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Statement by H.E. Mr. Jun Yamazaki
Ambassador
Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
At the Debate of the General Assembly
On Agenda Item 118 (a): Strengthening of the United Nations System
17 December 2012
Mr. President,
It gives me great pleasure to address the General Assembly today on the report of the Secretary-General on civilian capacity in the aftermath of conflict. Japan supports the civilian capacity initiative which aims to widen the pool of civilian expertise and to facilitate rapid and efficient deployment of the expertise to post-conflict countries. We appreciate the hard work put into this initiative by the Civilian Capacities Team, as well as the two co-chairs of the Consultative Group, Canada and Indonesia.
Mr. President,
Japan welcomes the launch of CAPMATCH, which took place on the margins of the General Assembly high-level week in September. By providing a self-service online platform for a better match between demand and supply of specialized civilian capacities for countries emerging from conflict, CAPMATCH builds partnerships to support post-conflict recovery, democratic transitions, and conflict prevention, either bilaterally or through the UN presence on the ground. Japan supports such civilian exchange and has started its consideration to participate in CAPMATCH. In this regard, we will continue to actively engage in the discussions, including creating a guideline for the recruitment and deployment of the Government Provided Personnel (GPP), in order to ensure rapid deployment as well as a transparent process.
Japan believes that key to the success of the Civilian Capacity Initiative lies in national ownership. In addition, south-south cooperation and triangular partnerships, which allow for countries to share similar peacebuilding experiences, should be further encouraged. We would also like to request the Civilian Capacities Team to widely disseminate the lessons learned, including achievements and challenges, from the trial phase of CAPMATCH.
Mr. President,
The report also sets out some of the challenges for the next phase of the Initiative, including refining CAPMATCH based on initial feedback, learning from the new global focal point arrangements, and reexamining administrative arrangements and operating procedures of the UN. It is our hope that the work of the UN Secretariat will be conducted effectively and efficiently, in line with the original objective of the Civilian Capacity Initiative. We welcome and appreciate the efforts of the Secretariat to be transparent with Member States over the last year and encourage them to continue to provide us with needed clarification on this Initiative.
The Civilian Capacity Initiative, along with the New Deal and the UN peacebuidling architecture, plays an integral part in the global peacebuilding discussions currently being undertaken by the international community. We must ensure that these different initiatives are not pursued in a separate way but in a mutually complementary way, so that it can lead to effective and efficient implementation. In order to attain the goal of building a conflict-resilient society in a post-conflict state where citizens are able to feel the peace dividend, we, the Member States, must pursue the Civilian Capacity Initiative with the larger peacebuilding framework in mind.
Mr. President,
In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm Japan’s strong and continuing interest in strengthening the international response to the needs of civilian expertise in conflict-affected countries. Peacebuilding is one of the central pillars of our foreign policy. The importance of deploying highly-skilled expertise in the early phases of peacebuilding is undisputed and Japan supports initiatives that allow for such rapid deployment of civilian expertise. We look forward to seeing substantive progress that will generate concrete peace dividends on the ground in the coming years.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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