They shared their experiences at an occasion this week at UN Headquarters to mark 20 years of the Peacebuilding Fee (PBC).
The intergovernmental advisory physique helps nations rising from battle in areas akin to governance, justice, reconciliation, institution-building and sustainable growth.
Ache and promise
“Liberia’s story is certainly one of ache, but additionally of promise,” Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf stated in a video message.
“A nation as soon as dropped at its knees by protracted battle now stands as a sworn statement to what’s attainable when nationwide will is matched by worldwide solidarity.”
In August 2003, the Liberian Authorities, two insurgent teams and a number of other political events signed a peace accord in Accra, Ghana, after 14 years of civil struggle.
UN Picture/Evan Schneider
Constructing a brand new Liberia
“Understanding that Liberia couldn’t return to what it was, we needed to assemble a brand new nation based mostly on new governance constructions of inclusion, transparency, justice and hope,” stated the previous President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Essential establishments such because the Central Financial institution, the judiciary, the anti-corruption fee, and even civil society organizations, needed to be restructured or constructed from the bottom up. And girls performed a central function in peace efforts by main advocacy, mediation and group rebuilding.
“Importantly, additionally, Liberia’s path to peace couldn’t be walked alone,” she stated.
Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf pointed to the important function performed by the worldwide group by the UN and its peacekeeping Mission UNMIL, regional bloc ECOWAS, the African Union, the European Union, and different entities.
‘A piece in progress’
She additionally expressed gratitude to multilateral and bilateral companions – together with the PBC – whose technical, monetary and ethical help laid the foundations for the peace loved at present.
“Liberia’s peace stays a piece in progress,” she stated. “We nonetheless face challenges -economic fragility, governance bottlenecks and the aspirations of a youthful inhabitants looking for alternative. However we’ve additionally come a good distance.”
The PBC has backed peacebuilding efforts in additional than 30 nations and areas, for instance supporting democratic transition in The Gambia and collaborating with Timor Leste to advance stability.
Its “intervention and decisiveness at a important juncture isn’t solely manifestly historic however serves as a cardinal reference level for preventive diplomacy and worldwide solidarity,” stated Gambia’s International Minister Mamadou Tangara.
Conflicts on the rise
Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Underneath-Secretary-Basic for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, remarked that the occasion was being held at a time when conflicts have gotten extra quite a few, extra protracted and extra complicated, and as negotiated settlements have gotten even more durable to attain.
UN Picture/Loey Felipe
“In opposition to this backdrop, the function of the Peacebuilding Fee stays important and extra wanted than ever,” she stated.
She highlighted the Pact for the Future, adopted by UN Member States final September, which acknowledges the central function of civil society, ladies and youth, and the worth of UN partnerships with regional organizations and worldwide monetary establishments.
“Crucially, the Pact selected the strengthening of the Peacebuilding Fee,” she stated. “Our activity is to translate this ambition into sensible progress.”
Nonetheless related at present
Ms. DiCarlo stated the PBC “ought to be geared up, strengthened and empowered to help Member States to develop and implement nationwide methods for prevention and peace constructing.”
It also needs to have extra systematic and sturdy hyperlinks to different UN our bodies and processes, such because the Safety Council, and have interaction extra deeply with regional organizations, worldwide monetary establishments and different key companions.
“The Fee is now not a brand new establishment, however its relevance and potential are undiminished at a time of accelerating want. We should equip it to speculate to ship absolutely on its mandate.”
