International organisations

The best-known contributions by the United Nations to the safeguarding of peace and security are undoubtedly peacekeeping operations and political missions. Equally important are conflict prevention, building peace and post-conflict institution building. These tasks fall in particular within the remit of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, which was set up in 2005 to assist countries emerging from conflict in their political and economic reconstruction in order to prevent them from relapsing into conflict. The Organisational Committee of this intergovernmental body consists of 31 countries, including the main financial contributors and troop suppliers. Belgium was a member of this during the 2017-2018 period. Our country is also a member of the country-specific configurations for Burundi (since 2006) and the Central African Republic (since 2008). For the Central African Republic, Belgium chaired the configuration between 2008 and 2011.

The promotion of peace and security requires multifaceted and multidimensional action in many areas. This could be in the fight against terrorism, the fate of children in armed conflicts or non-proliferation and disarmament. With regard to the latter, Belgium attaches particular importance to effective UN action on tackling the threat of anti-personnel mines, cluster bombs and explosive remnants of war. The UN also has a role to play in limiting the illegal arms trade, which fuels conflicts around the world. Peacekeeping operations and specialist bodies must be given a mandate to combat these threats.