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Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa - Report of the Secretary-General (A/71/211–S/2016/655)

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Summary

The present report, submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 70/292, reviews progress made in the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa (A/65/152-S/2010/526).

The present report covers the period from July 2015 to June 2016 and highlights major developments regarding peace and security and its interaction with socioeconomic development in Africa. It examines the progress made by the United Nations system in implementing key priority areas identified in the review report, as well as the support the Organization has been providing in the implementation of the peace and security priorities contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 of the African Union and its first 10-year implementation plan (2014-2023).

Consistent with the mandate of General Assembly resolution 70/292 to develop policy proposals on persistent and emerging challenges confronting Africa, the present report addresses the issue of women’s human rights as the basis for sustainable peace and security in Africa. That thematic focus aligns with the African Union’s declared theme for 2016, the “African Year of Human Rights with Particular Focus on the Rights of Women”. The report also presents concrete recommendations to, inter alia, uphold and enhance the rights and roles of women as key drivers and partners in the quest to achieve, in particular, the Agenda 2063 goal of “silencing the guns by 2020” to end all wars in Africa by 2020, as well as Goal 5, on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and Goal 16, on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice and effective and accountable institutions, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

I. Introduction

  1. Following a request from the Security Council (S/PRST/1997/46), my predecessor undertook, in 1998, a comprehensive analysis of the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. The subsequent report proposed specific measures to significantly reduce conflict, build peace and promote inclusive development in Africa (see A/52/871-S/1998/318).

  2. In its resolution 63/304, the General Assembly requested me to submit a report reviewing the status of implementation of the recommendations contained in the 1998 report. Following broad-based consultations, including with the United Nations system through the Interdepartmental Task Force on African Affairs, coordinated by the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, I issued a review report outlining progress, recommendations and proposals for a renewed engagement with Africa (see A/65/152-S/2010/526).

  3. Pursuant to additional requests of the General Assembly, in its successive resolutions on the subject, I continue to submit annually a progress report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, focusing, inter alia, on persistent and emerging challenges and innovative solutions and measures for their redress. In that context and in support of the decision of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union to declare 2016 the “African Year of Human Rights with Particular Focus on the Rights of Women”, the present report focuses on the important role of women’s human rights in advancing sustainable peace and security in Africa.

  4. The report highlights the complementarities and synergies between the gender equality and women’s empowerment aspirations and goals contained in Agenda 2063 and its first 10-year implementation plan, and those of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It underscores the importance of ensuring the full rights of African women and girls in peace and security, including in the implementation of the outcomes of the 2015 reviews of United Nations peace operations and the United Nations peacebuilding architecture and the Global Study and High-level review of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, as well as the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.