Peace and security should be part of UN’s post-2015 agenda, says GPPi researcher

On 22 April 2014, GPPi Research Associate Gerrit Kurtz published an op-ed calling for peace and security issues to be included in the debate on post-2015 goals of the United Nations. Co-written with Heiner Janus, a researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn, the article was part of the institute’s series ​“The Current Column,” and referred to the upcoming thematic debate of the UN General Assembly on ​“Ensuring Stable and Peaceful Societies.”

Kurtz and Janus point out that conflict-affected countries are the furthest away from achieving the Millennium Development Goals. According to the World Bank, two thirds of the poor and 60 percent of the malnourished live in regions affected by armed conflict. Including specific targets related to conflict should help guide international attention to this predicament.

However, many developing countries are wary about the inclusion of targets related to peace and security in the post-2015 agenda as they believe such targets could facilitate intervention in their domestic affairs. For example, over the past 15 years, the UN Security Council has considered issues such as HIV/​aids and climate change, setting a precedent for the concerns of many developing countries regarding international interference. Focusing on local ownership, as the current debate on this issue stresses, would help to counter such concerns.

Building on the political objectives of the ​“new deal for engagement in fragile states,” which 44 countries agreed to in 2011, such goals would also spur civil society engagement on these issues. Instead of setting broad, relatively unspecific targets (as in the ​“new deal”), Kurtz and Janus argue that UN member states should concentrate on the strengthening of institutional foundations for peaceful and stable societies. One such target could be to reduce the number of violent deaths per 100,000 people per year, which would make them compatible internationally.

Kurtz and Janus say the German government’s 13-point plan regarding the post-2015 agenda is a welcome start. In line with its current initiative for a more active foreign policy, they argue that Germany should build bridges with countries that remain skeptical of the inclusion of peace and security targets in the post-2015 development agenda. The foundations for such alliances already exist, with the 18 fragile states that form the G7+ group and the common African position in favor of peace and security targets in the post-2015 agenda.