Publikation

The term “peacebuilding” first entered the UN lexicon in Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s Agenda for Peace in 1992, where it was defined as “action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict.” The concept was initially defined in relation to a conflict cycle that passed from pre-conflict preventive diplomacy through peacemaking and peacekeeping to post-conflict peacebuilding, although Boutros-Ghali’s 1995 Supplement to the Agenda for Peace later expanded this understanding to include preventive action as well.

The 2000 Brahimi Report further refined the concept as “activities undertaken on the far side of conflict to reassemble the foundations of peace and provide the tools for building on those foundations something that is more than just the absence of war,” also stating that "effective peacebuilding is, in effect, a hybrid of political and development activities targeted at the sources of conflict."