Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the Virtual Peacebuilding Commission Meeting on Sierra Leone, today:

With the world still deep in the grip of COVID‑19, many countries find themselves no more than a crisis or two away from sliding into conflict, speakers warned today during a virtual joint meeting of the Economic and Social Council and the Peacebuilding Commission that focused on ways to forge solidarity and develop conflict-sensitive responses to the worst global pandemic in a century.

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to the Peacebuilding Commission’s Annual Session on Financing for Peacebuilding, held today:

The Peacebuilding Commission elected Marc-André Blanchard (Canada) as Chair of its 2020 session today, while hearing an exchange of views on its work plan, covering the need for a “quantum leap” of support to the Peacebuilding Fund and the importance of expanding partnerships.

The Peacebuilding Commission held its annual session today, reviewing regional and subregional approaches to peacebuilding in the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin and Mano River Union areas, with a focus on enhancing cooperation in tackling cross‑border threats.

Convening its first 2019 meeting, the Peacebuilding Commission today elected Guillermo Fernández de Soto Valderrama (Colombia) as Chair of its thirteenth session, while also adopting a work plan aimed at expanding the Commission’s work and building synergies both within and beyond the United Nations system.

With the rising cost of inaction in the Sahel, the international community must keep its eyes on the prospect of peace, the Peacebuilding Commission heard today as it opened its fifth annual session.

Convening its first 2018 meeting amid several major shifts in the United Nations peacebuilding architecture, the Peacebuilding Commission today elected Ion Jinga (Romania) as Chair of its twelfth session, while also adopting a workplan aimed at expanding the Commission’s work and building synergies both within and beyond the United Nations system.

The Peacebuilding Commission opened its fourth annual session today, adopting a joint statement with the World Bank to reaffirm the importance of a strong relationship between the two bodies, as outlined in the newly signed United Nations-World Bank Partnership Framework for Crisis-Affected Situations.

Opening their eleventh session today, members of the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee elected that body’s 2017 Bureau and the Chairs of its country-specific configurations, in addition to discussing its goals for the coming year.