August 21, 2024
Thank you, Mr. President.
I warmly welcome Minister Kabba to this Council. I thank ASG Spehar, Mr. Adeoye, Ms. Samai, and Mr. Descardes for their insightful briefings.
The world can avoid the human tragedy and devastating consequences of conflicts when we are able to prevent them from erupting, from escalating and spreading if they do occur, and from recurring once they have ended.
This approach is highly cost-effective, considering the political, socio-economic, and financial costs of conflicts.
Based on the firm belief that the Security Council has a vital role to play in preventing conflict and its recurrence, Japan held an open debate during our Council presidency in March on the theme of “Promoting Conflict Prevention- Empowering All Actors including Women and Youth”. Therefore, we strongly welcome Sierra Leone’s initiative to hold this open debate.
Today I would like to make the following three points.
First, approaches to conflict prevention must be context specific and nationally-led. Strategically planned transitions that best fit the national context will be more likely to prevent a relapse into conflict, especially in cases where UN peace operations are being reconfigured or withdrawn.
Nationally-led early warning mechanisms can detect and respond to signs of conflict before events escalate.
In implementing such preventive approaches, countries should identify root causes of conflict and sources of resilience, with their national ownership at all levels.
Second, institution building is crucial for people to feel protected and be empowered to effectively address context-specific challenges. Capable institutions can ensure a secure political environment based on the rule of law, provide basic socio-economic services, and foster development.
In a society equipped with such institutions, all individuals, including women and youth, will have the opportunity to unleash their full potential and not only participate in but actively initiate prevention efforts by contributing their abilities to help national institutions. When a national government and local communities cooperate on the ground to build institutional capacity, mutual trust between the government and the people can be strengthened, which in turn can cultivate social cohesion and resilience to advance sustaining peace.
Third, we, the international community, should support nationally led prevention efforts by promoting a whole-of-UN approach, including at the Security Council.
In the open debate in March, many Member States encouraged the Council to incorporate a prevention perspective into its work, including decision-making processes and products such as mandates of peace missions.
In this vein, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is well-suited to provide the Council with advice on prevention issues drawing on relevant experiences of not only different UN bodies but also Member States, as demonstrated when Kenya, Norway, and Timor-Leste presented their national prevention measures at the PBC in March. While it is widely known that any Member State can request meetings in the PBC, here I would like to emphasize that the Council itself can also advise the PBC on establishing its agenda.
Additionally, the Council should encourage its peace operations to fully cooperate and synergize with UN Country Teams to efficiently support the national prevention efforts of host states.
Furthermore, we, the Member States, should collectively renew our commitment to implementing comprehensive approach, nexus approach, securing human security, at the Summit of the Future next month as well as the 2025 Peacebuilding Architecture Review.
I would like to close by recalling that on the occasion of Japan’s Open Debate in March, 67 countries convened at the press stakeout to voice their commitment to promoting conflict prevention. I reaffirm here Japan’s continued belief in pursuing this objective, together with Council members and the Member States.
I thank you.