“The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell.”
The second United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, who paid for peace with his life; died on 18 September 1961 in a plane crash while on a peace mission in the Congo.[1]
In an effort to reaffirm the United Nations Charter and its principles for resolving disputes among countries through peaceful means, the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace has been declared and approved by a recorded vote of 144 to 2, through the UN Resolution (A/RES/73/127) which was adopted on December 12, 2018.[2]
The United Nations came into being, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security, and the UN Charter has affirmed the importance of the commitment to settle disputes through peaceful means and spare the succeeding generations from the scourge of war.[2]
Furthermore, the nature of the current complex global relations made it difficult to measure the impact of the United Nations in reducing the outbreak, escalation, continuation, and recurrence of violent conflicts, and in there was the role of diplomacy and Multilateralism as the most effective tools, whether regional or global, to achieve comprehensive sustainable development and strive to secure human rights for all.[2]
For the success of conflict prevention, Roselyn Akombe, Chief of Policy, Guidance and Learning at the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, says that there are five key elements to be achieved:
First, having your finger on the pulse, being close to the ground, and understanding the situation well.
Second, working on the political tract early, with the aim of preventing conflicts and mitigating the effects of wars as much as possible.
Third, is the inclusiveness of many voices such as those of women and the youth.
Fourth, partnership with regional organizations and international financial institutions, and linking short-term political work with the longer-term peacebuilding and development efforts.
Fifth, and most importantly, is the political will of all actors to prevent conflicts.[1]
The focus on increasing the effective participation of women in the peacebuilding and conflict prevention efforts must be a major priority, as the number of women participating in formal peacebuilding processes remains inadequate despite the numerous commitments and initiatives at the regional and global levels, and many peace agreements still fail to address women’s needs in both security and peacebuilding areas.[1]
In conclusion, we, at Uplifting Syrian Women Initiative, call for taking serious and honest steps towards peacebuilding all around the world, especially in Syria, having suffered from the scourge of war and conflicts with all their physical, security, and psychological implications on civilians. Our initiative also calls for activating a greater role of women in all acts aiming at peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
♀️ Uplifting Syrian Women Initiative aims at sustainable peace building in Syria through targeting women and providing them with free online courses, workshops, discussion sessions and trainings, with a view to achieving the goals of Gender Equality, Quality Education and Decent Work and Economic Growth, which all fall into the interest of society as a whole and serve the purpose of rebuilding it.