Statement by H.E. Ambassador ISHIKANE Kimihiro, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, at the Security Council Open Debate on “Peace and Security through preventive diplomacy: a common objective to all the principal organs of the United Nations

2021/11/16
(As delivered)
Dear Mr. President,
 
I would like to express my appreciation to the Mexican presidency for convening this open debate. I also would like to thank all the briefers for their insights. I welcome this meeting which gives us a precious opportunity to underscore the importance of preventive diplomacy.
 
The international community heavily focuses on responding to conflict only after it occurs or recurs. So many lives have been lost, and financial and human resources have been spent to respond to humanitarian crises due to conflicts every year. We must shift our focus to prevention, not only in the Security Council but in the entire UN system.
 
I would like to make three points that Japan believes to be the key in mainstreaming prevention in the UN’s peace and security agenda.
 
First, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) has a critical role to play in conflict prevention as acknowledged in the Security Council resolution 2171. With its advisory role to the Security Council, ECOSOC and the General Assembly, the PBC can play a greater role in strengthening the coherence across the principal organs. The Security Council and other relevant organs should seek the PBC’s advice to incorporate the prevention perspectives into their work.
 
As stressed in resolution 2171, the prevention of conflicts remains a primary responsibility of States. The PBC, with its convening role, can bring together the experience of different countries and regions, their best practices and lessons learned and share them with the UN’s principal organs. As many countries in Asia and other regions, Japan also has a lot to share and contribute to the work of prevention, including its work conducted under the “New Approach for Peace and Stability in Africa (NAPSA).”
 
Second, building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions in conflict-prone countries should be the priority in the work of United Nations’s principal organs and their subsidiary bodies. Effective and impartial institutions in the security and judicial sectors as well as institutions to ensure equal access to basic social services have critical importance in preventing conflicts. The work to support institution-building requires coordinated action by the entire UN system.
 
Last but not least, the role of women and civil society in conflict prevention should be further strengthened as emphasized in resolution 2171. We will never be able to achieve peaceful and inclusive societies that are resilient against conflict or relapse into conflict, without meaningful participation of women, youth and marginalized groups. Their voices must be heard and taken into account in the work of the United Nations related to conflict prevention.
 
Japan looks forward to contributing to the United Nations’s work for conflict prevention in its principal organs, subsidiary bodies and in the PBC.
 
Thank you very much.