– Ending conflicts and building sustainable peace requires a combination of efforts. Norway will continue to play an active role in the Peacebuilding Commission and we have disbursed the first part of our contribution of NOK 500 million over five years to the Peacebuilding Fund, says Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide.
Norway has been re-elected to the UN Peacebuilding Commission for the period 2021-2022. The purpose of the Commission is to promote sustainable peace in countries emerging from violent conflict. Our membership of the Peacebuilding Commission will coincide with Norway’s tenure as an elected member of the UN Security Council.
– As a member of the Security Council, we will place preventive diplomacy and sustainable peace at the heart of our efforts. The Peacebuilding Commission is a central tool to accomplish this, and we aim to strengthen the relations between the Security Council and the Commission,’ says the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Peacebuilding Commission is an intergovernmental advisory body that supports peace efforts in various ways in countries emerging from conflict, particularly during the transitional phase. The Commission brings together a range of actors to discuss possible solutions for a country, generates support and resources for peacebuilding processes, gives advice, and proposes integrated strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery. The Commission is an advisory body to the Security Council, and it can play an important role in supporting implementation of Security Council mandates and decisions. The fund also works for gender equality and over 40 per cent of the fund goes to women’s rights and participation in peacebuilding.
Norway is one of the largest financial contributors to the Peacebuilding Fund. An agreement to provide the Fund with NOK 500 million (almost USD 57 million) for its next strategic phase (2020-2024) was concluded in December 2020, and Norway have now disbursed NOK 108 million as the first part of our contribution.
– Peace and security is essential for sustainable development. In order to build lasting peace, we need to take a broad and long-term approach. Norway sees the Peacebuilding Fund as one of the most important multilateral tools to advance and sustain peace for vulnerable communities, says Eriksen Søreide.
