Multilateral peacebuilding
Switzerland promotes peace at the bilateral level in conflict-prone priority regions, where it works with the parties involved towards peaceful solutions. At the same time, Switzerland is committed to peacebuilding at the multilateral level by seeking to better coordinate its peace activities with other countries and UN organisations and by supporting innovative and effective UN efforts.
Working towards the peaceful coexistence of nations is one of the objectives of Swiss foreign policy, which makes peacebuilding one of the FDFA's core activities. Switzerland promotes peace at the bilateral level in conflict-riven priority regions, where it works with the parties involved to find a peaceful resolution. These countries and regions are often not only affected by violence and human rights violations, but also by climate change, extreme poverty, corruption and bad governance.
These challenges influence each other and it is impossible for Switzerland to address them all alone; to succeed, it relies on partnerships with other countries and international organisations.
This is why Switzerland embeds its peacebuilding activities in a multilateral framework, primarily within the UN. In recent years, Switzerland has systematically expanded its presence in the UN's peacebuilding architecture, seeking in particular to:
- reform the UN system to make UN peacebuilding more effective, including Switzerland’s participation in the negotiations on the Peacebuilding Architecture Review (every five years).
- coordinate Swiss peace efforts on the ground with UN programmes. It does this in particular by cooperating with and financing the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).
- peacebuilding requires a willingness to take calculated risks. For example, it may be necessary to talk to parties that are considered unpredictable. Entering into new partnerships for peace is also a risk worth taking: the involvement of international financial institutions and the private sector is essential in order to secure long-term financing and anchor peacebuilding.
Peacebuilding Fund
The Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is the UN secretary-general's main instrument for the rapid financing of peacebuilding projects. With a contribution of CHF 28 million up to 2026, Switzerland is among the 12 largest donors to the PBF. It also participates in the annual strategic dialogue, which it hosted in Glion in 2021. The focus was on securing long-term funding for the PBF and better documenting the impact of its work on the ground.
The above-mentioned strategic dialogue of the PBF with its 12 largest donor states is the main instrument for the political steering of Switzerland’s contribution. In addition, the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York actively participates in the meetings of the group of friends of the PBF, which comprises 20 countries. Switzerland has been a member of the PBF Advisory Group since May 2020.
Its network of peacebuilding, human rights and development experts in Swiss embassies and representations in the countries where the PBF is active allows Switzerland to intervene at the operational level and create synergies between multilateral actions and bilateral Swiss peace policy engagement.
UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the international community's global framework for tackling the world's major challenges together – specifically, via the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Promoting peace is also included in the SDGs, as experience has shown that neither development without peace nor peace without development is sustainable. Accordingly, SDG 16 is aimed at promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Through its commitment to peacebuilding, Switzerland is helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN's 2030 Agenda.
Contact
State Secretariat STS-FDFA
Peace and Human Rights Division
Effingerstrasse 27
3003 Bern