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Civil society endorses post-2015 statement

28 September 2012

Over 50 peacebuilding and development organisations have endorsed a joint civil society statement arguing for the inclusion of peacebuilding and violence prevention as key elements of the post-2015 Development Framework.

The statement was developed by a global network of civil society organisations, in a process co-ordinated by the Alliance for Peacebuilding and Saferworld. It sets out ten key recommendations on how peacebuilding and violence prevention can most effectively be integrated into the post-Millennium Development Goals. Recommendations include commitments to address the key drivers of conflict, not only its symptoms, and defining peace and development as best upheld by states that are inclusive, responsive, fair and accountable to all their people.

The statement was launched at a meeting hosted by the Quaker UN Office (QUNO) in New York on Monday 24 September which was jointly organised by QUNO, Saferworld, Cordaid and the Alliance for Peacebuilding. It was also presented during a dialogue session between civil society and members of the United Nations High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, on the eve of the first meeting of the panel. The statement recognises the finding of the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda that “violent conflict has become the largest obstacle to the MDGs”.

At the launch event, Saferworld presented the joint statement, calling for a post-2015 development framework that helps address the key global drivers of conflict that have trapped over two thirds of the world’s 50 poorest nations in poverty. Civil society representatives from Liberia, Togo and South Sudan then explained how issues of inclusiveness, equality and responsive governance are essential requirements for sustainable development in their own countries. Their presentations were followed by responses from members of the g7+ secretariat, a USAID representative and key United Nations staff.

Later on the same day, a member of the CSO team, Paul Okumu, Head of Secretariat of the Africa Civil Society Platform on Principled Partnership (ACP), was one of two keynote civil society speakers at a meeting between the UN Post-2015 High Level Panel and civil society. He emphasized the need for the 1.5 billion people living in fragile states not to be again left behind, and the need for a new and better narrative to underpin the post-2015 framework.

On Wednesday 26 September, Lancedell Mathews, Executive Director of New African Research and Development Agency, Liberia, delivered a speech on behalf of civil society to the President of Liberia, the Prime Minister of Timor Leste, and other heads of state at the High-Level side event ‘The New Deal: g7+ Experiences and Perspectives’. Mathews emphasised that ‘peacebuilding, and conflict prevention, should and certainly must be made the priority if we want to see progress in development.’ According to Mathews, ‘No society is immune from fragility – and all societies can guard against it through the principles of inclusiveness, responsiveness, fairness and accountability’.

The participation of this civil society team from fragile states in key events focused on peacebuilding and the post-2015 agenda at the opening of this year’s UN General Assembly has been jointly supported by the Quaker UN Office, Saferworld and Cordaid.

“Recommendations include commitments to address the key drivers of conflict, not only its symptoms, and defining peace and development as best upheld by states that are inclusive, responsive, fair and accountable to all their people.”

Joint civil society statement on post-2015 development framework