Photo: UN.ORG

In today’s morning meeting, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the peace operations of the United Nations, as well as the Security Councils resolution of item 1325 regarding women, peace and security. Mr. Ki-Moon noted that the welfare of all people is at the heart of the peace operations, as well as building new partnerships, and the role of women in both peace and security. Mr. Ban Ki-moon also talked about the implementation that was outlined in previous reviews of peace operations. He underlined the important points that these reviews represent a roadmap, moving towards a more successful future and for more effective conflict prevention, stronger partnerships and greater participation of women and youth. The importance of member states and the secretariat working together being a key element was mentioned.

The first peace operation are now being carried out and are being tailored to prevailing conditions and through a comprehensive understanding of the current environment. Expertise from the United Nations is key in finding success in these plans, as well as reviewing key administrative and logistical processes to see how they can better support the peace operations. Mr. Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of The United Nations, continued by giving current details of the global studies that have shown strong evidence that women empowerment transforms society. He mentioned that their 7 point action plan is the first entity that reached 50% allocation on focusing principally on gender equality and women equality. He called on member states to do more on involving women. A last note was made about funding and how less than 2% of peace and security funding was channeled to programs focusing on gender equality. A radical change in funding focus was said to be of utmost importance.

Meeting: Informal meeting of the General Assembly to hear a briefing by the Secretary-General on the implementation of the recommendations outlined in the most recent reviews on United Nations peace operations, the peacebuilding architecture, and the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women,  peace and security

Date/Time/Location: Thursday, June 9, 2016; 10:00-13:00; Conference Room 1

Speakers: Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations; Mr.Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of The United Nations; Mr. Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support.

Written by: WIT representative, Amirali Agha-Khan

Written by: WIT Administrator, Modou Cham