General Assembly: 98th plenary meeting, 76th session
Report of the Peacebuilding Commission
2 september 2022
Intervento del Rappresentante Permanente dell’Italia all’ONU, Amb. Maurizio Massari
I thank you, Mr. President.
Italy aligns itself with the statement just delivered by the European Union.
For the sake of time, we will limit ourselves to very few additional comments in our national capacity.
All the reports we consider today share an overarching message: the costs of responding to crises have become increasingly unsustainable.
Preventing conflicts is one of the priorities of our time.
In line with the Secretary-General’s commitment, it is time to change the paradigm from crisis management to conflict prevention and sustaining peace.
We should not choose between peacekeeping and peacebuilding. This is a false dilemma and a dangerous one, suggesting that our efforts can only go one way.
Both PK and PB are part of the same essential mission of the UN, and of our collective commitment.
And they must both rely on appropriate funding.
Italy fully endorses the call from the Secretary-General to ensure adequate, stable and predictable funding for UN peacebuilding.
As we speak, Italy – along with its EU partners – is supporting the adoption of an ambitious UNGA Resolution on Peacebuilding’s financing, including the allocation of significant assessed contributions for this purpose.
We must maximize the effectiveness of the UN peacebuilding architecture.
Together, the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund have significantly contributed to ensuring the consistency of prevention and response systems, advocating the synergy of multidisciplinary and multistakeholders’ solutions.
Italy will be back in the Peacebuilding Commission as of January 2023. We intend to actively contribute to the further strengthening of this increasingly important body.
We also look forward to a more ambitious and structured collaboration between the Peacebuilding Commission and the Security Council, as the Commission is ideally placed to raise the Security Council’s awareness on regional efforts, local communities’ understanding and expertise, and the cross-border dimension of conflicts.
Thank you.
