DIRECTOR-GENERAL AND DIRECTOR OF GENEVA CENTRE FOR DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF ARMED FORCES CO-CHAIR SEMINAR

Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), and Theodor Winkler, the Director of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), today co-chaired the third joint UNOG-DCAF seminar, which was entitled "Security and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: the Role of the United Nations".

The Director-General and the Director of DCAF delivered the opening remarks, and the keynote speaker was Gareth Evans, President and Chief Executive of the Brussels-based non-governmental organization International Crisis Group. Panellists included Hédi Annabi, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations; Tuliameni Kalomoh, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Department of Political Affairs; Mehr Khan Williams, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights; Major-General Abdoulaye Fall, Force Commander, United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire; James W. Rawley, Deputy Director, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, United Nations Development Programme; Norah Niland, Chief, Policy Development Section, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Rama Mani, Faculty Member, Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

Panellists and participants at the joint seminar, including high-level representatives of the diplomatic community in Geneva, Geneva-based United Nations entities, non-governmental organizations and prominent think tanks, analyzed lessons learnt in ensuring security in peacebuilding processes, considered the complex linkages between security and other aspects of peacebuilding, such as humanitarian assistance, development and human rights, and looked ahead to how these multidimensional efforts may be strengthened as a contribution to the ongoing international deliberations on the critical topic of post-conflict peacebuilding, especially in light of the recent decision taken at the 2005 World Summit to establish a Peacebuilding Commission.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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