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Countries should not lose hope for restoring peace: UN official

Dubai - The UN has extended its membership from 51 founders to 193 member states today, she said.

While effective global governance in peace and security is struggling, member states shouldn't stop their trials in developing progressive agendas that address root causes of conflicts, said a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) official.
During her opening remarks of the second day of the World Government Summit, Helen Clark, the UNDP Director, said the UN has come a long way since its foundation in 1945 in "supporting decolonisations" around the world. However, the postwar institutional framework is currently under question of whether "it will fit for purpose during the second debate of the 21st century."
"From my own judgement, it isn't broken, but it must be continually refreshed," Clark said.
"Given that promoting peace and security is at the core of UN's mission, it is important to find ways to respond to what is driving the current spike in the numbers of conflict," she added, noting that the mission of finding a solution has not been easy for the Security Council.
The UN has extended its membership from 51 founders to 193 member states today, she said.
Clark also noted that with the basic framework already operating, the focus should be on what needs to fixing of the structures established by the end of the World War II. "The magnitude of shared problems we have does require us to continually reinvigorate multilateral institutions."
Despite the increased raging conflicts that the region has been witnessing, Clark pointed out to a number of initiatives the world must be optimistic about, especially "following the agenda setting year of 2015 which saw the finalisation of sustainable development of 2030 and the huge progress of getting Paris Agreement on climate change."
Since her appointment in the UNDP in 2009, Clark said she was told the number of armed conflicts in the world would decrease. "But since 2011, we have seen a spike in the number of deadly conflicts in the region."
But the breakthrough of the new sustainable development agenda is in linking "the building of inclusive just and fair societies with poverty eradication and addressing environmental sustainability."
- sherouk@khaleejtimes.com