Statement [Made on Behalf of the Security Council, at the 6897th Meeting, 20 Dec. 2012, in Connection with the Council's Consideration of the Item Entitled "Post-Conflict Peacebuilding"]

S/PRST/2012/29View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Presidential Statement of the Security Council, under agenda item 27 Post-conflict peacebuilding, published in 2012.

What subjects does this mandate have?

13 subjects

Capacity Building Cooperation Between Organizations Financing International Financial Institutions Partnership Peacebuilding Peacekeeping Operations Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regional Cooperation Rule of Law Skilled Workers Women in Development Youth Employment

What’s in this document?

20 paragraphs

At the 6897th meeting of the Security Council, held on 20 December 2012, in connection with the Council’s consideration of the item entitled “Post-conflict peacebuilding”, the President of the Council made the following statement on behalf of the Council:

“The Security Council recalls its resolutions and the statements of its President on post-conflict peacebuilding, in particular S/PRST/2009/23, S/PRST/2010/20, S/PRST/2011/2, and S/PRST/2011/4, and reaffirms the critical importance of peacebuilding as the foundation for sustainable peace and development in the aftermath of conflict.

“The Security Council takes note with appreciation of the Secretary-General’s report on Peacebuilding in the immediate Aftermath of Conflict (S/2012/746).

“The Security Council reaffirms that national ownership and national responsibility are key to establishing sustainable peace and reaffirms also the primary responsibility of national authorities in identifying their priorities and strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding.

“The Security Council emphasises the importance of inclusivity in advancing national peacebuilding processes and objectives in order to ensure that the needs of all segments of society are taken into account. The Council calls on the United Nations to support national efforts to include relevant national actors in peacebuilding activities and processes.

“The Security Council welcomes initiatives by post-conflict countries to reduce poverty, deter conflict, and provide better conditions to their populations and underlines that the primary responsibility for successful peacebuilding lies with governments and relevant national actors, including civil society, in countries emerging from conflict and that the United Nations can play a critical role in support of national reconciliation, security sector reform, demobilization, disarmament and reintegration, restoring the rule of law and national institutions, revitalizing the economy, and providing basic services and other key peacebuilding efforts in post conflict countries.

“The Security Council reaffirms that sustainable peace requires an integrated approach based on coherence among political, security, development, human rights, including gender equality, rule of law and justice activities. In this regard, the Council stresses the importance of the rule of law as one of the key elements of peacebuilding, emphasizing that courts must provide justice and equal protection under the law for all citizens and recognizing the need for enhanced efforts aimed at capacity building in justice and security institutions, especially in the police, prosecutorial, judicial and corrections sectors.

“The Security Council stresses the need for more coordinated, coherent and integrated peacebuilding efforts and emphasises that better coordination between United Nations missions, United Nations country teams and other regional and development actors, including regional organisations, is of paramount importance in ensuring greater efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of critical peacebuilding tasks. The Council further emphasises the need for greater clarity on the respective roles and responsibilities of these actors in the delivery of critical peacebuilding tasks, based on their comparative advantages.

“The Security Council recalls its resolution 1645 (2005) and recognizes the important role of the Peacebuilding Commission in advancing and supporting an integrated and coherent approach to peacebuilding, including promoting improved coherence and alignment of partners policies around national peacebuilding strategies and priorities. The Council reiterates its support for the work of the Commission and expresses its continued willingness to make use of its advisory, advocacy and resource mobilization role, including through targeted advice on international and national commitment to long-term peacebuilding objectives in countries on the Commission’s agenda. The Council further emphasizes the role of the Peacebuilding Commission in support of seamless transition of mandated missions in countries on its agenda, in particular through the mobilization of sustained international support to critical national capacity needs.

“The Security Council notes with appreciation the contribution that peacekeepers and peacekeeping missions make to early peacebuilding, and emphasizes that mandated peacebuilding tasks must also contribute to long term peacebuilding objectives in order to ensure sustainable progress towards achieving peacebuilding objectives and facilitating drawdown and transition of peacekeeping missions. The Council recognizes the need to integrate mission expertise and experience into the development of peacebuilding strategies.

“The Security Council further emphasizes the importance of focused, well-defined, balanced and sustained support to partnerships with post-conflict countries, on the basis of mutual commitments, to implement national strategies aimed at effective peacebuilding including reconstruction and building of institutions necessary for recovery from conflict, which are based on the achievement of results and mutual accountability. The Council urges Member States and other partners to increase efforts towards achieving the objective of ensuring sustained and predictable financing for peacebuilding, including through the Peacebuilding Fund and multi-donor trust funds.

“The Security Council underlines the importance of effective collaboration with international financial institutions, regional development banks and the private sector in ensuring support to job creation and long term socioeconomic development needs of post conflict countries.

“The Security Council encourages national governments, the United Nations, regional and subregional organisations to broaden and deepen the pool of civilian expertise for peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict, including from countries with relevant experience in post-conflict peacebuilding or democratic transition, giving particular attention to mobilizing capacities from developing countries and from women, as vital for successful United Nations peacebuilding endeavours. The Council also encourages national Governments, the United Nations and regional and subregional organisations to use existing civilian expertise and further develop them, bearing in mind the necessity to minimize possible duplication of efforts and to ensure their consistency and complementarity. The Council further underlines the importance that intergovernmental deliberations take forward the process in accordance with General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/255 and the imperative of mandating and deploying civilian expertise in compliance with relevant United Nations rules and procedures.

“The Security Council underlines the usefulness of sharing the experience of countries which have gone through conflict and post-conflict situations and comparable transitions, and emphasizes the importance of effective regional, south-south and triangular cooperation.

“The Security Council recognizes the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peacebuilding, and underlines the primary role of national Governments affected by armed conflict, to enhance participation of women in prevention and resolution of conflict and in peacebuilding within the framework of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, including by consulting relevant women’s organisations from the earliest stages of planning and priority-setting. The Council welcomes the call of the Secretary General for enhanced participation, representation and involvement of women in prevention and resolution of armed conflict and in peacebuilding, as well as for a stronger commitment to address challenges to such engagement of women at all levels.

“The Security Council reiterates the importance of addressing crimes committed against women in armed conflict, including killing and maiming and sexual violence issues from the outset of peace processes, mediation efforts, ceasefires and peace agreements, particularly in provisions for security arrangements, transitional justice and reparations as well as in the context of security sector reform.

“The Security Council emphasizes the importance of investing in the economic capacities of women and youth for stable post-conflict recovery and encourages Member States to support such investment.

“The Security Council reaffirms its decision in paragraph 14 of its resolution 1998(2011) to continue to include specific provisions for the protection of children in the mandate of relevant United Nations missions.

“The Security Council recognizes that transnational organized crime, including illegal activities such as drug trafficking and illicit trade in arms, negatively impact the consolidation of peace in countries emerging from conflict, and underlines the importance of increasing international and regional cooperation on the basis of common and shared responsibility to address them effectively and build national capacities on crime prevention and criminal justice. The Council underlines, in this regard, the importance of enhancing cooperation among peacebuilding actors within the same region, to address these challenges in a coordinated manner and in close collaboration and consent of relevant national authorities, regional and subregional organisations as well as United Nations regional offices.

“The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to brief the Council and the General Assembly by December 2013 and submit a report no later than December 2014 on further progress in the United Nations peacebuilding efforts in the aftermath of conflict, including the issue of women’s participation in peacebuilding, and placing particular emphasis on the impact on the ground, including lessons learned from United Nations peacebuilding activities in country specific context, and on progress in taking forward the elements included in this statement, taking into consideration the views of the Peacebuilding Commission.”

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

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