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This Week in DPPA: 12 - 18 December 2020



12 - 18 December 2020

This Week in DPPA is a brief roundup of political and peacebuilding events and developments at UNHQ and around the world.

Security Council

Pedersen: “Key players would need to be ready to come to the table together”
Special Envoy Geir Pedersen on 16 December briefed the Security Council on the situation in Syria. “With five international armies operating in Syria, the country remains a tinderbox for a major international incident, with potential implications across the region,” Mr. Pedersen warned the Council. “Much more can be done to safeguard international peace and security while also looking at practical and concrete ways to safeguard and restore Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity in the context of the 2254 process. To achieve this, key players would need to be ready to come to the table together,” he said. 
Read his full remarks here
Read more in UN News



Lyons: “The international community still stands with you.”
Special Representative Deborah Lyons on 17 December updated the Council on the Afghan peace process and the work of UNAMA in Afghanistan. The 2020 Afghanistan Conference, a pledging event held in Geneva in November, sent a clear signal to the people of Afghanistan, Ms. Lyons told the Council. “The international community still stands with you.” She also called for an inclusive peace process, stating that: “Any sustainable peace will need to be owned by Afghanistan’s very diverse society. This is only possible if the process is inclusive from the outset, with meaningful participation by all constituencies, including women, youth, minorities, victims of conflict and religious leaders.”
Read her full remarks here
Read more in UN News

 

Afghanistan

Meeting with the President
Special Representative Lyons met on 15 December with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to discuss the ongoing peace process and need for an urgent reduction in violence, as well as strengthened UN support to the national COVID-19 response.


Afghans remain hopeful in peace process, despite many challenges
Panelists in a series of UN-backed radio programmes across Afghanistan’s central provinces remain hopeful, despite the many challenges and obstacles, that the latest peace efforts will result in a final settlement ending decades of war. Organized by the UNAMA Central Region field office, the radio series seeks to promote greater understanding of the ongoing peace process, as well as provide platforms for Afghans, particularly young people and women, to discuss and make their recommendations to the negotiations in Doha.
Read more here

 

Iraq

Safeguarding minority languages 
The preservation and protection of Iraq’s minority languages, enduring testimony of Iraq’s rich cultural heritage, was the main topic at a workshop on 15 December that brought together representatives of the country’s diverse components, government and activists. Organized by JSSOR (“Bridge”) Youth Organization and jointly facilitated with the UNAMI Human Rights Office, the meeting comprised about 70 participants, including 28 women, from the Faili Kurd, Arman, Sabean Mandean, Zaradashti and Chaldean components. Also present were representatives of the Ministries of Education, Planning and Culture, Tourism and Heritage, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, civil society, as well as Members of Parliament and with online participation by Dr. Fernand de Varennes, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. 
Read more here 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colombia

"Seeds of Peace" in Huila department
With the support of donor contributions, the UN Verification Mission in Colombia is backing a community garden project - "Seeds of Peace" - to promote peace and reconciliation among a group of 25 former combatants and victims of the armed conflict in the department of Huila in southeastern Colombia. On 12 December, and after weeks of community work, the project was completed and now everyone will produce their own seedbed of carrots, lettuce, onions and other vegetables in their plots.

 

Libya

Technical meeting on critical reforms of the Libyan economy
Stephanie Williams, Acting Special Representative and Head of UNSMIL, and the co-chairs of the Economic Working Group of the Berlin Process - including Egypt, the United States and the European Union - convened on 14 December a technical meeting of representatives of Libya’s main financial institutions at the UN Office in Geneva to reach an agreement on critical policy reforms. These efforts are being undertaken to address the needs of the Libyan people and to establish a more durable and equitable economic arrangement
Read more here
Read Williams’ remarks here




New Assistant Secretary-General and Mission Coordinator
Secretary-General António Guterres on 16 December announced the appointment of Raisedon Zenenga of Zimbabwe as Assistant Secretary-General and Mission Coordinator of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). This position is established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2542 (2020). Mr. Zenenga has over 30 years of UN, Government and Diplomatic Service experience, 21 of which serving with the Organization in field offices including in Liberia, Iraq-Kuwait, Sierra Leone, Somalia and South Sudan.
Read more here

 



Next Week 

Security Council
Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov will update the Security Council on the Middle East peace process on 21 December.
Updated Council programme of work here
 

The Work of Peace

Virtual exhibit
Remember to check out our virtual exhibit: The Work of Peace. It highlights the UN’s key role in preventive diplomacy, good offices, mediation and elections over the past 75 years, and looks ahead at what the future may hold for this work.
Enter here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Contact DPPA at dppa@un.org