ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday reiterated support for the United Nations peacekeeping and peace-building efforts and called for addressing the root causes of conflicts for ensuring sustainable peace.

Speaking at the virtual High Level Replenishment Conference for the UN Secretary General’s Peace-Building Fund (PBF), Mr Qureshi pledged a contribution of $25,000 from Pakistan to the fund and said the move underscored Pakistan’s longstanding political, human and financial commitment to the UN’s endeavours for peacekeeping and peace-building.

The conference was held to get commitments for Fund’s $1.5 billion requirements for the period of 2020-24 and generate support for conflict prevention and peace-building.

Other participating countries to the conference pledged a total of about $439 million in support of the Fund’s 2020-2024 strategy.

The PBF, set up in 2005 and revitalised in 2016, is utilised by the UN to sustain peace in countries or situations at risk or affected by violent conflict.

The Fund’s new Strategy 2020-2024 places emphasis on inclusion of women and youth in peace-building; facilitating transitions and tackling cross-border or regional risks.

The foreign minister stressed that ‘national ownership’ must remain at the centre of peace-building and should determine all investment decisions of the PBF. “The national ownership must remain the core principle of peace-building and determine all PBF investment decisions. Durable peace within nations cannot be externally imposed,” he said.

He urged the United Nations to address root causes of conflicts. “Let me also take this opportunity to welcome the UN Secretary General’s Peace-Building Fund Strategy 2020-2024 which focuses on the imperative of conflict prevention,” he said.

“I hope the strategy will galvanise actions to address the root causes of conflicts, which arise from injustices and inequality as well as the suppression of the fundamental rights of peoples, especially the right of self-determination of peoples under foreign occupation, colonial oppression and alien domination,” he further said.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2021