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The UN Democracy Fund celebrates the International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace, established in 1981, by the resolution UN/A/RES/36/67 of the General Assembly is “a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace …”.

Peace building is a priority in the agenda of the UN Democracy Fund as democracy-building is essential to peace and stability.

As mentioned by the Secretary-General at the Fourth Advisory board of UNDEF (10th of April 2007): “We help countries emerging from conflict build democratic institutions and entrench democratic norms. Today, the UN’s efforts to promote democracy are inseparable from our broader work for security, development and human rights."

Only in a year of operation, UNDEF has been financing 123 initiatives many of which promote on each continent democracy in countries emerging from conflict. UNDEF would like to share summaries of some of the projects which have direct relevance to peace.

The Democracy Fund benefits from the expertise of the Programme Consultative Group which provides a technical assistance and expert support on programme funding criteria and project proposals. The Programme Consultative Group, composed by UN departments, agencies and programmes, includes the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The Democracy Fund has agreed an institutional partnership with the International Peacebuilding Alliance, Interpeace, which is a Geneva-based international non-governmental organization that works with local partners in divided societies to build lasting peace. Interpeace and its partners promote national dialogue by bringing together key actors across a broad cross section of society to analyse their country’s problems, find home-grown solutions and to define a common vision for long-term development. The Democracy Fund has supported current efforts of Interpeace to foster dialogue and reconciliation in Guinea-Bissau and Rwanda.

In Haiti, UNDEF implements a project with UNIFEM that aims at supporting women’s political participation. In the current period of democratic renewal, the project strengthens, through training and coaching sessions, the leadership of Haitian women based on principles of gender justice, development and peace.

Eighteen UNDEF projects are implemented in Eastern Europe, reflecting its involvement in peace-keeping efforts developed in the Balkan region.
In Kosovo, UNDEF seeks to encourage the success of Kosovo’s status resolution and funds the peacebuilding work of CARE aimed at addressing causes and consequences of inter-ethnic conflicts in Kosovo. Activities are carried out based on a three-tiered approach which seeks to alleviate the pressing fears and distrust between ethnic communities. The project aims at developing local capacity to manage conflict and to strengthen a process of inter-ethnic cooperation through a variety of peacebuilding activities.

UNDEF has granted 37% of its support to Africa, where the United Nations have been playing a fundamental role in peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

In Sudan, UNDEF develops a project with the goal to promote women’s role in the peace process and sensitize the political parties to increase women’s representation in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the Darfur Peace agreement (DPA).

As the Democratic Republic of Congo organized presidential elections in 2006 – the first ones since 1965 - UNDEF supports an initiative implemented by “Femmes Africa Solidarité”, a platform of women associations, with the aim to further the participation of Congolese women’s groups in the country’s peace processes. Training on gender issues and advocacy are organized for this purpose.

In Sierra Leone, as the media community has been slowly rebuilding since the end of the war in 2002, UNDEF supports, in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights, a local NGO, an initiative aimed at establishing a sustainable tradition of fair human rights and democracy throughout the country.

In Rwanda, UNDEF backs the Institut de Recherche et de Dialogue pour la Paix (IRDP) in its activities aimed at developing a culture of peace and democratic dialogue. The IRDP will set up local fora in order to organize debates on peace-oriented themes such as, the struggle against ideologies which seek to justify genocide. Researches and studies will be conducted on the role of history in protracted conflicts, on the genocide and its consequences, and on the role of poverty in Rwandan conflicts.

In Asia, the UN Democracy Fund is lending its support to reconciliation efforts and peace process.

In Nepal, UNDEF finances a project implemented by UNIFEM in order to increase women’s engagement in the peace and democratization process, given that peace negotiation processes have a tendency to exclude women from direct political participation. The UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security has been used as the guiding document to support women’s increased participation in peace and post-conflict-processes. Simultaneously, UNDEF supports an initiative which underwrites the production and broadcast of civic education and peace building radio episodes and the creation of leadership training session for rural youth and the formation of national and regional organizing committees for a youth parliament, which will provide advice to reconciliation and democracy building activities.

In Afghanistan, UNDEF sponsors a project supporting the development of a civil and voter registry in Kabul, Bamiyan and Nangarhar Provinces as a test for a nationwide system in Afghanistan. The lessons learned should pave the way for the design and the implementation of nationwide registry programme. It will allow the government to print a village wide civil register and to issue tamperproof national identification documents to all Afghans enabling them to access a range of public services.

In the Arab World, UNDEF’s engagement mirrors its priority to encourage democratic dialogue and enhance constitutional processes.

In northern Irak, UNDEF funds a project entitled “Dove of peace”, which develops peacebuilding activities organized and run by Concordia, a local Iraqi non-partisan, non-sectarian and non-governmental organization based in Dohuk, in the north of the country. Through the grant, four Concordia counseling and peacebuilding centers are able to provide services in northern Iraqi governorates. One major goal of the project is to help women and men in northern Iraq to develop skills and tools in non-violent conflict resolution addressing ethnic, religious and linguistic issues.

In partnership with an Arab NGO based in Beirut, Lebanon, UNDEF supports an initiative, which is meant to be an occasion to articulate civil society visions of democratic governance and related workable strategies. It concentrates on socio-economic reforms that are needed to complement the processes of political reforms. The value of the project is to raise awareness around social and economic rights contributing to building capacities of civil society organizations and mainstreaming the monitoring of social and economic national policies. Addressing socio-economic reforms is part of the on-going democratization efforts in the region and is expected to prevent further rises in social and political instability in Lebanon.

On this International Day for peace, UNDEF wishes to express its commitment to assisting governments, public institutions, civil society and the UN system in promoting democratization worldwide and thereby ensuring peace and stability.

 

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