Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution 2282 (2016) on Review of United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture
Expressing deep concern about the high human cost and suffering caused by armed conflict, the Security Council stressed today that a comprehensive approach to transitional justice and an accountable security sector were critical to consolidating peace, reducing poverty and preventing countries from relapsing into conflict.
Taking action on the report of the Peacebuilding Commission on its ninth session (document A/70/714-S/2016/115), the 15-member Council unanimously adopted resolution 2282 (2016) on post-conflict peacebuilding.
By that resolution, the Council urged the Peacebuilding Commission to hold a regular exchange of views with relevant regional and subregional organizations. It also requested that the Secretary-General explore options for strengthening collaboration between the United Nations and the World Bank in conflict-affected countries.
Also by that text, the Council underlined that the scale and nature of peace challenges could be met through close strategic and operational partnerships among national Governments, the United Nations and other key stakeholders.
Welcoming the input of the experts on “The Challenge of Sustaining Peace: Report of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture”, the Council emphasized that sustaining peace required coherence, engagement and coordination among the General Assembly, Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.
It also emphasized the important role that effective and responsive leadership in country operations could play in bringing the United Nations system together around a common strategy for sustaining peace. It further emphasized the need for predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding activities, urging all Member States, including non-traditional donors and other partners, to consider making voluntary contributions to the Peacebuilding Fund.
Underscoring the importance of women’s leadership and participation in preventing and resolving conflict, as well as in building peace, the Council encouraged the Secretary-General to promote the gender dimensions of peacebuilding. It also called upon Member States and United Nations organs and other entities to increase meaningful and inclusive participation by young people in peacebuilding efforts.
The Council took note of the General Assembly’s decision to convene a high-level meeting on efforts undertaken and opportunities to strengthen the work of the United Nations, at its seventy-second session, under the agenda item “Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace”.
In a separate meeting today, the General Assembly also adopted the report of the Peacebuilding Commission on its ninth session.
The meeting began at 10 a.m. and ended at 10:04 a.m.
Resolution
The full text of resolution 2282 (2016) reads as follows:
“The Security Council,
“Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
“Reaffirming its resolutions 1645 (2005), 1646 (2005) and 1947 (2010), and recalling its resolutions 2171 (2014), 1325 (2000) and its subsequent resolutions, and 2250 (2015) and the statements of the President of the Security Council S/PRST/2001/5, S/PRST/2011/4, S/PRST/2012/29 and S/PRST/2015/2, and recalling General Assembly resolutions A/69/313, A/70/6 and A/70/1,
“Taking note of the report of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (A/70/95-S/2015/446) and the report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations of 17 June 2015 (A/70/357-S/2015/682) and the report of the Secretary-General of 17 September 2015 (S/2015/716) submitting the results of the Global Study on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), and encouraging coherence, synergies, and complementarities in taking them forward,
“Recognizing that development, peace and security, and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing,
“Reaffirming its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,
“Deeply concerned by the high human cost and suffering caused by armed conflicts, and recognizing the significant number of simultaneous security and humanitarian crises that the world currently faces, and the strain that this places on the resources of the United Nations system,
“Recalling the determination of the peoples of the United Nations to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, further recalling the determination to establish a just and lasting peace all over the world in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
“Recognizing that ‘sustaining peace’, as drawn from the Advisory Group of Experts report, should be broadly understood as a goal and a process to build a common vision of a society, ensuring that the needs of all segments of the population are taken into account, which encompasses activities aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict, addressing root causes, assisting parties to conflict to end hostilities, ensuring national reconciliation and moving towards recovery, reconstruction and development, and emphasizing that sustaining peace is a shared task and responsibility that needs to be fulfilled by the Government and all other national stakeholders, and should flow through all three pillars of the United Nations engagement at all stages of conflict, and in all its dimensions, and needs sustained international attention and assistance,
“Reaffirming the primary responsibility of national Governments and authorities in identifying, driving and directing priorities, strategies and activities for sustaining peace, and in this regard, emphasizing that inclusivity is key to advancing national peacebuilding processes and objectives in order to ensure that the needs of all segments of society are taken into account,
“Stressing that civil society can play an important role in advancing efforts to sustain peace,
“Recalling General Assembly resolution A/70/1, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which adopted a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets,
“Emphasizing the importance of a comprehensive approach to sustaining peace, particularly through the prevention of conflict and addressing its root causes, strengthening the rule of law at the international and national levels, and promoting sustained and sustainable economic growth, poverty eradication, social development, sustainable development, national reconciliation and unity including through inclusive dialogue and mediation, access to justice and transitional justice, accountability, good governance, democracy, accountable institutions, gender equality and respect for, and protection of, human rights and fundamental freedoms,
