Making Peacebuilding Work Reforming UN Peacekeeping Operations Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project Frederick Barton Bathsheba Crocker Co-Director Co-Director PARTICIPANT LIST Morten von Hanno Aasland Jostein Leiro Embassy of Norway to the United States Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Salman Ahmed Ambassador Ellen Løj UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations Toshinori Akagi Marie-Isabelle Massip Embassy of Japan to the United States Foreign Affairs, Canada Gunnar Aldén Matthew McLean Embassy of Sweden to the United States House International Relations Committee Rick Barton Johanna Mendelson-Forman Center for Strategic and International Studies United Nations Foundation Rex Brynen Ambassador Vanu Gopala Menon McGill University Permanent Mission of Singapore to the United Nations Dawn Calabia Abdul Mohammed United Nations Information Center African Union Simon Chesterman Eric Morris New York University UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sarah Cliffe Hiroyuki Namazu World Bank Embassy of Japan to the United States Joan Condon Charles North House International Relations Committee U.S. Agency for International Development Bathsheba Crocker Ambassador Cyrille Oguin Center for Strategic and International Studies Embassy of the Republic of Benin to the United States Rosemary DiCarlo Roland Paris National Security Council University of Colorado Michael Dziedzic Ambassador Carlos Pascual U.S. Institute of Peace Department of State Ambassador Jan Eliasson Stewart Patrick Embassy of Sweden to the United States Center for Global Development Paul Foldi Ambassador Joe Robert Pemagbi Senate Foreign Relations Committee Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations Shepard Forman Michael Phelan New York University Senate Foreign Relations Committee Paolo Galli Florian Reindel United Nations Development Program Embassy of Germany to the United States Ashraf Ghani Einar Rystad Kabul University Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kirsten Gilley Kirsti Samuels House International Relations Committee International Peace Academy Michele Griffin Mark Schneider UN Department of Political Affairs International Crisis Group Lars Petter Henie Eric Schwartz Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Council on Foreign Relations Victoria Holt Jennifer Simon Henry L. Stimson Center Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bruce Jones David Smith Office of the UN Secretary-General United Nations Information Center Ruchira Kamboj Richard Sokolsky Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Department of State Douglas Keh Hilde Solbakken United Nations Development Program Embassy of Norway to the United States Afshan Khan Julia Taft United Nations Children’s Fund United Nations Information Center Bernadette Kilroy Matthew Taylor Department of State Embassy of the United Kingdom to the United States Stephen Krasner Lisa Tepper Department of State Department of State Mark Lagon Department of State Since 1962, the Center for Strategic and International Studies has been dedicated to providing world leaders with strategic insights and policy solutions to current and emerging global issues. CSIS is a private, bipartisan organization headquartered in Washington D.C., and led by John J. Hamre, former deputy secretary of defense. This discussion paper is a product of CSIS’s Post-Conflict Reconstruction (PCR) Project, which is dedicated to improving the strategic and operational effectiveness of post-conflict interventions. Frederick Barton and Bathsheba Crocker co-direct the Project. This paper offers recommendations on the creation of a United Nations Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office. The Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change first proposed the idea for a Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office in December 2004. The Secretary-General’s March 21, 2005 report, “In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All,” further outlined the idea.1 The Secretary-General’s office is currently in the process of developing a more detailed proposal of how such a Commission and Office would function in practice. Making Peacebuilding Work reports on the full-day conference CSIS held on March 11, 2005, with support from the Government of Norway and the United Nations Foundation. Sixty-six conference participants explored reactions to the High-level Panel report’s post- conflict peacebuilding recommendations. What follows has not been reviewed by conference participants, and does not necessarily reflect their positions or beliefs. Points of consensus and specific policy recommendations have been noted throughout. PCR Project researcher Craig Cohen served as the rapporteur for the conference, and drafted this report in coordination with PCR Project leadership and staff. 1 See “In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All,” 3/21/2005, http://www.un.org/largerfreedom/. A synopsis of the Secretary-General’s proposal on the Peacebuilding Commission appears at Appendix A. 2 Key Points of Discussion Ø Participants saw major gaps in current UN peacebuilding efforts, including functional deficiencies with security sector reform and strategies to establish rule of law, as well as significant coordination and planning deficits. Ø There was broad consensus that peacebuilding should become a signature product of the United Nations, and that the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office could potentially help to achieve this goal. Participants agreed that ultimately any new institution would be judged by its ability to provide better outcomes in failing states and war-torn societies. Ø Most participants agreed that the Peacebuilding Commission should play a similar role to that which the Secretary-General outlined in his March 21 report. Debate centered on the following three questions regarding the Commission’s establishment: 1) Could the Peacebuilding Commission function as an advisory body with clout? A number of participants argued that if the Commission is comprised of both UN and non-UN members, the Commission will not be able to function as a decision-making body. To ensure that the Commission functions as more than merely a talk shop, however, they suggested the Commission play a key role in advising the Security Council on funding priorities in peacebuilding operations and identifying countries that deserve the Security Council’s continued attention. 2) Could the Commission play a preventive role without having an early warning or monitoring function? A number of participants warned that charging the Commission with an overtly preventative role could stall the reform effort at the start. Participants agreed, however, that conflict prevention was an essential goal of post-conflict peacebuilding, and that the Commission could work to prevent conflict by reducing risk of countries sliding back toward war and instability. 3) Could the Commission focus on the critical six to nine months after the cessation of conflict without losing sight of the longer-term process of statebuilding? Participants debated whether the Commission’s role should be time-bound, or whether it should last until traditional development relationships resume. 3 Introduction No reform proposal emerging from the UN High-level Panel report has met with more widespread enthusiasm than the suggestion to create a Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office. The general feeling both at UN headquarters in New York and in most world capitals is that this is an idea whose time has come. With the United Nations increasingly under fire from many directions, the organization must deliver on a package of concrete reforms by the September Heads of State summit in New York. Trying to deliver on issues weighed down by heavy political baggage— Security Council enlargement, General Assembly reform, agreement on principles governing the use of force—may stall the entire reform process. Creating a Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office could be the greatest chance for the United Nations to demonstrate its intention to reform, thereby serving as a foundation for future reform efforts. Success in this area would also further the United Nation’s core mission of ending war and preventing the reemergence of conflict. It is within this context that the Post-Conflict Reconstruction (PCR) Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), with the support of the Government of Norway and the United Nations Foundation, assembled a group of 66 policy makers, practitioners, and Creating a Peacebuilding scholars from the United Nations, multilateral Commission and partners and member states, and the Peacebuilding Support Office academic and foundation world for a full-day conference on March 11, 2005 in Washington, could be the greatest chance D.C. to discuss peacebuilding reform. for the United Nations to demonstrate its intention to Despite the general enthusiasm for new reform. peacebuilding architecture within the United Nations, most agreed that the plans to date on how a Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support Office should look and function have been vague and insufficient to allow assessment of their true potential.2 As with all reform proposals, several participants voiced, the devil is in the details. There was broad consensus, however, that this peacebuilding reform effort is vital to international stability and to a working system of collective