NEW YORK: The Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram has said that Pakistan supports the expansion of the Peacebuilding Fund through all possible means.
While speaking at the Annual Session of the Peacebuilding Commission on Financing for Peacebuilding in the United Nations, the ambassador mentioned larger contributions from existing donors; contributions from new donor countries especially countries which have a national security interest in stabilizing a particular country coming out of conflict; and contributions from institutions, especially the IFIs/Multilateral Development Banks as possible means for the expansion of Peacebuilding Fund in this regard.
Ambassador Munir Akram, while recalling the original concept and the scope of peacebuilding, said that “once peace is restored” Peacebuilding Commission “should be supported by peacebuilding actions and the peacebuilding assistance should be provided in response to the needs as identified by the local government by the national governments concerned”.
“These should remain the Peacebuilding Commission’s guiding principles,” he said.
The ambassador insisted that “the programmatic funding earmarked for peacebuilding activities in several Peacekeeping Missions must not disappear”.
“It should, in fact, be enlarged through the Security Council’s legislation of the appropriate mandates and the resources for appropriate mandates which should cover this peacebuilding aspect as well,” he suggested.
In order to mobilize additional resources for peacebuilding, he insisted that specific needs and priorities of the selected countries concerned should be identified.
“These needs should then be transformed into specific projects and the financial support then mobilized for such projects from bilateral and multilateral sources, including the Peacebuilding Fund,” he suggested further.
Mentioning Pakistan’s contributions, he said that “Pakistan as a troop contributing country for six decades has observed first-hand how the UN peacebuilding can act as a catalyst to mitigate violence and restore peace and stability in conflict affected countries”.
“Pakistani troops have often mobilized their own resources to complement peacekeeping efforts with peacebuilding initiatives”, and “the benefits of such endeavors supplement peacekeeping and are profound and far-reaching,” he added.
“Official development assistance commitments are made for development cooperation not for peacekeeping or peacebuilding. Therefore, “the funding for peacebuilding and for humanitarian assistance should not be added towards to 0.7% GNI target for ODA. The Peacebuilding Commission should not seek to replace the functions of the Economic and Social Council, which is responsible for development,” he suggested.
“In most peacebuilding situations, the economic and financial stabilization of the concerned country is vital,” he insisted.
“Peacebuilding and humanitarian support to distressed populations should not be nullified by sanctions and asset freezes which contradict or undermine the objectives of peacebuilding and security stabilizations or humanitarian assistance” he concluded.
Pakistan welcomed the decision to dedicate PBC’s annual session to financing for peacebuilding.
Ambassador Munir Akram also thanked the President of the General Assembly and other speakers for their important insights.
