International IDEA Highlights Role of Regional Organizations, Civil Society in Building Peaceful Societies for Development

STOCKHOLM – NEW YORK - The inclusion of proposed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels – provides a landmark opportunity to integrate peace and security into international development work. Global actors have called for the United Nations (UN) Peacebuilding Architecture, regional organizations and civil society organizations (CSOs) to coordinate their work in order to ensure effective implementation of the UN post-2015 development framework.

International IDEA facilitates the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy, a platform for peer-to-peer exchange on democracy among regional organizations. It promotes strengthened cooperation among regional organizations, as well as greater collaboration between regional organizations and CSOs in fostering peaceful societies and local ownership for development.

Accordingly, International IDEA and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) are holding a side-event to the High-Level Thematic Debate of the General Assembly on “Strengthening Cooperation between the UN and Regional and Sub-Regional Organizations” on 4 May at UN Headquarters. Sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Ghana and the Netherlands to the UN and the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS), the side-event discusses further strengthening of the peacebuilding/development nexus by regional organizations and CSOs at all levels.

The side-event aims to draw policy recommendations that focus on the augmentation of peacebuilding and security capacities within UN bodies, regional organizations and CSOs and how these relationships could enhance the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda. It builds on the outcomes of a two-day high-level conference (29-30 April) hosted by the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna and co-organized by International IDEA, GPPAC, the UN University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) and the Organization of American States (OAS). This conference highlighted existing mechanisms, initiatives and good practices for cooperation in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and statebuilding between the UN, regional organizations and CSOs and identified concrete areas for further collaboration.

Follow the side-event through the livestream on from 13:15 webtv.un.orgto 14:30 EST.