Annan stresses importance of supporting countries emerging from conflict.

The notion of a Peace building Commission was first proposed in 2004 by the High-Level Panel on Threats Challenges and Change, reasoning that the prevention of violent conflicts would be more effective, than ending existing conflicts. In his 2005 report "In Larger Freedom", the outgoing UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan envisioned the Commission as an intergovernmental advisory body, which could marshal resources to advise and propose strategies for post-conflict recovery.

The General Assembly and the Security Council had adopted joint resolutions in 2005, launching the Commission in time for the 31 December 2005 deadline set by the World Summit. The texts set out the panel's membership, and countries were subsequently elected for renewable two-year terms, beginning 23 June, 2006 with the Commission's first meeting.

The Secretary General, while opening the Peacebuilding Commission's inaugural session, said that few issues had generated greater consensus, or higher expectations, than the responsibility of the United Nations to help States and societies recover from the devastation of war. So, it was not accidental that world leaders, at the 2005 World Summit, had stressed the UN's vital role in post-conflict transitions and had called on the General Assembly and the Security Council to establish the Commission.

"The international community now has at its disposal a unique intergovernments body: the first devoted specifically to peacebuilding," he said, adding that the new Commission would aim to provide more sustained, more coordinated and more focused support to countries emerging from conflict. Taken alongside the new Human Rights Council, the strengthened Central Emergency Response Fund, the Democracy Fund and other changes and reforms put in place or set in motion recently, the Peacebuilding Commission marked another major step towards a United Nations that was fully equipped to meet the challenges of the times.

"You begin your work as the world grapples with a paradox in its efforts to promote durable peace, stability and development," he said, noting that there had been a very welcome decline in the overall number of conflicts, and that the United Nations had done its best, through peacekeeping and other assistance, to contribute to that trend.

Some of the weaknesses in current international responses to post-conflict situations were well known, he said, citing the shortage of funds, the lack of international coordination and the tendency for international actors to leave too hurriedly. "As we have seen in the case of Timor-Leste, undue haste to disengage from a transitional situation can result in reversals and a need to redeploy, at great cost to al, particularly the helpless civilian victims," he said, adding that all those challenges directly informed the design and mandate of the Peacebuilding Commission, as well as the creation of the Peacebuilding Support Office and Standing Fund.

Experience had shown that peacebuilding involved more than just preventing renewed fighting and securing physical reconstruction, he said. A core task was building effective public institutions within constitutional frameworks and the rule of law. All too often, war-affected populations raised their hopes for new, more equitable governance arrangements, only to see exclusionary social, economic and political structures left untouched, perpetuated, or inadvertently strengthened. It was essential for citizens to regain their trust in State institutions.

Peacebuilding could help solidify the social compact by which States delivered on their obligations to citizens, while citizens exercised their right to participate and take charge of their destiny, he said, urging everyone to also remember that peacebuilding was inherently political.

He went on to say that the members of the Peacebuilding Commission would be called upon to act as like-minded supporters, and as allies who would remain engaged in a country beyond the lifespan of a peacekeeping mission. That would mean managing expectations, since many elements of peacebuilding--such as reconciliation--could take years or decades, whereas people emerging exhausted from a conflict, understandably, wanted results much quicker than that. The Commission was expected to support the development of peacebuilding strategies and to build consensus among international actors for their implementation. It would work closely with other United Nations bodies.

Source: United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), New York, 23rd June 2006