Elizabeth Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support g7+ High Level Summit on Conflict Prevention in a Multipolar World

It is a such an honour to join you this afternoon on behalf of the Secretary-General, who I know would very much have liked to join you also in person. I am fortunate to be here in his stead.

As the Secretary-General articulated at the outset of this week – and as many of you know all too well – in our world today, “divides are growing deeper, inequalities are growing wider, and challenges are spreading farther.”

Violent conflicts are increasing protracted and complex. Risks are converging rapidly in the most vulnerable and conflict-affected countries, including those in the Group of Seven Plus, increasing isolation and fragility.

We have seen how COVID-19 interacted strongly with existing inequalities, grievances, and capacity gaps, resulting in even more peacebuilding needs.

The war in the Ukraine is devastating the lives of millions of Ukrainians. But the war goes far beyond Ukraine. It is inflaming a three-dimensional crisis – food, energy and finance — pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people and countries.

All this is making our collective work on conflict prevention and peacebuilding both more necessary and more challenging.
That is why it is so important that the UN Secretary-General has put prevention and peacebuilding at the very heart of the New Agenda Peace. 

Of course we are not starting from scratch.

The g7+ has provided a platform member states to collectively engage in dialogue with peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development actors to enhance the effectiveness of cooperation.

The concept of national ownership and the critical and evident nexus between peace and development remain more relevant than ever, and these fundamental principles are ripe to be built upon further.

From a peacebuilding perspective, the 2016 and 2020 twin resolutions on peacebuilding and sustaining peace also evidenced a growing consensus that prevention and peacebuilding should be a priority.

The landmark UN-World Bank joint study “Pathways for Peace” – which has its five-year anniversary this year – also helped to map the ‘how’ of prevention.

Regarding this question, today’s Summit is an opportune moment to reflect on how can the G-Seven-Plus countries seize the opportunity to help realise – programmatically, operationally and financially – this sorely needed global pivot to prevention, so promisingly at the heart of the New Agenda for Peace?

I see many opportunities, but will highlight two.

First and foremost, let us look to expand the space and opportunity for platforms such as the g7+, which as we have heard only quite recently attained observer status at the UN, to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and support between fragile states on the how-tos of building preventive capacity and sustaining peace based on their own national experiences. This is also speaks to reducing isolation and maximizing the benefits of a more interconnected peacebuilding community, including greater connections between states with similar experiences.

I am of the firm belief that the full potential of south-south and triangular cooperation for peacebuilding remains unrealized. The support of regional organizations can also open up valuable avenues.

Through the g7+, we are learning what peace investments are needed and when; and how the call of the Secretary-General for the prioritization of peacebuilding and prevention can be translated into action.

As many of you know the UN Peacebuilding Commission is another unique intergovernmental advisory body, specialized in peacebuilding, which has been supporting member countries of G-Seven-Plus since its inception.

The dynamism and diverse membership of the Commission has provided a platform for national governments, regional entities, civil society, the private sector and others to seek opportunities for cooperation, encourage innovation, and contribute to peacebuilding strategies and resource mobilization, all in support of conflict-affected countries.

One of the successful cases of the Commission’s engagement is with Sierra Leone. The Commission accompanied Sierra Leone in its peacebuilding journey in 2006 leading up to the signing of a Cooperation Framework in December 2007. Most impressively, the country harnessed the potential of South-South and triangular cooperation and subsequently put its own experience at the service of other countries.

The Peacebuilding Commission could be further utilized as a platform to facilitate such sharing of experiences and good practices, especially among conflict-affected countries.

Next Monday, Timor-Leste will be coming to the Commission for the first time, with the participation of His Excellency President Ramos-Horta as well as the General Secretary of the G-Seven-Plus (Mr. Helder da Costa).

The meeting will focus precisely on sharing Timor-Leste’s lessons learned from its national peacebuilding efforts. It will be an excellent opportunity to further encourage the Commission to play a more robust role in this regard.

The recently relaunched International Dialogue for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding is another useful political dialogue platform to convene countries affected by conflict and fragility, development partners and civil society, with the G7+ at its core. This new phase of the IDPS whose Secretariat is now housed at the UN, could open up new opportunities for stronger horizontal dialogue among the three key constituencies, for example, for understanding and addressing the specific needs and challenges of conflict-affected states in their pursuit of the SDGs, whose fulfillment is critical to sustaining peace.

Second, as the Secretary-General has underscored, increased investment in prevention and peacebuilding is an absolute priority. Your continued support to the financing required will be invaluable.
Today’s mounting challenges require more than ever the right financing, at the right time, predictably and flexibly.

The OECD 2022 States of Fragility report, launched this week, contained some striking statistics: DAC members’ aid dedicated to peace in fragile contexts declined by 19% in the past ten years; only 12% of aid to fragile contexts goes to peace activities; of which only 4% to prevention.

But there is also positive news. This month’s General Assembly resolution on financing for peacebuilding showed a clear consensus among the UN membership for turning the tide and strengthening commitments to prevention and peacebuilding, both financial and political.

The resolution give important and helpful recognition to South-South and triangular cooperation for peacebuilding, and also encourages strengthened South-South cooperation with the Peacebuilding Fund in mobilizing resources for the joint implementation of peacebuilding activities. The resolution reaffirms that such cooperation is an important element of multilateral cooperation.

The next steps towards implementation of the resolution – including discussions on how to finance the Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund – will be of critical importance to help us ringfence resources that directly target root causes and drivers of fragility and conflict, while ensuring inclusion at local and national levels, at a time when Official Development Assistance risks stagnation and even significant drops.