Peacebuilding Commission Meeting on the Sahel region and the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel 28 April 2021, 10:00 AM (New York time) Concept Note Background Over the past few years, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) has been supporting regional peacebuilding priorities in the Sahel, including within the framework of the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) and its UN support plan (UNSP)1. In S/PRST/2021/3, the Security Council encouraged the Peacebuilding Commission’s continued engagement in support of the Sahel and UNISS. The Council called on UNOWAS to work with all elements of the UN system at Headquarters and in West Africa and the Sahel, in particular the Regional Collaborative Platform, to strengthen integrated responses to the challenges facing the region, and in that respect welcomed the appointment of Abdoulaye Mar Dieye as the UN Special Coordinator for development in the Sahel. The Council also encouraged greater coherence and coordination with partners in the region to help enhance the regional implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the African Union Agenda 2063. In the last PBC meeting on the Sahel and UNISS on 14 October 2020, there were calls for scaling up in resource mobilization and even stronger support from the international community to ensure that the security, governance and resilience pillars of the UNISS are efficiently implemented. Since then, the situation in the Sahel has remained precarious, as evidenced by the intensification of terrorist and violent extremist attacks against security and defence forces as well as civilians, especially in central Sahel. The Sahel region continues to face multi-dimensional challenges, including inter-communal violence, attacks against schools, farmers’ and herders’ conflicts, food insecurity, gender-based violence and forced displacements, while at the same time trying to address governance challenges and strengthen regional, national and local institutions. 1,170 violent events were observed in Mali, Burkina Faso, and western Niger in 2020, representing a 44 percent increase over the previous year2. According to The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), violent extremist activities, intercommunal clashes, criminality and violence against civilians by different actors have doubled in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger between 2018 to 2020, resulting in 2,370 civilian recorded fatalities in 2020. In addition, the western regions of Niger have witnessed a growing death toll among civilians since the beginning of 2021, with at least 300 people killed in three main attacks. According to OCHA, 14 million people are food insecure and 28.5 million need assistance and protection across the Sahel today. Six countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria) have developed Humanitarian Response Plans for 2021, targeting 20.9 million people and requiring a total of US$ 3.7 billion to bring the response to scale. 1 The support plan targets Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and The Gambia. It is built around six priority areas: (i) Cross-border cooperation; (ii) Prevention and sustaining peace; (iii) Inclusive growth; (iv) Climate action; (v) Renewable energy and (vi) Women. 2 https://africacenter.org/spotlight/spike-militant-islamist-violence-africa-shifting-security-landscape/ 1 The G5 Sahel Joint Force, the Multinational Joint Taskforce, the national armies of the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, external armed forces, ECOWAS and the AU have been making efforts to address the security challenges in the region, including with Security Council- mandated operational and logistical support from MINUSMA to the G5 Sahel Joint Force. On 16 February, at the 7th Ordinary Session of the Authority of the Heads of State of the G5 Sahel, held in N’Djamena, there was collective recognition that beyond the military effort, there is a need for a “civil surge” through the return of State authority, the delivery of basic social services and the consolidation of the rule of law and good governance as crucial for the attainment of sustainable peace and the stabilization of the G5 Sahel countries. Continuous United Nations and international support and funding to the priorities identified by the Group of Five for the Sahel and their institutions therefore remains critical, including through support to the Programme d’Investissement Prioritaire (PIP) and the national Plans d’Urgence. The UN, in collaboration with some G5 Sahel countries, the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the AU and other partners, has recently scaled-up efforts to implement the Regional Strategy for the Stabilization, Recovery and Resilience of the Boko Haram-affected areas of the Lake Chad Basin region. As part of that initiative, WFP has scaled up its support package for the Sahel, which is currently reaching more than1.7 million beneficiaries through integrated resilience activities. These include the participation of 8,000 lower school students in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal in a safe space created by schools and teachers for social dialogue, which fostered empathy and respect for pluralism through child-centred approaches. During the 2nd General Assembly of the Sahel Alliance, held on 15 February in N’ Djamena, representatives of the G5 Sahel and the Sahel Alliance recognized UNDP’s stabilization facilities as key “civil surge” instruments. The successful experience in the Lake Chad Basin is being replicated in the Liptako Gourma area, where the UN is currently supporting the kickstart of the Liptako Gourma Authority Stabilization program, in collaboration with the African Union and ECOWAS. The Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) remains instrumental in the implementation of the UNISS. In 2020 only, the PBF invested $51.4m in 26 projects, representing 29.5% of its 2020 total investments, with a strong focus on cross- border and regional cooperation for stability and development. In addition, the UN has been accompanying the G5 Sahel on the reforms of its Executive Secretariat and related structures. UNOWAS supported the Mauritanian presidency of the G5 Sahel in the implementation of its road map last year. In addition, UNOWAS and the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) continue to support the Sahelian Threat Analysis and Early Warning Centre of the G5 Sahel in Ouagadougou and its Regional Cell for the Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Nouakchott. Together with the International Organization for Migration, UNOWAS assisted the Regional Cell in the implementation of its national action plan in Mauritania. The UN system has also helped the G5 Sahel to adopt a gender strategy that guides security related activities in the concerned countries; establish Airport Integrated Task Forces, Border Police Posts, mobile border control units, and immigration offices; develop a Directive on the Joint Force Police; undertake civilian protection activities; and enhance synergy between the G5 Sahel Joint Force and national criminal justice chains. Ensuring a multi-faceted approach that combines military response with development interventions and empowers women and youth has become all the more difficult at a time when COVID-19 risks reversing development gains of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and threatens the livelihoods of millions of people in the G5 Sahel region and the Lake Chad Basin. The African Union, Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms have taken initiatives to support health systems in 2 the Sahel nations in their responses to COVID-19. The AU created a Response Fund to help protect lives and livelihoods. Several European and international donors have channelled support through the Sahel-Alliance, pledging EUR 800 million to build health capacity and assist G5 Sahel governments in limiting the economic impact of the pandemic. The World Bank and IMF are also acting to support G5 Sahel economies, while the African Development Bank approved USD 20 million to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the G5 Sahel countries3. COVID-19 reinforces the need to address the root causes of the increasing violence in the G5 Sahel region and further highlights the need for multilateral support and international cooperation to protect the gains achieved so far, including through debt-relief initiatives to alleviate the enormous pressure over Sahel countries and enable them to prioritize responses to the multiple challenges they face. The UN system has also expanded its efforts to support the G5 Sahel countries’ COVID-19 response and recovery plans for enhanced social protection systems, while ensuring that the Sahelian countries remain on the path towards peace, stability and development. In the meantime, a large number of women and girls in the Sahel region continue to be the targets of gender-based violence, and to be excluded from full, equal and meaningful participation in political, decision-making and peace processes, a situation that has only been aggravated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maternal health has been woefully underserved and constraints for adolescent girls in accessing and completing secondary education have increased. Investments in education and improved access to adequate healthcare services for girls, as well as in local economic development programs, are needed in the Sahel more than ever. In response, UN Women supports the G5 Sahel Secretariat for the institutionalization of gender and strengthening of women’s leadership for peace and security in the region. More than 650 women from the G5 Sahel platform of women mediators continue to sensitize communities for peace and conflict prevention in border regions of the Sahel and in the Lake Chad Basin region. In addition, in an effort to help address the adverse effects of climate change in the Sahel4, which have recently led to massive floods and caused the destruction of property across the region, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has recently pledged to mobilize up to $6.5 billion over a period of five years in support of the Great Green Wall, an innovative initiative against desertification and land degradation in the Sahel.