February 2025

“Our reliance on the US nuclear umbrella has constrained Australia’s ability as an advocate for a nuclear free world” according to the Hon Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Speaking from Geneva, she told the webinar that “we are seeing an escalation of nuclear risk on the Korean Peninsula, in the Middle East and in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Ms Parke called on the Australian Government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) which has been signed by over half the world’s countries. “The Prime Minister has personally committed to sign and ratify the ban treaty, and Australia was an observer at the first and second meeting of the parties,” she said. She hoped Australia will again be an observer at the Third meeting of parties in March.

Major General Michael Smith AO (Retd), a 34- year veteran of the Australian Defence Force, said “AUKUS degrades our sovereignty, curtails our independence of action and fuels an arms race in our region. This is exactly what we do NOT want, and more so at the eye-watering financial and opportunity costs that AUKUS presents.”

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“We must avoid a military conflict with China at all cost”

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Under AUKUS our submarines will become part of the US’s flawed strategy to contain China – a strategy that they (and we) cannot win, said Smith. “At all costs we must avoid becoming involved in a military contest between the US and China. But AUKUS increases this likelihood, which could result in direct military strikes against Australia, and devastation if nuclear deterrence fails,” Smith argued

“Australia needs to strengthen relations with China on which our future prosperity depends. This does not mean subordinating our national interests, or again becoming too economically dependent on China, but respecting China as the great power it now is,” he concluded.

The fourth webinar in the APSF series was moderated by Prof Penny Sackett, Distinguished Honorary Professor, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions and former Australian Chief Scientist. Presentations from the webinar will be available soon on the APSF website.

Australia has attended its first meeting as a member of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), led by Australia’s Ambassador to the UN James Larson. High on the agenda for the PBC is the UN peacebuilding architecture review (PBAR).

Review of UN Peacebuilding architecture begins in earnest

The PBAR was initiated by the Security Council (UNSC) on 27 January adopting a statement from the UNSC President. The statement encourages greater coherence in peacebuilding efforts and emphasises the need to strengthen the performance and impact of the peacebuilding architecture. This is the fourth review in what is a five yearly process to redefine UN peacebuilding efforts worldwide and it comes at of significant geopolitical divisions and escalating risk of conflict in many parts of the world. The current situation has led to a growing consensus that this review should prioritise advancing implementation over reiterating priorities.

Following an informal global process (see diagram below) the UNSC highlighted several issues

• the importance of national ownership
• inclusive participation of women and youth
• partnerships with financial institutions (such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank)
• leveraging regional cooperation
• enhancing coherence across UN bodies
• role of youth and education in peacebuilding was highlighted as an undervalued area requiring greater attention.

The thematic and regional consultations offered diverse and valuable perspectives to strengthen peacebuilding efforts and tackle critical global challenges, including forced displacement, urbanisation, and the climateconflict nexus. These consultations emphasised the importance of human rights, good governance, and sustainable financing as foundational pillars for peace while calling for specific actions such as, integrating humanitarian and peacebuilding approaches to address displacement, and safeguarding civic space to enable inclusive participation

The UN Secretary-General’s report on peacebuilding and sustaining peace drew on input from the three tracks of the informal phase and offered a practical starting point.

• Urging member states to embrace nationally owned prevention and peacebuilding strategies.
• Emphasising the critical role of women in peacebuilding, calling for at least 15% of ODA to conflictaffected countries to advance gender equality, with 1% allocated specifically to women’s organisations.
• Pressing member states to reinvigorate voluntary funding to UN entities working on peacebuilding and the sustainable development goals,
• Highlighting the need for adequate resources for the PBC.
• Urging broader voluntary contributions to the Peace Building Fund PBF and raising assessed funding to $100 million per year.
• Calling for the strengthening of the Peacebuilding Impact Hub

For the formal stage of the review this year, two co-facilitators—Egypt for the General Assembly and Slovenia for the Security Council—have been appointed to conduct intergovernmental consultations.

Source: UN Security Council Report February 2025

Peacebuilding dialogue reveals Australia’s’ five peacebuilding priorities

DFAT recently convened an online ‘Dialogue on Peacebuilding’ with 30 representatives from NGOs and academia involved in peacebuilding / conflict prevention to share information and ideas about Australia’s engagement in the Peacebuilding Commission and reform of the UN peace structures.

During the Dialogue, DFAT revealed that the Government has agreed on five key peacebuilding priority areas:

1. Strengthening the UN peacebuilding architecture , including financing for Peacebuilding
2. Deepening Australia’s engagement on conflict prevention
3. Working closely with our region and strengthening regional links with global PB
4. Ensuring inclusive and equitable peacebuilding, including Indigenous perspectives and continuing support for the Women, Peace and Security initiative.
5. Protection of Humanitarian Personnel

USAID- World’s largest aid agency gutted by Trump

The 90-day suspension of U.S. foreign aid by President Trump has been followed by the cutting of more than 14,000 staff from USAID across the world. Subsequently, a federal judge ruled on Valentines Day that the Trump administration must reverse its stop-work order on existing foreign aid programs. The suspension may mark the end of the world’s largest aid donor agency but has already caused international mayhem. The impact will be devastating for poor people around the world and will increase deaths and migration. It will also have a severe impact on the United Nations.

