Intervention by H.E. Ambassador Katalin Annamária Bogyay Permanent Representative at the Open Debate of the Security Council on “Post-conflict Peacebuilding: Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture” on 23 February 2016.
Your Excellency, Mr. President,
Honorable members of the Security Council, Dear Colleagues,
I wish to thank Venezuela for convening this timely open debate which offers us the opportunity to contribute to the undergoing peacebuilding architecture review process facilitated by Angola and Australia.
While fully supporting the statement delivered by the European Union, please allow me to add a few observations in my national capacity.
Mr. President,
At the outset, Hungary supports all efforts which aim at making peacebuilding more effective and recognize the need to apply a holistic and integrated approach in order to be able to sustain peace.
As rightly pointed out by the Advisory Group of Experts and also recognized in the resolution currently being drafted, peacebuilding must be understood as an inherently political process that requires strengthening the synergy among the related efforts of conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, recovery and development.
Mr. President,
We believe that a much stronger emphasis should be given to conflict prevention through early engagement using all available tools for early warning and for political mediation in order to prevent the outbreak or escalation of conflicts.
As a simple pragmatic justification, we could argue that while responding to violent conflicts is very expensive, preventing lapse and relapse into conflict requires relatively little resources. Moreover, it allows us to save hundreds of thousands of human lives.
For these reasons, Hungary particularly welcomes the call for strengthening the role of global-regional partnerships in peacebuilding with a special focus on prevention and mediation. We believe there is a need to further strengthen the formal and informal mechanisms of engagement at the strategic level, including, if possible, through the adoption by the Security Council of a clearer methodology for consultation with its counterparts at the regional and sub-regional levels.
Mr. President,
While we recognize the central role of the UN in sustaining peace, there are numerous other stakeholders – public and private, domestic, regional and international – who share this responsibility and play an active and important role in this field. We are of the view that the great potential of effective partnership between the UN and the international financial institutions should be fully utilized. In addition, we consider the engagement of civil society, local communities, religious leaders, women and youth groups also essential in assisting the realization of sustained peace.
Mr. President,
The Hungarian Government is of the view that in order to be successful in preventing conflicts or rebuilding conflict-torn countries we must tackle the root causes.
Hungary as Co-Chair of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, worked with Member States to ensure that Goal 16 explicitly recognizes the linkage among peace, inclusion, sustainable development, justice and accountability. We – Member States – all agreed that the rule of law, equal access to justice, effective, accountable and transparent institutions as well as responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels are equally necessary for establishing peaceful and inclusive societies.
Mr. President,
The importance of women’s participation in peacebuilding cannot be overemphasized. Women are crucial partners in the transition from war to peace. They are key agents for promoting social cohesion, political legitimacy and economic recovery. This is especially relevant in places where peace had broken down and conflict has shifted focus away from cooperation towards division and hatred. We hope that the outcome of the review process will also adequately recognize this.
In this context, I would also like to stress that education in general– but of women, youth and marginalized groups in particular – also has an important role both in preventing conflicts and in post-conflict peace building. We believe that the only way to achieve and preserve peace within and also among societies is through dialogue, tolerance, and the respect of cultural diversity. We consider the realization of the right to education as the cornerstone of lasting peace, since ignorance, misunderstanding, the erosion of culture, and the loss of cultural identities are often the starting points for fanaticism and thus conflicts.
Mr. President,
Let me close my statement by emphasizing that ensuring accountability for serious international crimes – due to its proven deterrent effect – should be a key component of peacebuilding efforts. Bringing perpetrators to justice helps to heal the wounds of societies torn by such crimes. In this context, we support the strengthening of national justice mechanisms, but we also acknowledge the possibility of choosing alternative means, such as the International Criminal Court, ad hoc tribunals or hybrid mechanisms, when national judicial institutions are not available.
I thank you for your attention.
