新型コロナウイルスの影響に関する平和構築委員会（PBC）における石兼大使ステートメント
令和2年4月8日
(As delivered)
Thank you, Marc-André for your initiative for bringing us together for this very important meeting today.
I am also very grateful to the very extensive briefings by DSG Mohammed, Mr. Burgeon, and Mr. Bousquet. I echo many points which have been put forth by our Egyptian colleague Ambassador Edrees.
Let me make three concrete proposals.
First, as DSG Mohammed said, we need to mobilize international support, but first of all we should leverage the PBC’s advisory role to the Security Council. All the more so, since we are having this meeting before the Security Council is actually taking action.
To begin with, we need to rally around the Secretary-General’s appeal for an immediate global ceasefire. Without ceasefire, assistance, including essential food and staff, cannot reach to the most vulnerable. The PBC should call on the Council to take action on this appeal.
Moreover, COVID-19 is already affecting the operations of UN missions and is likely to have broader impacts on the communities they serve. The PBC should closely follow up on these situations and provide recommendations to the Security Council.
Second, as DSG Mohammed put it, we should not be in silence. So one thing I propose is we should identify the comprehensive picture of the ongoing and planned assistance, multilateral as well as bilateral, in specific at-risk countries, poor countries.
For example, as part of its COVID-19 response, Japan decided to provide and already disbursed 136.4 million USD for the operations conducted by WHO and others in Iran and surrounding countries, including countries affected by conflict. Yesterday we had adopted the supplementary budget proposal, including additional support through UN agencies, for approval by the Diet.
We are hoping for an influx of assistance from various donors, agencies and civil society. Then, as everyone agrees, coordination becomes an issue. And this is something we always talk about but very difficult to get done. We propose here to put all those assistances on the table in a transparent manner so that all of us including implementing agencies are able to see what everyone else is doing or going to do in a specific country.
But please note, I am not proposing to coordinate the efforts here at the PBC. It will just bring about confusions. Coordination is something that should happen in the field, under the leadership of someone who knows best the reality on the ground. So what PBC could do is to let various stakeholders compare notes and help the Regional Coordinator play a key role in the COVID-19 operation in his or her country. In the future, PBC might ask the RC to assess and report back the impact of the international assistance the country received.
My third and final proposal: PBC should compile best practices and examples on “humanitarian-development-peace nexus”. This is what we are working on.
COVID-19 pandemic is causing human security crisis worldwide. Addressing this threat requires people-centered, multi-faceted and comprehensive approach, not limited to emergency public health response. In the context of peacebuilding as DSG Mohammed put it, the holistic approach, and sustaining peace, “humanitarian-development-peace nexus” is all the more important.
I wish to share two examples in which Japan was involved:
Through the UN Trust Fund for Human Security, Japan supported multi-agency programme in Liberia from 2014 to 2017 to assist those regions hit by conflict and the Ebola outbreak. It helped strengthen the health system, empowered women in the agricultural sector and ensured the employment and food security in the affected communities.
Also, Japan has been providing continuous support for building peace in Mindanao in the Philippines. In early 2000s, Japan jointly funded with the Canadian International Development Agency and the World Bank an integrated programme to strengthen governance and institutions as well as to improve people’s livelihoods, including through improved delivery of healthcare to poverty-ridden, conflicted-affected areas. Since the establishment of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) in February 2019, Japan is providing assistance to sustain socio-economic stability including by providing reproductive health support and vocational training for former women soldiers, electricity to local healthcare centers and water supply to the communities.
Strengthening crisis response and improving equal delivery of healthcare services will help foster trust in national and local governments and build the foundation for peace.
“Build back better”, this word was coined just after the Tōhoku earthquake. To build back better from our joint effort to overcome the current crisis, we should learn from our past experience and draw lessons from the ongoing struggle. The PBC has the potential to serve as the center of excellence in this respect.
Thank you.