Questions and Answers on the UN Peacebuilding Commission

1. What is the Peacebuilding Commission supposed to do?

The Peacebuilding Commission will marshal resources at the disposal of the international community to advise and propose integrated strategies for post-conflict recovery, focusing attention on reconstruction, institution-building and sustainable development, in countries emerging from conflict.

The Commission will bring together the UN's broad capacities and experience in conflict prevention, mediation, peacekeeping, respect for human rights, the rule of law, humanitarian assistance, reconstruction and long-term development.

Specifically, the Commission will:

• Propose integrated strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery;
• Help to ensure predictable financing for early recovery activities and sustained financial investment over the medium- to longer-term.
• Extend the period of attention by the international community to post-conflict recovery;
• Develop best practices on issues that require extensive collaboration among political, military, humanitarian and development actors.

2. Who will be on the Commission and how will members be selected?

The Commission will include an Organizational Committee and country-specific committees.

The Organizational Committee will be made up of 31 member countries:

1. Seven from the Security Council (including permanent members);
2. Seven from the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), giving particular consideration to those that have experienced post-conflict recovery;
3. Five out of the top 10 financial contributors to the UN budgets including voluntary contributions to UN agencies and programs and the Peacebuilding Fund;
4. Five out of the top 10 providers of military personnel and civilian police to UN missions; and
5. Seven additional members, to redress remaining geographical imbalances and include countries with post-conflict experience, to be elected by the General Assembly

But the real work of the Commission will be in its country-specific committees where participation will be tailored to each case – to involve country representatives as well as all the relevant contributors such as regional organizations, regional banks and international financial institutions.

3. What real help can this Commission offer?

This Commission will fill a huge gap in the UN system. It will, for the first time, bring together all the major actors in a given situation to discuss and decide on a long-term peacebuilding strategy. It means that money will be better spent and that there will be a real link between immediate post-conflict efforts on the one hand and long-term recovery and development efforts on the other.

4. How will the Commission enforce or ensure its recommendations?

This is an advisory body. Its recommendations will carry weight because of the diversity and relevance of all those participating – including members of the Security Council, the top troop contributors, top financial donors and key institutional players.

All UN and other bodies and actors are encouraged to take action on the recommendations and advice given by the Commission. While there is no specific enforcement mechanism, the Commission will be looked to as the primary body for disseminating advice on rebuilding and reconstruction. Its diverse composition of membership lends it the necessary legitimacy to carry out this work.

5. How will the Commission decide what countries to address? Can a country initiate this process?

Requests for advice from the Commission can be made by the General Assembly, the Security Council, ECOSOC and the Secretary-General, as well as any member state (about its own situation). However Article 12 of the UN Charter applies, meaning that the Assembly and ECOSOC cannot take action on any situation the Security Council is dealing with.

The Commission is likely to deal only with countries emerging from conflict, following the establishment of a peace accord and a cessation of violence. One of the goals of the Commission is to ensure that international attention is paid to countries emerging from conflict, even once peacekeepers are no longer active.

6. Can a country object to the Peacebuilding Commission's intervention or, on the other hand, demand it?

A country can request advice directly from the Commission. The Commission cannot ‘intervene’; it is an advisory body. But a country can not prevent the Security Council from asking for the Commission’s advice about that country’s situation. In all cases it remains up to the Organizational Committee to decide whether the Commission would take up the request.

The Commission aims to work closely with national and transnational authorities involved, recognizing the importance of national ownership of the peacebuilding process.

7. What real powers will the Commission have?

The Commission’s power will come from the quality of its advice and the weight carried by its membership.

8. What role can countries that have emerged from conflict play in the Commission’s discussions?

There are many countries with turbulent pasts that have since emerged as stable societies. Such countries with experience of post-conflict recovery have an important role to play in the Commission.

The Commission aims to have such countries included as members of the Commission at all times, as it will benefit greatly from their knowledge and lessons learned.

