High-Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace

Mr. President

Speakers before me have described this agenda as having the power to be transformative; to be a paradigm shift.

New Zealand could not agree more, and we thank you for convening this meeting.

The promise of our discussions today is a world where we can significantly reduce the risk of conflict.

Peacebuilding and sustaining peace is the shared and mutually reinforcing responsibility of the UN system and of Member States.

For the UN, we fully support and encourage the work already underway, including the Secretary-General’s focus on conflict prevention; his scaling up of the UN’s mediation capability; and his gender parity efforts.  We also commend his efforts to strengthen bodies such as the Peacebuilding Commission.

As identified by the Secretary-General, we encourage the UN to address the problem of fragmentation. For this to be effective, the organisation needs to undergo cultural changes also. For Member States, we have a collective obligation to put our time and energy into supporting peacebuilding rather than waiting for a crisis to erupt.

This should extend to those Member States that have the privilege to serve on the Security Council.

This can be small things like thinking more broadly about who the Council should be engaging with and how consultations can be more effective, to bigger things like situational awareness for all Council members and what should be going into Council resolutions.

Finally, it would be remiss to not cite the wider reforms proposed by the Secretary-General. These reforms directly acknowledge that an integrated approach to peacebuilding and sustaining peace is a task that extends well beyond the mandate and responsibility of any one body or institution.  New Zealand, along with many others, is strongly supportive of these proposals.  All three reform streams are vital for a contemporary UN.

Taken together, these changes will ensure the UN truly lives the sustaining peace agenda.

Mr. President, the themes I have covered are not new, but our willingness to prioritise the long-term sustainability of peacebuilding efforts will be judged by their results.

Thank you.