Nordic Statement delivered by Ambassador Anna Karin Eneström on behalf of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden at the joint meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC): “Peacebuilding, sustaining peace and sustainable development: Towards coherence and impact on the ground”, 2 December 2022, New York
Chair, Heads of Agencies, Funds and Programmes,
I am delivering this statement on behalf of the five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Thank you for convening this important meeting.
Conflict prevention, mediation, and peacebuilding are key priorities for the Nordic countries. We see that peacebuilding is now more critical than ever. Conflict dynamics are exacerbated by increasing inequalities and debt, the deteriorating humanitarian and food security situation, COVID 19, complex security threats and climate change. The same threats jeopardize development progress and it is clear that peacebuilding is critical for development and vice versa.
In the face of complex crises, we need broad and coordinated, system-wide responses across the whole UN System, regional and subregional organizations, International Financial Institutions, as well as international and local civil society organizations and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.
It has been very useful to hear from Heads of Agencies, Funds and Programmes.
In our view, UN coherence should be guided by national ownership and priorities as well as the active engagement of all different actors across the society.
In order for peacebuilding to be effective and sustainable, it also needs to be inclusivestrengthening the meaningful and substantive involvement of women in line with the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. Strengthening the active participation of youth is another important success factor. .
We also wish to emphasize how important it is to ensure sustainable and predictable financing for peacebuilding. We must also ensure that different funding streams are well coordinated to support a holistic approach to conflict resolution.
Finally, we would be interested in hearing more from the Agencies, Funds and Programmes on how they come together within the UN system and more broadly, with IFIs and other international, regional and subregional organizations to address development and peacebuilding challenges in a coherent way.