Peace Council chair appointed to UN Peacebuilding Advisory Group

The Chairman of the National Peace Council (NPC), Most Rev. Professor Emmanuel Asante has been appointed a member of the United Nations Sixth Advisory Group of the Peacebuilding Fund.

A statement issued by the Office of the UN Secretary-General explained that the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund is the organisation’s financial instrument of first resort to sustain peace in countries or situations at risk or affected by violent conflict.

It said from 2006 to 2017, the fund approved a total of $772 million to 41 recipient countries, and from 2017 to 2019, it scaled up its commitments by approving $531 million for 51 countries.

Members

It said the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, who made the appointment last Thursday, also named other members of the group as Ms Anne Anderson of Ireland; Ms Lise Filiatrault, Canada; Ms Liberata Mulamula, Tanzania; Mr Johannes Oljelund, Director-General for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden and Ms Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive, Overseas Development Institute, United Kingdom.

The rest are Mr Stéphane Rey, Head of Peace Policy, Deputy Head of the Human Security Division, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland; Mr Gert Rosenthal, Guatemala; Mr Hanns Heinrich Schumacher, Germany and Ms Marriët Schuurman, Director, Department of Stability and Humanitarian Aid, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands.

The statement said the Secretary-General expressed his gratitude to the members of the fifth Advisory Group that ended their tenure in March 2020 for their advice and support which had considerably strengthened the impact of the fund globally.

Nominations

It said consistent with the terms of reference of the Peacebuilding Fund adopted by the General Assembly, the Secretary-General appointed 10 eminent individuals for a term of two years, taking into consideration gender and regional balance.

It explained that candidates were nominated by member states, including countries contributing to the fund.

COVID-19

The statement said the unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic required sustained investment in peacebuilding now more than ever.

“Consolidating opportunities to build peace as a result of this call is an important task for the international community, and the Peacebuilding Fund is designed to support programming that needs to be started quickly and flexibly where requested,” it stated.

It said the Peacebuilding Fund’s new Strategy 2020-24 was designed to bolster the fund with a target of $1.5 billion in financing for peacebuilding, the most ambitious strategy for the fund to date.