INTERNATIONAL: Security Council Discovers Linkages Between Poverty and Peace

Date: 
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Source: 
InDepthNews
PeaceWomen Consolidated Themes: 
Participation
Peace Processes
Peacekeeping
Reconstruction and Peacebuilding

Better late than never: Following this axiom, the UN Security Council which normally debates country-specific and war-and-peace issues such as Sudan and the Middle East, decided to widen its horizon and discussed in a high-level session some of the root causes underlying conflicts around the world.

In proposing the debate on 'Interlinkages between Peace, Security and Development,' Brazil made clear that it was not seeking to have the Council take on the specific responsibilities of other principal organs of the United Nations, such as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on development issues.

"It does, however, imply that the Security Council must take into account social and development issues in its deliberations in order to ensure an effective transition to peace," it added in a background note, stressing that in some cases socio-economic issues may constitute a threat to international peace and security in their own right.

"Not all peoples suffering from poverty resort to violence, but social, political and economic exclusion can contribute to the eruption or protraction of or relapse into violence and conflict. This seems to be the case in situations as different as those of Haiti or of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)," the note said.

"Peace, security and development are interdependent," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the start of the session on February 11, 2011. The meeting was presided over by Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota of Brazil, this month's president of the 15-member body. He warned that recent events are a "sharp reminder" of the need for political stability to be anchored in opportunity and decent standards of living.

Ban pointed out that nine of the ten countries with the lowest Human Development Indicators have experienced conflict in the last 20 years. "Countries facing stark inequality and weak institutions are at increased risk of conflict. Poorly distributed wealth and a lack of sufficient jobs, opportunities and freedoms, particularly for a large youth population, can also increase the risk of instability."

Referring to yet another aspect, Ban said that drug trafficking and international organized crime have found fertile ground in places that lack basic services and economic opportunities, leading to fear in the streets and insecurity across entire regions.

"Just as the lack of development can feed the flames of conflict, economic and social progress can help prevent it and secure peace," he said, adding: "Sustained broadly-based development can help to address the roots of conflict, by such steps as ensuring the equitable sharing of wealth, better access to agricultural lands, strengthening governance and justice for all."

Brazilian Foreign Minister Patriota stressed that sustainable peace implies a comprehensive approach to security. "Without economic opportunity, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration in and of themselves (of rebel factions, a key plank in peacekeeping operations) will rarely lead to the desired results," he said. "We can do more and we should do better."

Patriota called for greater cooperation with ECOSOC and the UN Peacebuilding Commission. In a presidential statement, he said "reconstruction, economic revitalization and capacity-building constitute crucial elements for long-term development of post-conflict societies and in generating sustainable peace".

INVOLVING WOMEN

Both the Council and Ban stressed the key role that women can play and that they must be included in negotiations, peace processes and economic development.

A study launched on February 8, 2011 said that ten years after the Security Council called for greater involvement of women in peacebuilding, UN peacekeeping missions have a mixed record and need to deploy greater efforts to reach the goal.

"The impact study is a call to action to the senior leadership of peacekeeping to accelerate implementation of resolution 1325," UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy said, referring to the Council's resolution of October 2000, which sought to end sexual violence against women and girls in armed conflict and encourage greater participation by them in peacebuilding initiatives.

The study, carried out by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Department of Field Support (DFS), calls on UN peacekeeping missions to work with local women, national authorities and Member States to increase the limited participation of women in peace negotiations, national security institutions and governance in post-conflict situations today.

Despite some cases of enhanced political representation, women's ability to contribute effectively to governing their societies often remains hampered by persistent discrimination, the report said. Early and better-coordinated planning by peacekeeping missions, across the UN system and with national partners, is required to ensure lasting and meaningful changes for women in post-conflict situations, it added.

"I will continue to prioritize this agenda and provide the necessary leadership to ensure that the entire peacekeeping family is effectively mobilized to support the building of more just and equal post-conflict societies,” Le Roy said in launching the Ten-year Impact Study on Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security in Peacekeeping.

At the Security Council high-level session, Ban also outlined areas where more can be done to ensure "truly integrated, mutually reinforcing approaches to security and development". He cited the need to better manage the process of drawdown and withdrawal of Council-mandated peacekeeping operations and provide more seamless transitions of specific tasks to UN country teams and other development actors.

He also called for finding innovative ways to build and strengthen national institutions in fragile countries and stressed the need to focus more on the climate change-security-development nexus. "Lack of energy and the effects of climate change are having increasingly serious impacts on development and security," he warned. "We cannot achieve security without securing energy and managing climate risks."

At a summit in September 2010 at the start of the General Assembly annual debate, presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers from the 15 Member States held the Council's first meeting in nearly two decades devoted to updating the tools at its disposal for its ever-expanding role of keeping peace, recognizing the linkages between security and development.

In a presidential statement then, it reaffirmed "that international peace and security now requires a more comprehensive and concerted approach," underlined the need to address root causes of conflicts, noting that development, peace and security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing; stressed the importance of preventive diplomacy; and reiterated its commitment to strengthening its partnership with regional organizations.