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Security Council, acting concurrently with General Assembly, establishes Peacebuilding commission to advise on post-conflict situations.

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M2 PRESSWIRE-21 December 2005-UN: Security Council, acting concurrently with General Assembly, establishes Peacebuilding commission to advise on post-conflict situations(C)1994-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:20122005

The Security Council, acting concurrently with the General Assembly, today put into operation a major decision of the 2005 World Summit and established a Peacebuilding Commission as an intergovernmental advisory body to advise the Council at its request on post-conflict situations.

Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 1645 (2005), the Council decided that the main purposes of the Commission, which would act only on the basis of consensus, were: to advise on and propose integrated strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery; to focus attention on the reconstruction and institution-building efforts necessary for recovery and to support the development of integrated strategies for sustainable development; and to provide recommendations and information to improve United Nations coordination. The Commission's agenda will be set at the request of the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General, or Member States on the "verge of lapsing or relapsing into conflict".

The Council also decided that the Commission should have a 31-member Organizational Committee, comprising: seven Security Council members, including permanent members, seven members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) elected from regional groups, with due consideration to those countries that have experienced post-conflict recovery; five top providers of assessed contributions to United Nations budgets and of voluntary contributions to United Nations funds, programmes and agencies; and five top providers of military personnel and civilian police to United Nations missions.

Giving due consideration to representation from all regional groups in the Committee's overall composition and to representation from countries that "have experienced post-conflict recovery", the Assembly would elect seven additional members. A Member State, however, could only be selected from one of the above categories at any one time, and serve for renewable two-year terms.

The Council underlined that, in post-conflict situations on its agenda, particularly when there was a United Nations-mandated peacekeeping mission on the ground or under way, the Commission's main purpose was to advise the Council at its request. It recommended that the Commission terminate its consideration of a country-specific situation when foundations for sustainable peace and development were established or upon the request of the national authorities.

It also underlined that the advice of the Commission to provide sustained attention as countries moved from transitional recovery towards development would be of particular relevance to the ECOSOC, bearing in mind its role as a principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on issues of economic and social development.

The Council also decided that country-specific meetings of the Commission should include as members of the Committee, representatives of: the country under consideration; countries in the region engaged in the post-conflict process; the major financial, troop and civilian police contributors involved in the recovery; the senior United Nations representative in the field, among others; and such regional and international financial institutions as might be relevant.

It was further decided that the Secretary-General would be invited to...

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