Preventing Tomorrow’s Conflicts

– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72^nd Session of the UN General Assembly, at Launch Event for the report “Preventing Tomorrow’s Conflicts”

Thank you. And good afternoon, everyone.

How can we prevent tomorrow’s conflicts?

That is a good question!

It is one I have asked myself, many times in my life.

And, it is one I have heard being asked by the United Nations and countless others, in this building.

So, I want to thank the Permanent Mission of Australia and the United Nations University. Their initiative has brought some brilliant minds together, to try to answer this question, over a series of discussions.

And these are the kinds of discussions we need to be having more of.

Because, frankly, we are not doing what we were made to do. The UN Charter is very clear. This Organisation is here for peace. It was built to see the warning signs of conflict coming – and to act before they turn into death and devastation.

It is no secret that we have been acting too late. And, we have been responding to the death and devastation that conflict brings – rather than stopping them from happening, in the first place.

This needs to change. We all agree on that. The question remains: …how?

I will point to three areas I believe demand greater focus.

First, we need to stop treating prevention like a theory. It is a practice. And, one which is already happening on the ground.

For example, support to local mediators and peacebuilders. This has been found to quickly de-escalate tensions, when they are still localised. And it can prevent them from breaking out into inter-communal violence, and larger-scale conflict.

Another example has been stronger regional engagement. As this final report confirms, regional and sub-regional actors often have their fingers closer to the pulse. Better links between them – and with the United Nations – can strengthen our early warning systems.

And, a best practice we hear about – again and again – is the empowerment of women in political processes. Their participation makes peace agreements more likely to stick – and therefore more likely to prevent the recurrence of conflict.

So, we need to talk more about what has and has not worked, when it comes to prevention. And we need to bring these lessons forward. I am therefore glad, that this discussion series shone a light on various case studies and best practices.

The second area in need of focus is partnerships.

I have already mentioned regional actors, but I will do so again. They have the experience, the knowledge, and the expertise that is needed for strong, tailored action for prevention.

More partnerships with the private sector will also be crucial. And, the thing here is: they want to be included. I have seen this, in my own meetings and interactions. From members of the legal community to bankers – they understand that preventing the outbreak of conflict is in our shared interest, and also their commercial interest.

Moreover, the role for civil society and academic actors cannot be disputed. We do not have to look further than this room to see the added value of such partnerships.

As my final point, I want to talk about coherence.

This is another thing we all agree on.

Before I came to the United Nations, I had only ever heard the word “silo” used in the context of farming! Now, almost every event I am at involves calls to break them down!

And, we do need to break them down.

It is not the case that the United Nations does not have the tools for prevention. This has been my belief for a long time. And it has been confirmed in your final report.

Actually, its toolbox is quite full. This building – and the network of UN regional and country teams – bring together all the experiences, capacities and knowledge we need, to better prevent conflicts.

However, we are not pooling, or directing it, in an effective way. Instead, we are seeing duplications, gaps and, overall, a lack of coherence.

That is why we need more dialogue and interaction– between Member States, between UN departments, and between all of us, in meeting rooms like this. We need to find ways of working better together, which harness – rather than waste – the wealth of prevention capacity in the United Nations system.

And, finally, I cannot address coherence without talking a little a bit about my own mandate.

As you may know, next week, I will be convening a High-Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace.

It will allow us to take another step, towards a new approach to peace. We call it “Sustaining Peace”. This means an approach that does not just kick in, when conflict erupts – but, rather, one which has prevention at its core.

And, this meeting will be a real chance to bring coherence to life. Participants will come from various backgrounds– governments, the United Nations, the World Bank, civil society, academia, and media. And, a main focus of the discussions will be on how we can all do more, to pool our capacities and experiences – for prevention.

I am really glad that we have received a high level of interest for the participation for this event, particularly from world leaders.

I hope the High-Level Meeting will generate tangible ideas and proposals on how to break silos and increase coherence. And I am confident that it will bring some of the issues raised in your discussions forward.

To conclude, I want to repeat something I said earlier: the United Nations was built to prevent conflicts.

Therefore, we cannot strengthen our multilateral system, without making prevention a priority.

We have not fully done this, yet. But we are on the way. And the report that is being launched today is a valuable contribution.

Thank you all!