On 18 -19 January 2018, in Doha, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, under the auspices of H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, in the presence of H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72nd Session of the General Assembly, convened a regional dialogue for the purpose of encouraging fresh reflection on what sustaining peace means at the regional level. The dialogue took place in the lead-up to the High-level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace, to be convened in April 2018 in New York, (as per General Assembly and Security Council parallel resolutions on the review of the peacebuilding architecture A/RES/70/262 and S/RES/2282), and sought to elicit and offer concrete local and regional views that could enrich the High-level meeting.
The specific objectives of the dialogue were to: (1) to reach a mutual understanding among U.N. Member States, regional organizations, civil organizations and the private sector on the relationship between sustainable development, conflict prevention, mediation, peacekeeping and human rights; (2) propose a menu of strategic options to represent local and regional views on sustaining peace in current UN discussions on sustaining peace; (3) identify issues related to local and regional capacity; and (4) discuss options to harness the potential negative effects of technology and innovation and in support of sustaining peace.
The two-day regional dialogue included: a High-level segment, a key note speech; and thematic interactive panels covering several dimensions of sustaining peace: (1) setting the scene; (2) regional platforms and processes for sustaining peace; (3) linkages between the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and sustaining peace; (4) sustaining peace and the prevention of conflict; (5) mediation for peace: a key tool for prevention and peacemaking; (6) emerging threats: the dark side of innovation; and (7) financing the peace. The final session of the workshop included summaries of key points made during the seven sessions, and closing remarks by the Chair.
See More: Doha Regional Dialogue SP Summary of Discussions