United Nations International Day of Peace

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that question. He is absolutely right. One of the things that I have recently done is meet the new Secretary General of the UNA, who is actively involved in promoting the UN at all levels of community. I spoke about how we could reach out to all civil society groups to recognise the importance of the anniversary and the work of the UN, because it is not fully understood how important its role is, particularly in peacebuilding and peacekeeping. My noble friend is absolutely right. I will speak to my ministerial colleagues to see if we can reach out beyond civil society in recognition of the 80th anniversary and think about the role of schools and so on.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the main reasons that the UN was successful in its early years was its role in intervening on conflict prevention and then peace accords? It is a tragic consequence of the modern age that, when we look around the world today, we see that probably a record number of conflicts are raging, yet we often find that the UN has not been able to play the convening role that it did previously. What assessment has the Minister made of strengthening the role of the UN when it comes to mediation, particularly on the major conflicts we see currently?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I have a tendency to agree with the noble Lord on many occasions, and he is absolutely right. When he was Minister responsible for the UN, he took time to ensure that its peacebuilding efforts were fully recognised. We are absolutely focused on how we can improve support. I have been involved in meetings with Under-Secretary-General Lacroix during UNGA week, talking about how we can support that peacekeeping effort. More importantly, in April, I then met Under-Secretary Guy Ryder and Under-Secretary Nakamitsu to discuss not only how the UN reform programme can work but how it can be focused heavily on that peacebuilding effort. The noble Lord is absolutely right that we need to do more to promote such activity and to engage, but the convening role of the UN is absolutely vital. That is why, although we can feel frustrated with the role of the UN Security Council, it is really important that everyone is around the table.