UN Statement October 13, 2008

October 13, 2008

ADDRESSING GENERAL ASSEMBLY, PRESIDENTS OF TRIBUNALS FOR RWANDA, FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

APPEAL FOR TIME TO WRAP UP PENDING CASES, COOPERATION ON OUTSTANDING FUGITIVES

Assembly also Wraps up Consideration of Second Annual
Reports of Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Fund

JOANNA GASH (Australia) said the Commission's success would depend "in no small part" on the active engagement of its Chairperson and the Chairs of the country-specific configurations. In the last year, the Commission had moved beyond its initial procedural difficulties to develop more effective working methods, and the agenda had expanded to include Guinea-Bissau and the Central African Republic. It had tackled important substantive issues, including the role of the private sector.

Through the Peacebuilding Fund, $86 million had been allocated to projects in countries on the agenda, and Australia supported use of the Fund as a catalytic tool to ensure the immediate release of resources. She was equally encouraged that bilateral and multilateral donors had supplemented those efforts with targeted assistance, and that the Commission continued to work in a flexible manner.

At the same time, the challenges ahead were significant and the Commission must continue to refine its approach, she said. The country specific configurations, in particular, must improve their tools, while the monitoring mechanisms must be refined to include specific indicators and benchmarks, and strategic frameworks should continue to adapt to local conditions. Further, the Commission must ensure that concrete experience with such issues as elections and land reform translated into a wider body of knowledge that informed future efforts. In closing, she noted that more than half of States emerging from conflict relapsed within 10 years. While it was too early to judge the Commission, there was reason for optimism with its progress to date.