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Madam President, I would like to thank the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his briefing and the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission Mr. Skoog as well as Ms. Bouchamaoui for their insightful remarks. We welcome this timely debate organized by the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom. My delegation aligns itself with the statement to be delivered on behalf of the European Union later today. Madam President, Peaceful societies based on the rule of law, access to justice, respect for human rights and accountable and inclusive institutions are both, essential conditions for development and the outcomes of development. This Council has a clear role to play within its Charter responsibilities in conflict prevention, leading countries out of conflict, and supporting the creation of peaceful societies. Better, more coherent cooperation with the Peacebuilding Commission, as discussed by the Council on other occasions, would contribute to this end.

While today’s subject is vast and the issues are many, let me focus of the rule of law and prevention issues.

Whatever conflict we may take, each contains a clear pattern of the breakdown of governance, impunity and lawlessness, exclusion and marginalization, abuse of power and corruption, and a total disregard for human rights.

Thus the final report of the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan  points to, inter alia, the limited attention paid to democracy and structural transformation , the failure to address issues of marginalization and exclusion and long standing inter-south grievances, and failure to address accountability issues.

In the CAR, the weakness of state institutions has been a boon for armed groups, who extort, racketeer, impose illegal taxes and keep a tight hold on the exploitation of natural resources, siphoning off millions  of much needed funds, while the state struggles to fund even the most basic of services.   

In Iraq, Mali and elsewhere continued failure to address lingering grievances, redress exclusion and marginalization of certain groups within the society, led to explosive consequences.

Building accountable governance and  RoL institutions and extending a country’s authority to conflict- affected areas is critical to breaking the negative cycles of conflict and developing stable and peaceful societies.  It is also critical to combatting terrorism, which is threatening each and all of us. Targeted efforts to address key RoL gaps which underpin a conflict must begin early. Ensuring national ownership of these efforts increases the likelihood that the initiatives will be sustained long after peacekeepers are gone.

For RoL mandates to have an impact, identifying and sequencing the most appropriate activities is key.  UN missions need to be provided with  adequate and predictable resources, both in terms of expertise and programmatic  support, to fulfill their RoL mandates. Effective coordination of all actors on the ground – PKOs, regional organizations, bi-lateral actors and  UN entities- is required.

We regret to note that while more than half of all peacekeeping mandates contain clear RoL provisions and are doing important work in the field,  rule of law as a cross-cutting issue only rarely finds its way into the Security Council agenda. Given its importance in state building, post-conflict recovery, and sustaining peace this is hardly the right approach. We need to bring RoL back into the Council’s focus.

On the importance of prevention, Madam President, affirmations are many. More often than not, however, in terms of action this Council tends to do too little too late. In a world of increasingly complex and protracted conflicts and the worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II we should do a lot more in preventing the breakdown of peace rather than trying to fix what is broken. As noted by UNSG, the 2030 agenda should be part and parcel of the preventive efforts,

We have to be much better at reading the warning sins. Among them, violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms are often the first early-warning signs of a conflict. Persistent, unaddressed human-rights violations are also an obstacle to reconciliation and peacebuilding processes, and, therefore, to inclusive development. Implementation of the Rights Up Front initiative is of utmost importance in strengthening preventive, peacebuilding and development efforts.

To  strengthen its preventive capacity, the Council  needs to revisit the instruments it has for the purpose. Horizon scanning, informal DPA briefings, better use of interactive dialogues with regional partners, and more coherent analytical capacity within the Secretariat  can contribute to  an earlier recognition and acting upon the warning signs before they degrade into conflict.

A key element of prevention is inclusivity- of minorities and vulnerable groups of a society, of the youth, of women and girls.  Let us bear in mind that isolation, alienation, and marginalization provide a ready  ground for recruitment for all sorts of extremists and terrorists.

Peace and development will not hold without meaningful and active women’s participation. Since the adoption of landmark resolution 1325, considerable progress has been achieved. But even today, this progress remains far too uneven and not yet irreversible.

Suffice to look at the list of peace talks participants and mediators, where, with a few positive exceptions, women are largely missing. But without their voices and participation, peace and development, be it in Syria, Darfur, Yemen or South Sudan is so much harder to achieve. While not lowering our focus on women as victims of conflict, a lot more needs to be done to reinforce the role of women as protagonists, leaders of peace making, development, and counter-terrorism efforts. 

Finally, let me refer to the implementation of ATT which we see as an important preventive measure and a facilitator of development efforts. The all too easy access to weapons  makes conflict situations even more entrenched. In some cases, even a small number of illicit weapons can have a disproportionate impact on a country’s development, as in the case of small  and small island developing states. ATT implementation also facilitates sustainable development as it reduces the risks of arms getting into the wrong hands and undermining peace and development efforts. 

I thank you.