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Discussions Improving Post-Conflict Peacebuilding

Published: Mon 30 May 2005 11:23 AM
Security Council Discusses Improving Post-Conflict Peacebuilding
New York, May 26 2005 6:00PM
While acknowledging that it is only one of the parties to long-term restoration of peace in post-conflict countries, the United Nations Security Council today said it "considers post-conflict peacebuilding closely linked to its primary responsibilities."
"The Security Council acknowledges that serious attention to the longer-term process of peacebuilding in all its multiple dimensions is critically important, and that adequate support for peacebuilding activities can help to prevent countries from relapsing into conflict," it said in a statement read out at the conclusion of the daylong meeting by Ambassador Ellen Margrethe Løj of Denmark, which holds the Council's rotating presidency for May.
It noted Secretary-General Kofi Annan's important proposal to create a Peacebuilding Commission and said it, too, would wish to improve the UN coordination with donors and troop contributors and performance of activities ranging from peacekeeping to reconstruction.
The Council welcomed Mr. Annan's report "In Larger Freedom," and the report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change called "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility."
It acknowledged the UN institutional gaps pointed out in the two reports "with respect to effectively, coherently and comprehensively helping countries with transition from conflict to lasting peace and sustainable development."
Intra-state conflicts and post-conflict States are among the most complex challenges facing the international community, and responding to most of these requires a coherent and integrated mix of peacebuilding and peacekeeping activities, including political, military, civilian, humanitarian and development activities, the Council said.
Priorities in the post-conflict environment, it added, should include: the protection of civilians; the disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, reintegration and rehabilitation (DDRRR) of former combatants; security sector and economic and social reform; the end of impunity; the establishment and re-establishment of Government institutions; the rule of law and transitional justice, respect for human rights; and economic revitalization.
The Security Council said it recognized the key roles played by the UN System, including the UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies, in peacebuilding alongside the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), especially the World Bank, bilateral donors and troop contributors.
It also acknowledged the role the private sector could play in countries emerging from conflict.
Besides Council members, speakers included UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette and former World Bank President James Wolfensohn.
ENDS

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