In fiscal year 2023, USAID spent A$64 billion across more than 130 countries, a sum that totaled less than 1% of America’s federal budget. (For comparison, Australia’s aid budget for 2024-25 is A$4.96 billion.) USAID fed tens of millions of people, responded to disasters and conflicts, and provided millions more with critical health care, economic support, and more. USAID was also funding a peacebuilding program in Papua New Guinea, which is now suspended.

In 2023, the United States provided $13 billion of $67.6 billion of total worldwide support to the United Nations and its agencies — a figure that has been steadily rising year-on-year until 2022. (Source Devex)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that he is acting head of USAID and the State Department would reorganize and absorb “certain bureaus, offices, and missions of USAID” — while noting that “the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law”. He also announced some exemptions to the ban.

• Impacts include:
  Climate Change: A USAID-supported program that helps countries on the front lines of climate change prepare for and manage the impacts of extreme weather events has gone dark following the 90 day freeze. Experts said that the loss of this program will not only increase deaths due to a lack of early-warning for extreme weather events across the world, it will also put pressure on the United States as more individuals in climate-vulnerable countries flee their destroyed homes and seek refuge in the U.S.
• Famine early warning: The Famine Early Warning Systems Network, or FEWS NET, funded by USAID has gone offline. It is a critical and leading source of up-to-date data to predict and track food insecurity in nearly 30 countries in Africa, Central America, and Asia.
• Hurting the poorest. The UN has highlighted where the impact would fall most heavily noting that 18 countries rely on U.S. aid to provide more than 1% of their gross national income. In five countries heavily affected by conflict — Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine — the loss of USAID would amount to 4% or more. Poorer nations (which includes Pacific Island nations) will lose at least 11 billion USD for climate adaption and mitigation programs.
• Pacific: The U.S. had tried to raise its profile in the South Pacific to counter China’s influence, including by bolstering USAID spending to nations that are among the most dependent on development finance. In 2024, US officials announced more than $15 million in new spending, to boost natural disaster resilience, support economic growth, help countries withstand the ruinous effects of climate change, and more.

As the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) noted “An unequal world is a less stable one”. Tens of millions of people are severely impacted by this action. “These actions will work against efforts to build peace, safety, and economic stability for the world,” commented ACFID.

UK cuts funds to Peacebuilding

Spending on peacebuilding in fragile states is set to plunge by £117 million under a new focus on “national security,” including maritime power, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.

United Kingdom spending on peace-building work in fragile states will be slashed by one-third, under plans seen by Devex, prompting criticism of a funding shift to hard security measures even as global conflicts escalate.

The new Integrated Security Fund is set to receive only £233 million ($287 million) of Official Development Assistance, or ODA, in the 2025-26 financial year starting in April — down from £350 million in 2024-25.

Gaza: Trump’s aides back away from his takeover plan

Middle East leaders and key U.S. partners around the world were quick to oppose President Trump’s proposal to force Palestinians out of Gaza and take it over. Amid the global alarm, top administration officials subsequently sought to soften elements of Trump’s plan.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that Trump was proposing only to clear out and rebuild Gaza and not to take it over.

The Gaza proposal upended decades of international diplomacy and created a backlash in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia expressed its “unequivocal rejection,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said aid to Gaza would have to begin “without the Palestinians leaving,” and the King of Jordan warned against any attempt at displacement. Palestinians in Gaza expressed a mixture of condemnation and confusion.

A UN spokesman said that “any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.” Experts said a U.S. takeover of Gaza would be a breach of international law.

The Australian Government is yet to state its view publicly, presumably because an election is coming.

Australia fails to support International Criminal Court

Australia is not a signatory to an international statement signed by 79 countries expressing their “unwavering support for the independence, impartiality and integrity” of the International Criminal Court, according to Reuters. The statement was issued on 7 February a day after U.S. President Donald Trump authorized potentially far-reaching economic and travel sanctions against the court’s staff.

The 79 signatories make up about two thirds on the member states of the permanent court established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves. Among the countries who agreed to the statement were France, Germany and Britain.

The move, which was condemned by the court, is a protest against the ICC’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The court’s host nation, the Netherlands, said it regretted the sanctions and would continue to support the ICC’s work.

Parallel Histories

Parallel Histories is a UK based educational charity that offers a new way of studying contested history. It helps students navigate the history of Israel and Palestine, the Northern Ireland conflict, Putin and Ukraine, and the impact of the British Empire, and take courses on those it calls “great” leaders, including Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher.

Pupils are split into two groups and assigned one side of an argument. They study historical sources that will support their view and debate with each other. Then, they switch positions and see all the information their opponents had access to, and debate again from their new perspective.

While in Australia we seem determined to make sure no one in education institutions mentions the war on Gaza in any educational context, in the UK they have developed a method to help young people understand such complex situations. See https://parallelhistories.org.uk/

There is no path to peace. Peace is the path – Gandhi

AUSTRALIAN PEACE AND SECURITY FORUM

www.austpeaceandsecurityforum.org.au
Email: info@austpeaceandsecurityforum.org.au