The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) this afternoon convened an informal event on the transition from relief to development, holding a panel discussion focusing on key themes of the recently-issued report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict. Following presentations from senior United Nations officials from the United Nations Office at New York, there were two in-depth discussions of how certain themes raised in the Secretary-General's report were seen from the perspective of a country in post-conflict transition, with the participation of senior United Nations and Government officials in Côte d'Ivoire and Sudan.

Carmen Maria Gallardo Hernandez, Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council, introducing the informal event and panel discussion focusing on key themes of the recently-issued report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict, said this important report set out an agenda for the United Nations to contribute to a more coherent, rapid and effective international response to the immediate aftermath of conflict. The event would provide Member States with a greater understanding of how the United Nations could improve its response, and facilitate an earlier and more coherent response from others.

Sally Fegan-Wyles, Director, Policy and Planning Branch, Peacebuilding Support Office, presenting the report of the Secretary-General, said the process of preparing for the report had been almost as useful as the report itself, and there had been wide-ranging consultations with the relevant States. The scope of the report was not everything about peacebuilding, but focused on a narrow slice of time, the first 12 to 18 months after the end of a conflict, when often the peace agreement was very fragile. Too often, the United Nations had not been ready for this, and the report was about how to prepare the international community and the United Nations to be ready for this opportunity, so it could prepare the right support at the right time. Its cornerstone was that for peacebuilding to be sustainable, national ownership was indispensable, even if the national capacity was very weak. If this was the case, national capacity had to be bolstered and shored up as much as and as fast as possible. The international community had to be ready in this regard. The Secretary-General was personally committed to driving forward the changes necessary within the United Nations system in this regard and others.

The report of the Secretary-General on the strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations contained in (A/64/84 - E/2009/87), describes the major humanitarian trends and challenges that have occurred during the past year and analyses two thematic issues of concern: respecting and implementing guiding principles of humanitarian assistance at the operational level and addressing the impact of current global challenges and trends on the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance. The report provides an overview of current key processes to improve humanitarian coordination and ends with recommendations for further strengthening the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations.

Georg Charpentier, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, said the peace process had evolved much more dynamically in the past year than it had since 2002. The main element of this improvement was the security situation within the country. Local administration had redeployed, and this was a strong signal for the population. The United Nations system and its partners had to adapt their approach to respond better to the evolving needs, and one of the key elements there was to immediately recognise the presence of local authorities and capacities, more than during the full-blown crisis, and concentrate on working through them rather than on providing direct support. To adapt to this transition, three elements were being examined, one of which was maintaining mechanisms to deliver immediate peace dividends to local communities. The root causes and triggers of conflict should not be neglected.

Alexandre Assemien, Chief of Staff, Ministry of Planning and Development of Côte d'Ivoire, said the socio-political situation in Côte d'Ivoire had more or less returned to normal. There were vital conditions for an effective and irreversible transition, and that needed to go alongside a credible and effective process to get out of the crisis and return to long-term peace. Transitions could only be effective and irreversible within the State and its institutions. Efforts needed to be made to carry out humanitarian and development action together, as it was the restoration of human dignity that was vital for transition. It was important to consolidate social cohesion and the sense of belonging to a single country, despite divisive tendencies. Social steps to stem the effects of the crisis could only be done within the State.

El Tigani Salih Fidail, Minister of International Cooperation, Government of National Unity, Sudan, said the events in Sudan were a lesson that war could end on the negotiating table and not only on the battlefield. The peace was an extraordinary achievement, and it was going well so far. The political will behind the agreement helped all the parties to go ahead with the Agreement. The transition from war to peace proved to be very difficult. Consensus-building took time and was a difficult process, and it was not easy to have an implementation of Agreements at different levels of Government in a decentralised Government. The costs of peace proved to be high and time-consuming.

Luka Biong Deng, Minister of Presidential Affairs, Government of South Sudan, Sudan, said what was very important in this report was that these were the issues that would face the Member States for the future. On the issue of the financial and economic crises, it was clear that the humanitarian aspect would be important. Even the environmental conditions had a lot of bearing on the situation, especially in Africa, where there was going to be increased insecurity. International terrorism was becoming an issue, triggering conflict and violence, and in most cases the South and Africa would be bearing a high proportion of this violence. The world was less safe than before, and this was a challenge, and had to be addressed, as well as the root causes of violence. At this time, the focus should be on strengthening the coordination of humanitarian assistance. The coordination of activities during times of conflict was equally essential.

Toby Lanzer, Deputy United Nations Resident/ Humanitarian Coordinator, Northern Sudan, said the question arose of whether the pace was not too slow, and whether people were not seeing peace dividends. Clearly there were great challenges ahead to ensure that people benefited from the peace process. A lot of work was ongoing with regards to security sector reform. The lead needed to be taken by the Government, and the role of the international community was to support, not to replace, nor to substitute. The international community should ensure that mechanisms were as flexible and useful as could possibly be the case. Mechanisms should be developed in order to fund national organizations, and non-governmental organizations, in particular women's groups, and this needed to begin before the conflict ended. Building capacities took time, and benchmarks often became unrealistic shackles.

Catherine Bragg, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, said the report was an important document, as it had already a significant impact on focusing the attention of the United Nations and Member States on the issue. From a humanitarian aspect, it had not come too soon. Peace-building should remain focused on removing suffering - humanitarian and early-recovery activities could be instrumental in this regard. Activities such as supporting the delivery of basic social services and the return of the displaced often helped to stabilise the overall environment and contributed to the so-called peace dividend, by demonstrating early on to communities that they could and would benefit from peace. The human cost of the inability to secure post-conflict environments were only too clear, and in such situations, OCHA and its humanitarian partners were compelled to direct resources at short-term solutions that did not contribute to long-term development. The United Nations should work together with national Governments to address issues of national reconciliation and disarmament, and to promote sustainable solutions for the population.

During the discussion on the transition from relief to development, among other things, speakers noted that, with regard to peacebuilding and mechanisms available to contribute to peacebuilding itself, that confidence-building measures were the most important in order to build a social dialogue. It was therefore agreed that a joint understanding on what peacebuilding meant and dialogue should be a focus. Speakers also welcomed the emphasis given in the report and by the panellists on the importance of national ownership in peacebuilding. The role of the Peacebuilding Commission should be to build a comprehensive approach to peacebuilding; that approach would include humanitarian assistance and an independent development component for each respective country in question. It was of paramount importance to develop strong systems of preparedness. There was a strong connection between poverty, the vulnerability of both rural and urban livelihoods and the impact of calamities and disasters which demanded emergency relief. It was also important to stress the need for subregional coordination among countries in order to provide for a smooth and sustainable transition phase between emergency relief and sustainable recovery.

Speaking in the interactive dialogue on the transition from relief to development were representatives of El Salvador, Sweden on behalf of the European Union, Russian Federation, the Philippines and Brazil.

Tiina Intelmann, Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council, concluding the meeting, said that a lot had been learned about the challenges facing countries in post-conflict transition, and how the United Nations system could strengthen its response in the immediate aftermath of conflict. The challenges in transition were complex, multiple and time specific. The recommendations called for in the Secretary-General's report provided some concrete suggestions on how the United Nations system could strengthen its response at the right time, and facilitate a more coherent response. National ownership of peacebuilding was critical, and the United Nations and the international community needed to build national capacity early on.


When the Council resumes its work at 10 a.m. on Monday, 20 July, it will start its Humanitarian Segment.


For use of the information media; not an official record


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