, once guns fall silent, Security Council hears

Mr. Guterres shared 4 lessons learned from the UN’s acquisition successful peacekeeping and peacebuilding, including successful the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.

He said the way to a palmy post-conflict modulation begins erstwhile a ngo archetypal arrives successful a country.

“Success depends connected aboriginal and sustained collaboration among tract missions, big governments, UN Country Teams, and section and planetary partners.  And it depends connected gathering spot with the radical and communities we are determination to serve,” helium said.  

Excitement and risk

The Secretary-General has enactment consolidating peace, gathering resilience and averting a descent backmost into war, astatine the bosom of his docket for prevention, successful enactment with the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) inaugural launched 3 years ago.

The adjacent phase, A4P Plus, announced successful March, focuses connected cardinal areas to assistance countries support hard-won gains aft UN missions person completed their mandates.

“The drawdown of UN peacekeeping tin beryllium an breathtaking infinitesimal for a state emerging from conflict, and looking guardant to peace. But it is besides a infinitesimal of heightened risk,” helium said.

“Years of peacebuilding and extortion gains are astatine stake. Global attraction and absorption tin wane – including possibly the absorption of this Council.”

Sustained engagement

Among the apical lessons the UN has learned is that governmental engagement needs to beryllium sustained passim the modulation and beyond.  The Secretary-General said this includes intensifying collaboration with section and nationalist governments to rebuild captious systems.

National enactment and ownership of the modulation process is besides important, and cardinal to A4P Plus, helium added, underscoring the captious relation of stakeholders successful sustaining lasting peace.   

“We privation to marque definite that nationalist authorities institutions, partners and civilian nine groups – particularly those representing women, minorities and young radical – are each moving unneurotic to transportation bid forward, and physique genuinely representative, responsive and accountable institutions,” said Mr. Guterres.

The closure of a UN ngo often coincides with shrinking overseas assistance flows, and this “financial cliff” could jeopardize fragile bid and improvement efforts.   

While the UN Peacebuilding Fund aims to partially adjacent these gaps, the Secretary-General highlighted the request for accrued financing.

Protecting susceptible civilians

The last acquisition learned addressed supporting nationalist authorities successful gathering stronger information and extortion systems.  

“When a UN ngo closes, the risks to civilians and susceptible groups bash not simply vanish,” said Mr. Guterres.

“We request to guarantee that parties to struggle unrecorded up to their obligations nether planetary law. And we request the assistance of this Council to code immoderate remaining threats to civilians.”

Lessons from Liberia

Liberia’s erstwhile President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, besides shared however much than 15 years of UN peacekeeping contributed to the existent bid successful her homeland.

The UN Mission successful Liberia (UNMIL), which closed successful 2018, was established pursuing 2 civilian wars that claimed astir 250,000 lives. At its height, much than 180,000 peacekeepers, 16,000 constabulary officers, and 24,000 civilian staff, worked there, she said.

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf recommended that modulation plans indispensable admit the specificities and peculiar circumstances of countries, and that they indispensable beryllium flexible.

Like the Secretary-General, she besides underscored however the process indispensable beryllium nationally owned, arsenic good arsenic integrated, coherent and sustainable.

“One mode the Security Council tin enactment these important ingredients for occurrence is to see aforesaid successful the mission’s mandate and further necessitate that they beryllium considered successful the regular briefings and update reports of the Mission to the Council,” she said.  

Focus connected prevention

“Specific measurable activities, including with civilian nine organizations, arsenic good arsenic women and younker groups, ought to beryllium developed, supported, monitored and reported on, arsenic portion of the UN Mission’s wide involution reports to you, the Council,” she added.

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf besides stressed the value of aboriginal engagement successful peacebuilding and struggle resolution, successful airy of the important costs of peacekeeping operations.  She noted that astir $8 cardinal was spent successful Liberia.

“Arguably, with a caller focus, we whitethorn apt walk little successful preventing conflicts, for instance, successful Cameroon and Myanmar, wherever the informing sounds are increasing precariously louder and louder,” she said.