UNITED NATIONS - Pakistan has called for strengthening the UN Peacebuilding Commission financially in an effort to boost the 31-member body’s peace efforts in countries emerging from conflict.
“Success of UN Peacebuilding hinges on adequate financial resources,” Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon told the UN Security Council on Thursday. “The Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has a catalytic role in harnessing other sources of funding,” the Pakistani envoy said in a debate on the activities of the Commission, which was set up in 2005 to prevent countries that have emerged from conflict from sliding back into war.
While the Fund was an essential component of the UN peacebuilding architecture, he said it was not responsible alone to meet the overall, rising demands. Other avenues of resource mobilisation should, therefore, be more vigorously explored.
Ambassador Haroon also reminded the Council of the imperative need to craft and implement peacebuilding strategies according to national priorities and policies, under complete local ownership.
While there was a common objective between peacekeeping and peacebuilding, he said it was important to realise that each was a specialised activity and the related tasks must be articulated clearly and adequately resourced from the onset of a mission, necessitating closer interaction of the Commission with the Council.
“(The) Peacebuilding Commission, with its unique composition and specific mandate, is an important tool for post-conflict stability,” the Pakistani envoy said. “We hope that working of the PBC will improve as the global narrative on peacebuilding further evolves and as our collective response becomes more focused and result-oriented.”