Development and Cooperation


	Contributions from the Column Monitor OECD peer review of German development policy World Bank discontinues support for Chad UN decides on Peacebuilding Commission Webpage of German World Bank office $1,9 billion pledged to fight avian flu Rise in globalunemployment Afghanistan’s public finances No guarantee of ownership German insurance giant to launch micro-policies in Indonesia 02/2006		UN decides on Peacebuilding Commission The United Nations Security Council and General Assembly decided to set up a Peacebuilding Commission at the end of last year. This step is one of the reforms Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed to make the organisation more efficient. The commission will have 31 members. The Security Council and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will have seven representatives each, the most important UN financial contributors and the countries that dispatch the most soldiers and police officers to UN missions will have five representatives each. The General Assembly will chose another seven members from the group of post-conflict countries. Jan Eliasson, President of the General Assembly from Sweden, said that the UN now has “a mechanism which ensures that for countries emerging from conflict, post-conflict does not mean post-engagement of the international community.” Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, stressed that setting up the commission was in line with European policy. On the other hand, the Washington-based advocacy Refugees International criticised the lack of funding for the new commission, which made it doubtful whether it could fulfil its important mandate. (dem)