Opportunities and Shortcomings from the Pact for the Future’s “International Peace and Security” Actions

Details of the Conference

This two-day conference followed the overall objective of identifying entry points for innovative global, regional or national engagements on the wider peace and security agenda.The recently-concluded Pact for the Future, building upon the UN Secretary-General’s New Agenda for Peace, represented a rare moment of near-consensus for the international community on the most pressing challenges facing humanity. With some positive elements it is also, however, an unclear roadmap, with several vague or ambiguous commitments and a focus on voluntary actions. This is not surprising, given the broad consensus that the multilateral (both global and regional) architecture for promoting international peace and security has been in crisis for several years. On a more positive note, the Pact does include several clear entry points for concrete actions, especially in the area of “international peace and security.” 

This situation presents both opportunities and challenges. Opportunities exist for promoting concrete action on some of the Pact’s commitments, and on advancing new ideas or strategies in areas where the Pact fell short or was silent. These issues include an emphasis on the “prevention agenda”, dealing with the growing burden of global military spending and militarization, promoting action to address the “climate crisis and conflict nexus,” advocating for a flexible and renewed approach to arms control and disarmament, and advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda, among others.

adelphi at the Conference

adelphi's Dr. Beatrice Mosello gave the keynote presentation in the session “Unpacking the climate, conflict and peace nexus: linkages and opportunities”.

A report on the workshop is available here.

This description was adapted from the Toda Peace Institute website.