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Source: United Nations (video statements)

“For two decades, the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund have helped communities emerge from the darkness of war,” Secretary-General António Guterres said, addressing the Peacebuilding Commission’s annual session marking the 20th anniversary of the Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund.

“That spirit of healing and of hope could not be more vital today. Across the globe, we are witnessing more conflicts than at any point since the Second World War,” the Secretary-General said.

The session is part of UN Peacebuilding Week 2026, running June 22-26 at UN Headquarters in New York. The commemoration is mandated by 2025 General Assembly resolution A/RES/80/11 and Security Council resolution S/RES/2805 on the Peacebuilding Architecture Review, timed to coincide with the Commission’s first session in June 2006.

Guterres cited the Commission’s record across several countries, pointing to its role grounding peacebuilding “in local realities” in Colombia, convening across borders in the Sahel to advance the UN Integrated Strategy, supporting the Central African Republic’s first local elections in 30 years, and helping Liberia transition from the departure of UN peacekeepers to a nationally owned strategy.

He credited the Peacebuilding Fund with acting as a “catalytic financing instrument” that has backed more than 70 countries worldwide and said the Fund — now bolstered by assessed contributions — is also helping states “from Mauritania to São Tomé and Príncipe” draft national prevention and peacebuilding strategies under the Pact for the Future. He called the shift to assessed funding “a true vote of confidence” but urged Member States to keep up voluntary contributions to match “the speed and scale peacebuilding demands.”

He closed by urging all Member States “to renew their commitment to a future free from violence.”

Opening the session, Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations and Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, called it “an immense privilege to open this annual session in the very room where, 20 years ago, the United Nations made the wager that has since defined an era — that peace, once won, must be preserved, and that this cannot be done by any single actor acting alone.”

He added that “over two decades, our commission has fully served the objectives of its founding resolution and has provided the countries on its agenda with sustained attention and long-term support,” noting it had brought together “the development system, international financial institutions, regional organizations, civil society and the private sector” around the same table.

Leonor Zalabata Torres, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations, also addressed the session in her capacity as President of the Security Council for June. She said national efforts to build, sustain and maintain peace “are essential to the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security,” and reaffirmed the Council’s recognition of the Peacebuilding Commission “as an intergovernmental advisory body for coordination and convening, as well as a dedicated platform for bringing together relevant actors” in support of national peacebuilding efforts.

According to UN figures, the Peacebuilding Fund has invested more than $2 billion since becoming operational in 2006, supporting over 75 countries and territories through 24 UN entities and more than 80 civil society organizations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NScTill_uI