New York, 26 October 2021 (TDI): The Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, Osama Abdelkhalek, convened a meeting on “Our Common Agenda”, on 22 October. The meeting was online, and the Secretary-General of UN, Antonio Guterres, was present.
The Commission stated that Guterres presented them his report, on our common agenda. Guterres highlighted the role of the peacebuilding architecture of the UN. He then encouraged the Peacebuilding Commission to support the efforts, to achieve the goals of the Charter.
Guterres called on the Member States to dedicate more resources to the peacebuilding Commission; and the peacebuilding fund. This is to allow them to meet the increasing demand. Guterres also stated that Our Common Agenda, is an agenda of urgent collective action, to strengthen multilateralism.
He then mentions that the Agenda is built on the preventive treaties, the 2030 Agenda, and also the Paris Agreement. Its goal is to accelerate its implementation. According to Guterres, the Agenda calls for renewed solidarity and greater consequences of today’s policies on future generations.
MEMBER STATES AND SECRETARY-GENERAL
On the other side, Member States welcomed the opportunity to exchange perspectives with Guterres. Those perspectives are elements related to prevention, peacebuilding, and sustaining peace of Our Common Agenda. The Member States also welcomed Guterres’s call to continue the central role. That role consists to support the national peacebuilding efforts.
The Member States and Guterres then exchanged views on ways in which the Commission could be useful. Meaning how the Commission could contribute to discussions that involved relevant components, within its mandate.
Finally, the States and Guterres underscored the importance of ensuring financing. That financing needs to be adequate, predictable and sustained. It is necessary for peacebuilding and also sustaining peace.
PROPOSAL OF THE REPORT
In his report, Guterres proposed a New Agenda for Peace. That Agenda would have a comprehensive, holistic view of global security then. The Agenda would includes measures to reduce strategic risks. Those risks go from nuclear arms, cyberwarfare, and also lethal autonomous weapons.
The Agenda would also include the strengthening foresight of future risks, so the responses to all forms of violence can be reshaped. By doing this, Guterres stated that with the boost in the investment for prevention, the roots of the conflict can also be addressed.
