Geneva Peace Week 2017 – Prevention across sectors & institutions

Geneva is home to a large number of international organizations. Geneva Peace Week offers an opportunity to connect and highlight the work of these actors and to expand the space for dialogue about building peace and resolving conflict.

In this year’s Geneva Peace Week from the 6-10 November 2017 a total of 4’000 people attended 50 events, organized by over 90 organizations featuring more than 150 speakers. In its fourth edition, Geneva Peace Week focused on the theme of prevention and effective pathways for implementation. Various experts including Ana Maria Menéndez Pérez, Senior Advisor of the Secretary-General on Policy, United Nations came together to look at future trends in prevention. Menéndez stated that the UN cannot do everything by itself and is better when it works in partnerships with others. According to her, the only way forward is an inclusive approach, which enables all actors to take part in the discussion.

Furthermore, a discussion on the UN/World Bank Prevention Study «Pathways for Peace – Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict» took place. Key messages from the Study included that prevention saves lives and is cost effective, states hold primary responsibility for prevention but efforts need to also include other actors such as civil society and the private sector, economic development does not automatically create peace and prevention needs a long-term perspective.

Another focus of the event was the role of digital technology for conflict prevention. It was clear that technology certainly has important implications and some sessions highlighted the potential of e-commerce, big data, artificial intelligence and geographic information systems. On the other hand, participants also focused on the ways in which digital technologies have given rise to increased threats, like the risk of cyber conflict.

Agenda 2030 – Switzerland holds discussions

On October 23, 2017, the government invited interested actors from administration, politics, civil society, industry, and research to the «Agenda 2030 – Herausforderungen für die Schweiz» («Challenges for Switzerland») event. The meeting was held as part of the 2030 Dialogue. In teams, participants discussed ten key topics that have been determined for the purpose of implementing Agenda 2030 following the government’s review. The event also saw the presentation of the initial conclusions from the government’s online questionnaire, in which civil society, the private sector, and academia had the opportunity to give their opinion on the implementation status of the 17 sustainability goals in Switzerland.

KOFF particularly noticed that the weighting given to goal 16 on peace and justice was relatively low. In addition to the clear mandate of its members, this is another reason for KOFF to become involved in the recently launched Agenda 2030 platform and to point out the significance of conflict prevention and peacebuilding for sustainable development. Anna Leissing was elected as a member of the platform’s management board. She will rise to the challenge and contribute to designing multi-stakeholder processes to develop and strengthen the platform, armed with KOFF’s experience.