“Recognizing that peacebuilding is an inherently political process aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, recurrence or continuation of conflict, and further recognizing that peacebuilding encompasses a wide range of political, developmental, and human rights programmes and mechanisms,
“Recognizing that an integrated and coherent approach among relevant political, security and developmental actors, within and outside of the United Nations system, consistent with their respective mandates, and the Charter of the United Nations, is critical to sustaining peace, and essential for improving respect for human rights, advancing gender equality, empowering women and youth, strengthening the rule of law, eradicating poverty, building institutions and advancing economic development in conflict-affected countries,
“Welcoming the work of the Peacebuilding Commission as a dedicated intergovernmental advisory body to bring a strategic approach and coherence to international peacebuilding efforts, and recognizing the valuable work done in all its configurations and meetings,
“Recognizing the need for United Nations peacebuilding efforts to have adequate, predictable and sustained financing in order to effectively assist countries to sustain peace and prevent the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict,
“Welcoming the valuable work undertaken by the Peacebuilding Fund as a catalytic, rapid-response and flexible pre-positioned pooled fund providing financing to activities to sustain peace in conflict-affected countries, and in advancing strategic alignment within the United Nations system and between the United Nations and the international financial institutions,
“Recognizing the importance of strategic partnerships, pooled funding and blended finance among the United Nations, bilateral and international donors, multilateral financial institutions and the private sector in order to share risks and maximize the impact of peacebuilding efforts, taking into account the need to ensure transparency, accountability and appropriate monitoring of funds,
“Recognizing that the scale and nature of the challenge of sustaining peace calls for close strategic and operational partnerships between the United Nations, national Governments and other key stakeholders, including international, regional and subregional organizations, international financial institutions, civil society organizations, women’s groups, youth organizations and the private sector, taking into account national priorities and policies,
“Welcoming the contribution of peacekeeping operations to a comprehensive strategy for sustaining peace and, noting with appreciation the contributions that peacekeepers and peacekeeping missions make to peacebuilding,
“Reiterating that United Nations’ cooperation with regional and subregional organizations is critical to contributing to the prevention of the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict, in line with Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter
“Reaffirming the important role of women in peacebuilding and noting the substantial link between women’s full and meaningful involvement in efforts to prevent, resolve and rebuild from conflict and those efforts’ effectiveness and long-term sustainability, and stressing, in this regard, the importance of women’s equal participation in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security and the need to increase women’s role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution and peacebuilding,
“Reaffirming the important role youth can play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and as a key aspect of the sustainability, inclusiveness and success of peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts,
“1. Welcomes the valuable input of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture entitled the ‘Challenge of Sustaining Peace’;
“2. Emphasizes that sustaining peace requires coherence, sustained engagement and coordination among the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, consistent with their mandates as set out in the Charter of the United Nations;
“3. Reaffirms the importance of national ownership and leadership in peacebuilding, whereby the responsibility for sustaining peace is broadly shared by the Government and all other national stakeholders and underlines the importance, in this regard, of inclusivity in order to ensure that the needs of all segments of society are taken into account;
“4. Reaffirms its resolution 1645 (2005), including the main purposes of the Peacebuilding Commission as an intergovernmental advisory body, and stresses the importance of the Peacebuilding Commission to fulfil the following functions in this regard:
(a) To bring sustained international attention to sustaining peace, and to provide political accompaniment and advocacy to countries affected by conflict, with their consent;
(b) To promote an integrated, strategic and coherent approach to peacebuilding, noting that security, development and human rights are closely interlinked and mutually reinforcing;
(c) To serve a bridging role among the principal organs and relevant entities of the United Nations by sharing advice on peacebuilding needs and priorities, in line with the respective competencies and responsibilities of these bodies;
(d) To serve as a platform to convene all relevant actors within and outside the United Nations, including from Member States, national authorities, United Nations missions and country teams, international, regional and sub-regional organizations, international financial institutions, civil society, women’s groups, youth organizations and, where relevant, the private sector and national human rights institutions, in order to provide recommendations and information to improve their coordination, to develop and share good practices in peacebuilding, including on institution building, and to ensure predictable financing to peacebuilding;
“5. Encourages the Peacebuilding Commission, through its Organizational Committee, to review its provisional rules of procedure in order to improve the continuity of its Chairs and Vice-Chairs, enhance its focus on developments at the country and regional level, and foster greater engagement by its membership, and further encourages the Peacebuilding Commission, through its Organizational Committee, to consider diversifying its working methods to enhance its efficiency and flexibility in support of sustaining peace including by:
