Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development 2018

– As prepared for delivery  –

Statement by H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72^nd Session of the UN General Assembly, at Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development 2018: The Politics of Peace

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

I want to start, by being frank: we are not where we wanted to be.

We are not living up to the commitments we made, after the Second World War – to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

But, we can get there.

I really believe this.

And, because all of you are sitting here, today, I know I am not alone in this belief.

And so, I will open our discussions, with three main points.

First, I want to talk about Sustaining Peace.

About what it really is.

And, I see it as real peace. Positive peace. A peace that goes beyond, just, the absence of bullets and bombs. A peace that can withstand tests, and tremors. A peace that is passed down, through generations.

This is the kind of peace that the drafters of the United Nations Charter dreamed of.

This is the kind of peace that should be the norm – not the exception – for people, today.

And, this is the kind of peace that the United Nations should be known for helping to achieve, throughout the world.

And, we have the tools, to make it a reality.

In 2016, the UN General Assembly and Security Council, together, adopted twin resolutions. They called on us all to do more, to achieve this kind of peace. And, since then, the phrase “Sustaining Peace” has become well-known at the United Nations. It has spurred new initiatives. It has got us all talking – and acting.

And, two weeks ago, it brought a big crowd to New York. This was for, what we called, the High-Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace.

Discussions were supposed to last for two days. But, given the level of interest, we spilled over into a third.

And, I feel that we achieved three main things, in that time:

First, we made Sustaining Peace the star of the show. This meeting saw the highest levels of attendance at the United Nations this year. So, we really raised visibility, around this crucial concept.

Second, we carved out a permanent space, for Sustaining Peace, on our agenda. We made sure that the 2016 resolutions were not a “once-off”. In fact, another resolution was adopted – by both the General Assembly and the Security Council – to show that this is a living concept.

And, third, we made some discoveries. We learned a lot of new things. We heard from those on the ground, who do the real work.

And, we are now facing the challenge of fitting all of them into one document: The Chair’s Summary. This will be circulated on in the coming days.

But, in the meantime, I am going to take on the even bigger challenge of summarising some of the key takeaways, in a few short minutes! And, this will act as my second main point today.

So……what came from this High-Level Meeting?

Well, first, we heard that we are doing good work. But, we are not, always, doing it together. We are not, always, checking in – and coordinating. And we are not, always, seeing the bigger picture – or the common goals, we are all aiming for. That is why we heard very loud calls for more coherence – and more coordination.

The High-Level Meeting showcased some best practices. We learned about how we are moving from standalone actors or activities for peace, to pooling our assets.

I actually saw this in action, when I travelled to the Colombian town of Totoró. There, I saw a real commitment to peace – from the various United Nations Agencies, from government officials and from indigenous communities. And, I saw how all these stakeholders could come together – under a United Nations inter-agency programme –for a common goal: to make the peace agreement stick.

Secondly, we talked a lot about partnerships. Years ago, the United Nations was like an island. Too often, it acted alone. But, we have all, now, realised something important: Sustaining Peace is not owned by any one entity. It can only be achieved, if we all work together.

We heard, during the Meeting, that partnerships with regional organisations are particularly crucial. And, given where we are, today, this Forum is a good opportunity to look at how we can build up stronger links between the European Union and the United Nations, for Sustaining Peace.

Thirdly, I want to say this – very clearly: Not one discussion failed to have a gender dimension. And, I mean that. Not one.

If we had convened this High-Level Meeting, 10 years ago, do you think this would have been the case? Likely not.  So, we have made some gains, towards truly inclusive peacebuilding. And, Foreign Minister Wallström spoke strongly on this; she asked how we can expect to achieve Sustaining Peace if we leave out half of the population.

But, we cannot get wrapped up, in congratulating ourselves. It does not matter what we say, at high-level meetings, if women are still being excluded, on the ground. And, I have to say, the stories we heard show that we have a lot of work, left to do. One good place to start would be more gender-sensitive conflict analysis.

Let me, here, turn to young people. They make up another section of society, which has previously been marginalised from our work for peace. Now, however, we know that we cannot move forward, without them. At the Meeting, we heard inspiring stories, about what they are doing on the ground. More than that: we also heard from young peacebuilders, themselves. And they made a consistent request: to be given more space at the table.

A fourth main theme, at the High-Level Meeting, was financing. And, the discussions, here, were very pragmatic. They acknowledged something important: even if we do everything else – the partnerships, the coherence, the inclusion – we still cannot achieve our vision of Sustaining Peace, without adequate financing.

And our Meeting showed that there is, in fact, a lot of interest from investors. We heard from traditional donors, as well as new and potential ones. But business representatives made a strong point: they cannot just be seen as cash cows. We must, therefore, think about how to fully engage them, in reciprocal partnerships, for Sustaining Peace.

So, as you can tell, this is not a full run-down of the Meeting. That would be impossible to do, within my time limit. I hope I have, however, raised some key issues – which are very relevant to the discussions that will take place, at this Forum.

But there is something crucial, which I have not, yet, mentioned – and which was a central theme to the High-Level Meeting. That is: conflict prevention. And so, I will focus my final point on it today.

It is, really, very simple: We need to prevent.

There is no excuse.

There is no other way.

We are losing too many lives. Conflict is the worst thing that can happen to a human being. Yet, for too many, it is part of their everyday. And so, there is a moral case – which we cannot ignore.

And, there is a financial one. Because, we now know that we are, also, losing too much money. The recent World Bank-United Nations report, called Pathways for Peace, proves this – beyond any doubt. I will repeat a figure I used at the opening of the High-Level Meeting: for every $1 spent on prevention, up to $7 could be saved – over the long term.

As the discussions showed, prevention takes many forms.

It must tackle conflict at its roots – before it can spread. This means stronger institutions. It means smart and sustainable development. It means inclusive peacebuilding. It means promoting human rights, and the rule of law. And this is something that came out strongly, from the Meeting.

But, prevention is also political. And, here, I want to focus on mediation and diplomacy. Because I think it speaks, directly, to theme of today’s meeting: The Politics of Peace.

Peace can be political. It can be complicated. And it can be messy.

Mediators do not have an easy job:

They must understand the history of a conflict, and the mentality of the people fighting in it.

They must learn how to expect the unexpected.

They must be accepted by all parties – and put forward a team that gains acceptance too.

And, often, they must shelve their own politics, and preferences, for the overarching goal of peace.

These are the realities. And, they are the realities the international community needs to face, if we want to play a bigger role, in preventing conflicts.

In many cases, we will need to find the right balance:

Remaining neutral, but not pretending that politics do not exist.

Ensuring local ownership, but working for international support.

Holding onto our values, but not automatically excluding those who do not share them.

And aiming for an ideal, but being able to adapt, when less-than-ideal things happen.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen

I want to thank the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, for bringing us here today.

Like I said, we are not where we wanted to be.

But that does not mean we cannot get there.

We are heading in the right direction.

And we need to use forums, like this one, to put our heads together – and think about how we can go even faster.

Thank you – and good luck in the discussions ahead.