Peacebuilding Commission (PBC)

(Ad Hoc)

It is often cited that roughly half of all countries that emerge from violent conflict relapse into violence within five years. This is why the Peacebuilding Commission was founded. The Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is a relatively new body in the United Nations. It is a subsidiary organ of the Security Council. The PBC is an intergovernmental advisory body and supports peace efforts in countries emerging from conflicts. Together with the establishment of the PBC, a Peace building Fund and Peace building Support Office were founded. These form the United Nations Peace building architecture. The PBC is quite unique, because it brings together all relevant factors to building peace, including donors, international financial institutions, national governments and troop contributing countries. The PBC marshals resources, makes advices, and proposes integrated strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding, where they keep mind all factors that threaten peace in an area. Countries can be referred to the PBC by the Security Council and the Secretary-General, as well as by the country itself, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council in exceptional cases. Most of the PBC’s work is done in country-specific meetings. In these country-specific meetings, peace building challenges specific to the country receiving advice, are addressed. In these meetings, all PBC members and other relevant stakeholders (such as representatives from the selected country) come together. The PBC is likely to deal with any country emerging form conflict, once a peace accord had been achieved and there is a bit of security. When the Government does not want to appear before the PBC, it is unlikely the country will be included on the PBC’s agenda. At present, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, and Guinee-Bissau are on the agenda of the PBC. The PBC supports the development of a peacebuilding framework document for the country and the development of a mechanism in-country to monitor progress in achieving key peacebuilding goals. The PBC at UN headquarters can use the peacebuilding framework document and consultations that take place in its meetings to sustain international interest in the selected country, marshal resources for peacebuilding there and bring attention to potential threats to peace. The PBC is able to give advice to relevant bodies (mostly within the UN system) on peacebuilding in a country.