Peacebuilding Week: 20 Years of Prevention, Peace & Progress - Press Conference | United Nations

Kicking off the first-ever Peacebuilding Week, UN senior official for peacebuilding Elizabeth Spehar said, “investing in prevention is cost effective.” Mandated by the 2025 General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on the Peacebuilding Architecture Review (PBAR), the inaugural Peacebuilding Week provides a dedicated platform to advance dialogue, share experiences and strengthen partnerships across the peacebuilding community. The Week also marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund. Speaking to reporters, Assistant Secretary-General Elizabeth Spehar said that Peacebuilding Week provides the international community with a number of opportunities. “It provides us an opportunity to convene governments and all partners around a shared agenda for peace. It allows us to reflect on 20 years of peacebuilding and learn from good practices,” she added. Spehar continued, “it helps us to focus and to look ahead and build on the momentum that we have created over the years and hopefully focus in areas such as innovation, inclusion and impact.” The Assistant Secretary-General also reiterated that the annual Peacebuilding Week is an opportunity – at least once a year – to focus on the fact that “we are not investing enough in prevention. We are not investing enough in peacebuilding. There’s a lot more money going to war.” She continued, “There's a lot more money going to deterrence without deterrence being undergirded by a more comprehensive approach to building and sustaining peace. I think that's the more dangerous way forward. And each and every year we can reflect on that.” Spehar added, “during Peacebuilding Week, we can look at our strategies, we can look at the challenges, we can look at what we've achieved, and we can get real about matching our action to the rhetoric.” As the Chair of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, Moroccan Ambassador Omar Hilale said, “a single thread runs through these days from risk to resilience, from fragility to stability, from fine words to firm needs. It is the conviction that peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of opportunity, of justice and of hope.” He continued, “the commission you will see at work this week is resolved to honor the promise of the review. Greater national ownership, closer partnership with international financial institutions, financing, financing that is more predictable and above all, results that reach the women, the men and the young people still waiting for the dividend of peace.” Egypt and Slovenia are the co-facilitators for Member States organizing side events and implementing the recent Peacebuilding Architecture Review (PBAR) resolutions. Ambassador of Egypt Ihab Moustafa Awad Moustafa said, “our common objective, Slovenia and Egypt during this week will be to support a presentation of how nationally identified priorities can deliver impact on the ground.” He said, “for Africa, these principles are particularly relevant. Egypt has advocated for strengthening national capacities for conflict prevention and peacebuilding, supporting African led solutions, and enhancing cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union.” Slovenian Ambassador Samuel Žbogar highlighted that the Peacebuilding Week is making the Peacebuilding Architecture Review a process instead of a one-off event every five years, He said, “the topics that were raised discussed is the most important for Member States are then continue to be discussed throughout the year, but then in concentrated form during the Peacebuilding Week. And I believe that this Peacebuilding week are guarantee that the next piece, PBAR in five years will have so much more elements for discussion.”