Background

Geneva Consultations on the 2025 UN Peacebuilding Architecture Review: Turning Words Into Action, 14 February 2025

An exclusive discussion on the UN Peacebuilding Architecture Review (PBAR) and the role of Geneva’s ecosystem, as part of a new edition of the “Geneva Consultations”, was held on Friday 14 February 2025. The event brought together key stakeholders from international organizations, diplomatic missions, civil society, and academia to explore how Geneva’s expertise and innovative approaches can contribute to strengthening UN peacebuilding efforts. The event was co-organized by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, and Interpeace.

The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) highlights the crucial role of Geneva as a hub for peace innovation and underscores how Geneva’s ecosystem—comprising policy think tanks, research institutions, and international organizations—offers valuable insights and tools to enhance UN peacebuilding efforts. It also reflects on how lessons from Geneva’s experience in mediation, conflict prevention, and inclusive peace processes can inform global peace initiatives.

The results of the Geneva discussions will contribute to the negotiations for the final resolutions of the 2025 PBAR, which are to be held this year in both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. In addition, a follow-up conference will be held next October as part of the 12th Geneva Peace Week to reflect on the progress and challenges of the 2025 PBAR.

Thematic Consultations in Geneva, 18-19 February 2020

To inform the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture (UNPBA) Review 2020,  the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, in collaboration with Switzerland, facilitated a consultation process among relevant stakeholders in Geneva. The aim of the consultation was to contribute to the informal part of the review process, through collecting, analyzing and summarizing the expertise, considerations and concerns of Geneva-based stakeholders engaged in peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts. 

The Consultations focused specifically on policy/operational coherence, as well as partnerships for peacebuilding and sustaining peace. In addition to plenary discussions on these themes, five break-out sessions were held for smaller groups to engage in greater detail with specific aspects, assess progress, identify concrete learning examples and formulate suggestions for the 2020 Review. The groups shed light on the role of peace-responsive programming to operationalize sustaining peace across the system; integrated analysis to enable coherent action on humanitarian, development, peace and security challenges; governance-driven approaches to security; the role of human rights in sustaining peace; and gender-responsive peacebuilding.

The consultations involved a total of 285 representatives of Member States, Geneva-based International Organizations, International Civil Society Organizations, the Private Sector and Academia. 

The key output from the consultations was a report that was officially submitted to the United Nations by Switzerland. This report was produced by the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and its five partners – the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies; the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF); the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP); Interpeace; and Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva (QUNO) – in collaboration with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) of Switzerland.