Sustainable peace and development positively reinforce each other. The joint meeting provided an opportunity to explore links between the 2030 Agenda and sustaining peace, particularly with regard to global targets of creating peaceful and inclusive societies, providing just and accountable institutions, as well as the drivers of conflict.

Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is predicted to be most difficult in conflict-affected countries where the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were lagging further behind. Extreme poverty is increasingly concentrated in conflict-affected areas and leaving no one behind will require concerted efforts across the United Nations to deliver as one.

African countries richest in natural resources tend to be characterized by great inequality, which drives conflicts that consequently inhibit social development. Uneducated and unemployed youth is a common characteristic across countries experiencing conflict. Resolving conflicts through peacebuilding as well as reconciling social contracts between governments and civil society can lead to resilient and secure states in which development occurs.

Meeting: Economic and Social Council and Peacebuilding Commission Meeting on the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustaining Peace’

Date/Time/Location: June 24, 2016; 10:00 – 13:00; Economic and Social Council Chamber

Speakers: H.E. Mr. Oh Joon, President of the Economic and Social Council; H.E. Mr. Mancharia Kamau, Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission; H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Dr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa; H.E. Mr. David Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations; H.E. Ms. Annika Söder, State Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sweden; H.E. Mr. Juan Sandoval Mendiolea, Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations; H.E. Ms. Gillian Bird, Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations

Written By: Lena Courcol