(a) Providing options for its country-specific meetings and formats, to be applied upon the request of the country concerned, as referred to the Commission in accordance with the relevant provisions of its resolution 1645;
(b) Enabling it to consider regional and cross-cutting issues relevant to sustaining peace;
(c) Enhancing synergies between the Peacebuilding Fund and the Peacebuilding Commission, and;
(d) Continuing to use its annual session to facilitate closer engagement with relevant stakeholders;
“6. Reaffirms its call upon the Peacebuilding Commission to integrate a gender perspective into all of its work;
“7. Requests the Peacebuilding Commission to include in its annual report information on progress in implementing the provisions of its present resolution relating to its working methods and provisional rules of procedure;
“8. Acknowledges the importance of strong coordination, coherence and cooperation with the Peacebuilding Commission, in accordance with its resolution 1645, and in this regard, expresses its intention to regularly request, deliberate and draw upon the specific, strategic and targeted advice of the Peacebuilding Commission, including to assist with the longer-term perspective required for sustaining peace being reflected in the formation, review and drawdown of peacekeeping operations and special political missions mandates;
“9. Emphasizes the importance of drawing upon the advice of the Peacebuilding Commission when major agreements that relate to United Nations mission mandates and transitions, are agreed between the United Nations, national Governments and authorities, and other relevant stakeholders;
“10. Stresses the importance of closer cooperation between the Economic and Social Council and Peacebuilding Commission, in accordance with their respective mandates, including through enhanced dialogue in support of promoting coherence and complementarity between the United Nations peace and security efforts and its development, human rights and humanitarian work, and encourages the Peacebuilding Commission to draw on the expertise of relevant Economic and Social Council subsidiary bodies, as appropriate;
“11. Encourages United Nations Member States participating in the Universal Periodic Review process of the Human Rights Council to consider the human rights dimensions of peacebuilding, as appropriate;
“12. Stresses that a comprehensive approach to transitional justice, including promotion of healing and reconciliation, a professional, accountable and effective security sector, including through its reform, and inclusive and effective demobilization, disarmament and reintegration programmes, including the transition from demobilization and disarmament to reintegration, are critical to consolidation of peace and stability, promoting poverty reduction, rule of law, access to justice and good governance, further extending legitimate state authority, and preventing countries from lapsing or relapsing into conflict;
“13. Recognizes that effective peacebuilding must involve the entire United Nations system, and in this regard, emphasizes the importance of joint analysis and effective strategic planning across the United Nations system in its long term engagement in conflict-affected countries, and where appropriate, in cooperation and coordination with regional and sub-regional organizations;
“14. Emphasizes the important role that effective and responsive leadership in United Nations country operations can play in bringing together the United Nations system around a common strategy for sustaining peace, and in this regard, stresses the need for more coordinated, coherent and integrated peacebuilding efforts, including among United Nations missions, United Nations country teams, and national, regional and international development actors, in ensuring greater effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of critical peacebuilding tasks;
“15. Stresses that the Peacebuilding Support Office should be revitalized, and emphasizes that the full support of the Secretary-General is needed, in order for the Peacebuilding Support Office to support the Peacebuilding Commission, to increase synergies with other parts of the United Nations system, and to provide strategic advice to the Secretary-General, drawing together the expertise of the United Nations system to facilitate coherent system-wide action and support partnerships for sustaining peace;
“16. Recognizes that development is a central goal in itself and recognizes the important contributions of the United Nations development system to peacebuilding, particularly through economic development and poverty eradication, and stresses the need to continue strengthening cooperation and coordination for that purpose in the field through United Nations country teams and at United Nations Headquarters, in accordance with their respective mandates, and with respect for national ownership and priorities of countries-affected by conflict, including through the overarching framework of the United Nations operational activities for development;
“17. Takes note of the Secretary-General’s decision to request the United Nations Development Group to take forward a review of the current capacities of agencies, funds and programmes and particularly looks forward to its findings contributing to enhancing the United Nations capacities relating to sustaining peace;
“18. Underlines that the scale and nature of the challenge of sustaining peace can be met through close strategic and operational partnerships among national Governments, the United Nations and other key stakeholders, including international, regional and subregional organizations, international financial institutions, regional and other development banks, civil society organizations, women’s groups, youth organizations, and where relevant, the private sector, and encourages the Peacebuilding Commission to consider options for regular exchanges and joint initiatives with key stakeholders to promote sustainable peace, including in the framework of the annual sessions of the Peacebuilding Commission;
