Explanation of Vote on the Peacebuilding Commission

Thank you Mr. President,

The United States was pleased to support the concurrent resolutions in the Security Council and the General Assembly, which have now established the Peace Building Commission (PBC) that our heads of state and government committed to at the September Summit. We congratulate the Permanent Representatives of Denmark and Tanzania, and the President of the General Assembly for their tireless work on these resolutions.

We must now turn our attention to seeing that the PBC in fact now realizes its potential to make an important contribution to the work of the Security Council to build sustainable peace in the aftermath of immediate threats to international peace and security. The resolution emphasizes that the PBC must take into account the primary responsibility of the Security Council under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security, which would include the Council’s role in the coordination of efforts to maintain peace and security on the ground.

Our common imperative is to create a cost-effective, efficient advisory institution, capable of ensuring the successful transition from peacekeeping operations into peacebuilding, providing important advice but not duplicating work. The PBC can most effectively help prevent nations from sliding back into conflict by ensuring that the Security Council is aware of all the elements that are essential to achieving sustainable peace in a given nation, from immediate humanitarian assistance to transitional security to national efforts at institution building. This will assist the Security Council as it develops the UN mandate for the countries under consideration or oversees the implementation of the mandate already in place. Meeting in country-specific working groups, the PBC should advise the Council on facilitating coordination of international efforts in post-conflict settings, both within and without the UN system.

We underline that the resolutions provide that, with respect to matters being considered by the Security Council, the PBC’s main purpose will be to provide advice at the Council’s request. The authority of the Security Council to decide whether and when the PBC should be asked to address such matters is important to ensure that the Council may effectively exercise its primary responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security. This is also necessary for the PBC to be effective. In light of this main purpose of the PBC, we expect that its Organizational Committee will include on the Commission’s agenda any such matter requested by the Security Council.

We also note that the resolutions provide that the PBC shall meet in various configurations, and shall act in all matters on the basis of consensus of its members. This consensus requirement applies to all of the various configurations in which the PBC may meet, including, for example, to the Organizational Committee and to country-specific meetings. It also applies to all matters, including any decisions on matters to be considered by the PBC or advice the PBC provides.

We stress that Paragraph 27 of the resolutions provides that a review of the PBC’s arrangements after five years, and any changes resulting from such a review, will be decided under the same procedures referred to in Paragraph 1 of the resolutions. The need for approval by both the Security Council and the General Assembly for any changes in the PBC’s governing arrangements is of course inherent in the manner in which the Commission is being created, and is not limited to changes resulting from the five-year review that is mentioned specifically in Paragraph 27. The five-year review will offer an important opportunity to determine whether the Commission is working well, needs revision, or is not meeting its intended purpose.

Progress on the PBC reminds us of the urgency of broader institutional reform regarding the UN budget. We have a collective interest in ensuring that reforms required to reduce costs and waste across the board are successful.

Thank you, Mr. President.