On 20 July 2023, Secretary-General António Guterres presented his Policy Brief on A New Agenda for Peace. It outlines his vision for multilateral efforts for peace and security, based on international law, for a world in transition. It is the main peace and security input from the Secretary-General for Member States consideration ahead of the Summit of the Future.
A New Agenda for Peace was prepared against a particularly difficult global peace and security landscape. The document is clear-eyed about the magnitude of today’s challenges and realistic about potential solutions. It is the Secretary-General’s vision for how to strengthen multilateral action for peace in a world in transition.
A New Agenda for Peace reflects on today’s peace and security threats – including the changing conflict landscape; persistent violence outside of conflict environments; the potential weaponization of new technologies; rising inequalities; shrinking civic space; and the climate emergency – and emphasizes how violations of the UN Charter and a pushback against human rights, in particular women’s rights, represent a significant normative challenge.
To effectively address these threats, A New Agenda for Peace encourages Member States to move beyond the current logic of competition and find avenues for cooperation and collective action to pursue shared interests.
The vision offered in A New Agenda for Peace is grounded in three principles – trust, solidarity, and universality. It reiterates some basic principles for international cooperation: the centrality of the UN Charter, diplomacy, the need to rebuild mechanisms to manage disputes and improve trust among major powers, regional frameworks, and the centrality of national action, for example. It outlines an extensive and ambitious set of recommendations that recognize the inter-linked nature of many of the challenges we face.
Consultations
Resolution A/RES/76/6 adopted by the General Assembly on 15 November 2021 followed up on “Our Common Agenda” and requested the Secretary-General to inform Member States and to engage in broad and inclusive consultations with them, all parts of the United Nations system and other relevant partners on his proposals in the report for follow-up action to accelerate the full and timely implementation of the above-mentioned agreed frameworks in a comprehensive and integrated manner, and to provide regular updates to Member States.
In the informal thematic consultations organized by the President of the General Assembly on “Our Common Agenda” in February and March 2022, the United Nations system was invited to develop a ‘New Agenda for Peace’ in close consultation with Member States, and in collaboration with all relevant partners, as part of the preparations for the Summit of the Future.
Member States
Austria | Belgium | Brazil | China - EN ZH | Croatia | Colombia | Cuba - ES EN | Finland | France - EN FR | Georgia | Greece | India | Iran
Ireland | Japan | Kenya | Mexico | Morocco | Netherlands | Norway | Pakistan | Portugal | Qatar | Republic of Korea
Russian Federation - EN RU | Senegal | Switzerland | Syria | Thailand | Ukraine | United Kingdom
Groups of Member States
G7 | Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations | Group of Friends of Responsibility to Protect
Regional and other Organizations
African Union | Collective Security Treaty Organization | Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia | European Union | International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS) - EN FR | INTERPOL | League of Arab States | North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) | Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) | Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) | Organization of American States (OAS) | Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Open Call to Civil Society
The Secretariat invites Civil Society Organizations to share their views, priorities and potential recommendations for a “New Agenda for Peace.” The written submission can be sent to Interdepartmental Team of the New Agenda for Peace at NewAgendaforPeace@un.org.
List of organizations who provided written submissions:
- Baha'i International Community
- Caucasian Journal
- Center for Global Nonkilling
- Civil Society – UN Prevention Platform
- CyberPeace Institute
- DCAF - Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance
- Fundació Fundació Carta de la Pau dirigida a l’ONU / Letter of Peace adressed to UN Foundation
- Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
- Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
- GPPAC Pacific / Pacific Women's Mediators Network in collaboration with the Shifting the Power Coalition
- Groupe de Recherche et d’Information sur la Paix et la Sécurité/Observatoire Boutros-Ghali du maintien de la paix
- Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe)
- Hope of Africa (HOFA-Cameroon)
- Independent Diplomat
- Institute for Security Studies
- Integrated Community Development Initiative (ICODI)
- International Forum for the Challenges of Peace Operations
- International Foundation for Electoral Systems
- Interpeace
- Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
- Kofi Annan Foundation
- Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy
- Mennonite Central Committee
- Mercy Corps
- Nonviolent Peaceforce
- Peace Direct
- Peacemaking Reflection Group of former UN system staff (PRG) supported by the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability
- Principles for Peace Foundation
- Reach Out Cameroon
- Search for Common Ground
- Soka Gakkai International
- Stimson Center
- Strategic Concept for the Removal of Arms and Proliferation (SCRAP)
- Stop Killer Robots campaign
- Sustainable Common Security
- The International Civil Society Action Network
- The New Global Order
- The Takshashila Institution
- The Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership
- UNFOLD ZERO
- Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- World Council of Churches - Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
- World Evangelical Alliance
Disclaimer: The United Nations does not guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, or validity of information from non-UN sources. The submission of written contributions by civil society actors included in this list does not imply endorsement by the UN.
UN system
International Labour Organization (ILO) | International Organization for Migration (IOM) | UN Alliance of Civilizations | UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
UN Development Programme (UNDP) | UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) | UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) | UN Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS) | UN Women