“19. Stresses the importance of partnership and cooperation among the United Nations and relevant regional and subregional organizations, including the African Union, to improve cooperation and coordination in peacebuilding, to increase synergies and ensure the coherence and complementarity of such efforts, and in this regard, urges the Peacebuilding Commission to hold regular exchanges of views with relevant regional and subregional organizations and encourages regular exchanges, joint initiatives, and information sharing between the Peacebuilding Support Office and relevant bodies of regional and subregional organizations, such as the African Union Commission;
“20. Requests the Secretary-General to explore options for strengthening the United Nations–World Bank collaboration in conflict-affected countries in order to:
(a) assist such countries, upon their request, in creating an enabling environment for economic growth, foreign investment and job creation, and in the mobilization and effective use of domestic resources, in line with national priorities and underscored by the principle of national ownership;
(b) marshal resources, and align their regional and country strategies, to promote sustainable peace;
(c) support the creation of enlarged funding platforms bringing together the World Bank Group, multilateral and bilateral donors and regional actors to pool resources, share and mitigate risk, and maximize impact for sustaining peace;
(d) enable and encourage regular exchanges on priority peacebuilding areas;
“21. Underscores the importance of women’s leadership and participation in conflict prevention, resolution and peacebuilding, and recognizes the continuing need to increase representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflict, and the consideration of gender-related issues in all discussions pertinent to sustaining peace;
“22. Encourages the Secretary-General to promote the gender dimensions of peacebuilding, including through the delivery of gender-sensitive and targeted programming, through the strengthening of women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding, supporting women’s organizations and through monitoring, tracking and reporting achievement;
“23. Calls upon Member States and relevant United Nations organs and entities to consider ways to increase meaningful and inclusive participation of youth in peacebuilding efforts through creating policies, including in partnership with private sector where relevant, that would enhance youth capacities and skills, and create youth employment to actively contribute to sustaining peace, and in this regard, requests the Secretary-General and the Peacebuilding Commission to include in their recommendations ways to engage youth in peacebuilding;
“24. Emphasizes the need for predictable and sustained financing to United Nations peacebuilding activities, including through increased contributions, and strengthened partnerships with key stakeholders, while also noting the significance that non-monetary contributions can play in peacebuilding efforts;
“25. Welcomes the contributions made to the Peacebuilding Fund, takes note of the proposals in the Advisory Group of Experts’ report in this regard and urges all Member States, including non-traditional donors and other partners, to consider making voluntary contributions to the fund, including by building on the practice of making multi-year commitments to the fund;
“26. Recognizes the importance of adequately resourcing the peacebuilding components of relevant United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions, including during mission transitions and drawdown, to support stability and continuity of peacebuilding activities;
“27. Stresses the importance of enhancing the mobilization of resources for initiatives that address the particular needs of women in peacebuilding contexts, advance gender equality, and empower women;
“28. Takes note of the General Assembly decision to include in the agenda of its seventy-first session an item entitled ‘Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace’;
“29. Takes note of the General Assembly decision to convene at its seventy-second session, under the agenda item ‘Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace’, a high-level meeting of the General Assembly on efforts undertaken and opportunities to strengthen the United Nations’ work on sustaining peace, on a date and in a format to be decided by the President of the General Assembly;
“30. Takes note of the General Assembly decision to invite the Secretary-General to report to the seventy-second session of the General Assembly, at least 60 days prior to the high-level meeting on ‘Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace’, on efforts to implement its present resolution, including in the following areas:
(a) To strengthen operational and policy coherence within the United Nations system towards sustaining peace, including strengthened strategic planning across the United Nations system,
(b) To improve internal United Nations leadership, capability, and accountability — at Headquarters, and in the field — on efforts to sustain peace;
(c) To ensure continuity of relevant peacebuilding programmes, senior leadership, and personnel, as appropriate, through the different phases of United Nations engagement, in order to improve mission transitions;
(d) To strengthen partnerships among the United Nations and key stakeholders, including international, regional and subregional organizations, international financial institutions, and civil society organizations;
(e) To provide options on increasing, restructuring and better prioritizing funding dedicated to United Nations peacebuilding activities, including through assessed and voluntary contributions, with a view to ensuring sustainable financing for the consideration of Member States;
(f) To provide options for adequate resourcing of the peacebuilding activities of United Nations country teams, and the peacebuilding components of United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions, including during mission transitions and drawdown for the consideration of Member States;
(g) To strengthen the capacity of the senior leadership of the United Nations Country Team to absorb relevant peacebuilding functions following the drawdown of Security Council mandated missions;
(h) To support the participation of women and youth in peacebuilding processes, including through advocacy with national stakeholders, and support to women’s and youth organizations;
(i) To revitalize the Peacebuilding Support Office;
“31. Calls for a further comprehensive review of United Nations peacebuilding at its seventy-fourth session;
“32. Decides to remain seized of the matter.”