9. When, how often and where will the Commission meet?

The Organizational Committee will meet at regular intervals to be decided once the Committee has been established. Country-specific meetings will likely be held more regularly, in particular during the early stages of post-conflict recovery. The Commission’s work also requires it to be flexible in its working methods, to ensure the active participation of all stakeholders. This could include the use of video conferencing and holding meetings outside of New York.

It is estimated that the Commission will take up 4 to 5 cases a year.

10. Peacebuilding, peacekeeping, nation-building: what’s the difference?

This Commission deals with post-conflict peacebuilding – all that is needed to help a country move from war to peace. Peacekeeping is a type of operation organized around a military deployment; a peacekeeping operation can be a central part of a peacebuilding effort. Nation-building means different things to different people and is not a term used by the UN. It normally refers to a longer historical process and includes the building up of a national identity.

11. The UN has been engaged in peacebuilding activities for years. Why is another body needed now?

The United Nations has played a vital role in mediating peace agreements and assisting in their implementation, helping to reduce the level of conflict in several regions. However, some of those accords have failed to take hold, such as in Angola in 1993 and Rwanda in 1994. Roughly half of all countries that emerge from war lapse back into violence within five years, driving home the message that, to prevent conflict, peace agreements must be implemented in a sustained manner.

Yet, to date, no part of the UN system has been directly responsible for helping countries make the transition from war to lasting peace. The Peacebuilding Commission will help fill this gap by facilitating an institutional and systematic connection between peacekeeping and post-conflict operation and the international network of assistance and donor mobilization including the World Bank.

12. How does this fit with the reforms the UN is supposedly undergoing?

The aim of the reforms is to make the UN more effective in dealing with today’s threats and challenges. By improving coordination and reducing duplication of efforts among the many actors who become involved in a country experiencing or coming out of conflict, the Peacebuilding Commission will improve overall efficiency and reduce the likelihood of a costly relapse into conflict. The primary aim of the Commission is to strengthen a country’s own capacity to recover after conflict and reduce the long-term necessity for recurring peacekeeping operations.

13. Why are peacekeeping troop contributing countries on the Commission?

The countries contributing significant numbers of troops to UN peacekeeping operations have seen from the ground the challenges to building a sustainable peace. Troop contributing countries have become intimately familiar with the post-conflict countries in which they serve. They know first-hand the work that remains to be done to ensure stability and security, which are requirements for successful development, reconstruction and democracy and full human rights to be enjoyed. Countries where peacekeeping missions have been deployed are likely candidates for support from the Peacebuilding Commission.

14. Where would a Peacebuilding Commission have made a difference?

There is an oft-quoted saying that half the countries who sign peace agreements after major conflicts fall back into conflict within five years of signing a peace agreement. The Peacebuilding Commission should help ensure that countries are strengthened and supported sufficiently to endure the very difficult post-conflict years when, even if the fighting has stopped, the economy, rule of law and institutions of governance can be extremely weak.

The UN is currently undertaking its fifth peace intervention in Haiti, for example, where peace and security have deteriorated after international support has been withdrawn, too early, in the past. Cambodia, following the 1992-1993 peacekeeping operation, took too long to reach stability. Despite large peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Somalia in the 1990s, both countries collapsed in their wake as international attention turned elsewhere.

15. What role will regional organizations, such as the African Union have, as well as non-governmental organizations that are active in post-conflict countries?

Particularly in country-specific meetings of the Commission, all regional actors and institutions that have a hand in reconstruction will be invited to participate in its sessions. The resolution establishing the Commission specifically encourages it to consult with civil society, including women’s groups, NGOs and the private sector.

16. What body does the Commission report to - the Security Council, the General Assembly, or ECOSOC?

The Peacebuilding Commission is an advisory subsidiary organ of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the first such body of its kind. The General Assembly will have overall responsibility to review of the work of the Peacebuilding Commission through debating its annual report.

The Commission will have an important role in giving advice to the Security Council on the planning and commencement of peacebuilding activities. It will work with ECOSOC to ensure the international community and donors maintain interest in a post-conflict country even after it has dropped from the headlines.

The advice of the Commission is public and will be available to Members of the United Nations and all relevant bodies and actors, including international financial institutions.

________________________________________________________________