I. Introduction
The present report has been prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution 60/180 and Security Council resolution 1645 (2005), in which the Peacebuilding Commission was requested to submit an annual report to the Assembly for an annual debate and review. The report will also be submitted to the Council, pursuant to its resolution 1646 (2005), for an annual debate. The report covers the eighth session of the Commission, held from 1 January to 31 December 2014.
On 29 October 2010, the General Assembly and the Security Council adopted identical resolutions 65/7 and 1947 (2010), respectively, through which the two organs, inter alia, requested the Commission to reflect, in its annual reports, the progress made in taking forward the relevant recommendations contained in the 2010 report of the co-facilitators on the review of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture (A/64/868-S/2010/393, annex). Beginning with the report on its sixth session, the implementation of relevant recommendations from the 2010 review has been mainstreamed into the reporting on the Commission’s policy and country-specific activities. The structure of the two previous reports reflected this development in content and in format, placing added emphasis on performance of the main functions in the specific country settings, the role of the membership, the links with parent organs and the themes which the Commission explored.
As mandated by the General Assembly and the Security Council in their identical resolutions, both organs will launch a further comprehensive review of the peacebuilding architecture in 2015. The present report reflects the findings of the Commission’s advance preparation for this review, which drew upon lessons learned from the implementation of recommendations from the 2010 review. The findings further reflect the ambitions and expectations of Member States emanating from the 2015 review.
In the report on its seventh session (A/68/729-S/2014/67), the Commission decided to convene an annual session to commemorate “Peacebuilding Day”1 and to enable closer interaction and engagement among the relevant stakeholders in New York and from the capitals of Member States on key challenges to international peacebuilding. The present report provides an overview of the outcome of and the envisaged follow-up to the first annual session, held on 23 June 2014.