Peace: A Steadfast Mission at the United Nations
UNITED NATIONS, 22 Dec 2025
Christophe Barbey | Center for Global Nonkilling - TRANSCEND Media Service
Yearly Meeting of the UN Peace Support Office with NGO’s [1]
16 Dec 2025 – Since 2023 and for the third time, the United Nations, with the support of dedicated NGOs, organized a two-day meeting with some of the main peacemaking non-governmental organizations.
The purpose of the meeting is to bring together various UN entities active in the field of peace with civil society and States representatives to discuss the long-term vision and practices of peace, actual trends in peacemaking across the world and through UN activities.
On 10 and 11 Dec, some 400 people gathered in Geneva to take stock of what is done and prepare, from their perspective, the future of peace throughout the world. Noteworthy, half of the participants were women; youth and the Global South were also very well represented.
Let us recall that the right to life and the nonkilling principle are central to existence and that for life to thrive into universal fulfillment peace is vital all-around life.
Bringing the essence of life and full respect for it at the forefront of world affairs, now as for future generations, in harmony with life on our planet, is our overall goal. Creating a peaceful environment conducive to a good life for all is one of the tools needed to ensure that life has universal value and a livable future.
The peace community might be impressed by the present state of the world or by what is sometimes perceived as “shrinking civic space”. This congress gave another impression: people from all over the world of various backgrounds and ages were eager to take the floor, to make suggestions to improve peace and peacemaking or to talk about their situation. And the ambiance was all for work and joy. A report containing all the recommendations made during the meeting will be published early next year and added here.
Some highlights:
On the 26th of November the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations jointly adopted resolutions for the “Peace-Building Architecture 2025-2030” of the UN (PBAR), by which the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund are reinforced, including by greater dialogue with all actors, more predictable funding and the instauration, starting next year in June of a yearly “United Nation peacebuilding week”. The resolutions were unanimously adopted and largely discussed with the NGOs during the meeting[2].
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Youth, Peace and Security resolution and agenda[3]. A hybrid session between the PeaceBuilding Commission and young peacemakers was held during the meeting. It is highly encouraging to understand that youth are gradually making and given their place in peace activities, bringing fresh visions and lighter mechanisms, new joys and enthusiasms to the promotion and progress, to the sustenance and achievement of peace.
Financing peace was high on the agenda with both panels and workshops. The discussions about more “money for peace”, in which we participated or followed closely started more than five years ago at the UN, with three major results:
- All Members States of the UN now pay a regular sum directly to peacebuilding activities through the regular budget of the United Nations. Having all States contribute to peace is a major achievement: may they all get what they pay for! This is new because peacekeeping operations have always been financed outside the regular budget of the UN by willing countries, and both the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund have been conducting their activities so far through voluntary funds. The PBC and the PBF have now secured regular funding.
- Individuals (you and me) and the private sector can now contribute to the PeaceBuilding Fund (as can be done i.e. for UNICEF). This a new also as so far only Governments contributed to the Fund. As long as Governments pay and augment the budget allocated to war and war means, the prevalence of peace and peace funding will need to come from other types of assets[4]. And this is very important because when “we the people” we pay for peace, peace is what we will want to get. A tick box available on a webpage is a very small move; using it will change the world[5].
- The recent PBAR resolutions call for more participation in peace finance from the financial institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and regional development banks. This is important as well as it shows the possibility of awareness and divestment from military funds.
During the meetings’ discussions various peacemaking economic tools were mentioned. The Basic Universal Income – people with their basic needs ensured are more peaceful and can dedicate “greater time for greater peace”[6]. Participative budgets, in which the people decide by consensus, democratically on the attribution of funds[7]. Was also given the example of the Mauritius corporate responsibility tax by which companies must use 2% of their income for social and environmental projects[8].
As the meeting was happening on Human Rights Day (10th of December, adoption of the Universal Declaration in 1948) and in Geneva where the Human Rights Council and High Commissioner’s office are located, we would’ve expected more work linking both these fields, peace and human rights together[9]. Some steps were taken, more need to be done. The idea of a special rapporteur for peace was mentioned.
Some prospects for the future of these meetings would be – in our humble opinion – more works on locally owned permanent peace processes and peaceful settlement of disputes, mediation and alternative dispute resolutions as these create a “peace prone culture” throughout the fabric of society, for the individual and the politician alike. And indeed, more work on participative democracy.
Finally, still on contributions for peace and indeed for life enhancing works, please be sure to put the Center for Global Nonkilling and its work at the United Nations on the list of those you give to. Thank you very much.
With our lively seasonal greetings, may peace prevail and life, yours and all, shine into universal happiness.
Notes:
[1] https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/content/cso-un-dialogue-2025
[2] Security council resolution 2805 (pdf), General Assembly resolution A/RES/80/11 (pdf). Preparation page: https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/content/2025-review-un-peacebuilding-architecture
[3] Youth Peace and Security – YPS. Security Council original resolution 2250 (2015) and most recently of 12.12.2025. We legally analyzed and commented the 2250 resolution (in French) in 2016. https://demilitarisation.org/spip.php?article238
[4] See also the recent (9.2025) report by the Secretary General “The Security We Need: Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future (pdf)”.
[5] Peacebuilding fund and donation link. https://act.unfoundation.org/onlineactions/9rwTwvqhVkeWQkXaoaXskA2#:~:text=The%20PBF%20invests%20with%20UN,mobilizes%20%2410%20from%20other%20sources.
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_income
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_budgeting
[8] And the fact that Mauritius has no army should only improve the part of these funds going to peacemaking projects.
[9] Excellent works on connecting, or even merging these fields form Michelle Parlevliet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleparlevliet/details/publications/?locale=nl_NL
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Christophe Barbey is CGNK’s main representative at the UN in Geneva.
Tags: Center for Global Nonkilling, NGO, Peace Culture, Peacebuilding, United Nations
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 22 Dec 2025.
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