Closure of Geneva Peace Week 2015 and Annual Meeting of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform - Building Peace 2030 - Getting ready to face future conflict trends

Dear friends:

Thank you for this opportunity to address the closing of the Annual Meeting of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and of the Geneva Peace Week.

During 5 days we heard 165 speakers from 50 institutions at 41 events discussing current and future conflict trends and ways of prevention and response.

The recent attacks in Nigeria, Ankara, Beirut, Paris and Bamako today gave a sad backdrop for the opening of the Geneva Peace Week on Monday. They reminded us of the vulnerability of the global community. Danger and aggression are no longer happening somewhere far away, they are happening at our doorstep. Conflicts are no longer localized, they are globalized. They are no longer only between countries, but more and more between armed, often radical, groups. Labels such as internal, inter-state, regional, sectarian etc. no longer capture the realities on the ground. Conflicts are now often defined by a combination of transnational forces of violent extremism, organized crime and terrorism.

Technology allows for new ways of aggression. Cyber wars bypass conventional defence mechanisms. Social media serve as platforms to spread hate and division.
New causes of conflict are emerging. Dwindling resources and environmental degradation, such as lack of access to water, climate change, pollution or disasters – all become potential drivers of displacement and violence.

In 2050, as most of you know by now, 75% of the world population will be living in cities. Cities can also be sites of heightened interpersonal and collective violence. The likelihood of deterioration of peace as a consequence of urbanisation will be greater in countries with weak rule of law, high levels of inequality and therefore high levels of intergroup grievances.
In the face of these challenges and new realities that hinder our ability to achieve peace, this week has sent many encouraging signals. I am proud to note that a large number of individuals and institutions in Geneva, in collaboration with partners globally, work hard to advance the international peace agenda.

We heard during the week about the Responsibility to Protect and in particular, the role of prevention to ensure that civilians are protected from atrocities and suffering. R2P is mainstreamed into the two recent reviews - the Report of the High-Level Panel on United Nations Peace Operations and the Report of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture. These reports pave, to some extent, the way to a new and strengthened security architecture.

We heard about good practices in the mediation of resource disputes and discussed how to improve necessary expertise to manage and resolve conflicts linked to natural resources. The week opened with the launch of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace, aiming to strengthen the global architecture to prevent and resolve water-related conflicts and to facilitate the use of water for building peace.

We heard about the use of various Information and Communication Technologies in peacebuilding and current challenges to peace and security in Cyberspace.
We also heard about urban safety as part of the preparations of the Habitat III Summit in October 2016.

Among the many important messages of this week, there are 3 key topics, which I would like to highlight. Firstly, the importance of prevention, secondly, the non-respect of the rule of law and, thirdly, the need to see the search for peace as part of a broader agenda that includes our work on human rights and development.

Firstly, prevention has to be our priority. We need to further develop instruments of prevention such as mediation. I am particularly grateful that - thanks to the generous contribution of the Government of Switzerland - we could establish a senior mediation officer position to support prevention and diplomatic peace-making efforts here in Geneva. Since the arrival of our senior mediation officer, we have been able to provide much better substantive support to our Envoys as Geneva is becoming an ever more sought after venue for mediation.

Secondly, the non-respect of the rule of law by actors at local, national and international levels has led us to a loss in governance capacity and efficiency. Injustice and inequalities increase as a result, which in itself is at the source of the current widespread trust deficit we are confronting. A trust deficit that is seriously threatening peace and stability. The trust deficit needs to be urgently addressed to avoid that it further undermines our actions in all fields of intervention.

Thirdly, the lack of development opportunities and abuses of human rights accelerate conflict. There is no peace without development and no development without peace and both are not possible without respect for human rights. This is by now a well established maxim. The 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development that we recently adopted in New York acknowledges this interconnectedness. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals we have to make global governance work in new ways. Member States will not be the only actors and certainly not the only decisive actors in future; they will have to work hand in hand with a multitude of stakeholders, civil society, academia, think thanks and private sector.

We also heard about this aspect in various events of the Geneva Peace Week. Entrepreneurs from Liberia, Uganda, Colombia and the DR Congo told us about their contributions to peace and prosperity in fragile and post-conflict countries. We also heard about the positive role women can and must play, illustrated by the results of the Global Study on the implementation of Resolution 1325 of the Security Council. The study showed important progress made by governments and the international community in adopting normative frameworks with regard to sexual violence in conflict and the importance of women in conflict prevention and post-conflict healing, acknowledging their role as victims as much as that of leaders of change. Much of the progress, however, is in terms of first time adoption of certain practices, rather than being standard. In this, Geneva obviously has much to contribute in bringing the recommendations of the study to fruition and beyond.

This is to flag just a few highlights of this week, as there were many. To make progress on peace, rights and well-being Geneva has great potential, but we need to get better at coordinating the different actors, to leverage our complementary strengths and increase synergies.

The attacks I mentioned earlier, in Ankara, Beirut, Paris and in other places, still painfully fresh in mind, we are conscious that the world is changing and that we are facing new challenges. We need fresh ideas to bring our peace efforts into line with today’s realities. We need to strengthen cross-pollination between operational actors and academic researchers, between governments, civil society and private sector. Geneva is a great place to have this exchange. Geneva is a great place to hold the Peace Week.

I thank our host country Switzerland for the steadfast support they have been giving to the many peace-related activities here. I also thank the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform for providing an important umbrella for Geneva-based peace activities all year round.

I thank all the different event organizers for making this an inspiring week. I thank all of you for being part of this, for engaging in the discussions. I invite you to nurture this network in the International Geneva community and to now follow up on the many great ideas that were generated during this week.

I thank you and I look forward to welcome you to the 3rd edition of the Geneva Peace Week in 2016.