Press Conference on Collaboration between Peacebuilding Commission, Yoko Ono

Announcing that proceeds from a re-release of the 1960s anthem “Give Peace a Chance” will be donated to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, Heraldo Muñoz of Chile, Chairman of the Peacebuilding Commission, called for more private-sector aid to countries emerging from conflict, at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

“I want to make a call to the private sector,” Mr. Muñoz said, as he announced that Yoko Ono, who co-wrote the song with her late husband John Lennon, had arranged to donate income from the fortieth anniversary digital single to the Peacebuilding Fund, which allows relatively quick funding for targeted projects.

He asked private companies and philanthropists to “imitate this generous contribution by Yoko Ono and her partners to come and help […] the people in the post-conflict countries that will be the ultimate beneficiaries”.

Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon had partnered with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing to allow the net proceeds from downloads of the re-release, exclusively available on iTunes, to go to the Fund, from today until 31 December 2009, he said.

The Peacebuilding Fund, he explained, paid for projects in countries emerging from conflict, so as to show people a quick peace dividend or help bolster reconciliation, as opposed to larger, development-oriented projects.

So far, he said, it had provided funds for the countries on the Commission’s agenda ‑‑ Sierra Leone, Burundi, Central African Republic and Guinea Bissau ‑‑ as well as some 14 other countries that were emerging from conflict.

He thanked Member States, including middle-income countries, which had contributed well over $300 million for the Fund, but stressed that, for the mechanism to be truly effective, other sources of money were needed.

“Yoko Ono has been a fundamental moving force in allowing this gift to the United Nations peacebuilding effort, and I thank her personally for what she has done,” he said, expressing hope that her donation would raise the profile of the Commission’s work and mobilize more private-sector funding.

He said that “Give Peace a Chance” had been inspired by John Lennon’s off-the-cuff explanation to a reporter of why the couple was protesting the Viet Nam War.  As recorded on 1 June 1969, the song included a chorus of some of the best-known peace activists of the time.

Mr. Muñoz was asked what kind of projects were funded in countries that were not on the Commission’s agenda, and if Guinea, which had recently slid back into conflict, and Honduras, which had recently undergone a coup, were eligible.

He said that projects had been funded in countries worldwide, from Haiti to Kenya to Nepal, to enhance the prospects for peace.  One example was Kenya, where the Fund had helped to facilitate dialogue among the parties, after last year’s disputed elections.

In Haiti, he said, the Fund had been able to quickly provide $1 million to keep the walls of a major prison from literally collapsing, something that could have been quite threatening to law and order in the country.

Guinea, he said, had been declared eligible for funds a while ago, but things were moving slower now after the recent violence, although he agreed that the use of the Fund was highly appropriate there and anywhere else where there was an urgent need for opposing forces to sit down and speak with each other.

Honduras had never approached the Peacebuilding Fund with a request, as far as he knew, he said.

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For information media • not an official record