Cooperation with regional organizations has long been a priority of the work of the United Nations, as recognized in Chapter VIII of the UN Charter and numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council. Secretary-General António Guterres has stressed that strengthening United Nations partnerships with regional and subregional organizations is an integral part of his vision for a networked multilateralism.
Regular meetings of senior experts from the United Nations, subregional, regional and other international organizations on conflict prevention and mediation have proven a valuable forum for exchanging lessons learned and building cooperation. This initiative was conceived at the 2010 retreat of the Secretary-General with heads of regional organizations.
Together with these key partners, a number of Biennial Meetings and technical workshops on mediation have been organized over the years bring together senior mediation experts, practitioners and policymakers.
The following are the key events that have taken place
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In 2023, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and MSU co-chaired the seventh Biennial Regional Organizations Meeting. The agenda reflected current issues facing mediation practitioners, including managing pools of experts, national dialogues, ceasefires, climate change and mediation and designing inclusive and multi-track processes. The following organisations participated: ASEAN-IPR, ECOWAS, EU, GCC, IGAD, LAS, OAS, OIC, OSCE, the Francophonie, and the UN. Read the summary.
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In 2021, the EEAS and MSU co-hosted an online technical-level meeting with the mediation support offices of regional and sub-regional organizations. It was an opportunity for representatives from regional organizations to exchange information on their respective activities over the past two years and discuss Digital Diplomacy and Mediation and Religion and Mediation. The following organizations participated: ASEAN, ECOWAS, EEAS, GCC, LAS, OAS, OIC, OSCE and the UN.
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In 2019, the sixth Biennial Regional Organizations Meeting was held in Brussels, with a focus on interlinkages between climate, peace and security, implications of the shared use of land and water for conflict prevention and mediation, ceasefire mediation, and digital technologies and mediation.
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In 2018, the United Nations and EEAS brought together mediation support entities at a technical working level from ten intergovernmental organizations. The workshop, organized in Nairobi, focused on exploring mediation support services in the context of changing conflict landscape. Read the summary.
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In 2017, the fifth Biennial Regional Organizations Meeting took place in Djibouti under the auspices of IGAD. Aside from the UN, nine regional organizations were represented at the meeting, including IGAD, AU, EU, SADC, OIC, LAS, EAC, ECCAS and ASEAN represented by the Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR). Discussions focused on four main themes: local and national mediation; engaging non-state armed groups; mediation of election related violence; and natural resources mediation.
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After the signing of the UN - AU Joint Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security in April 2017, the two Organizations' have been holding UN-AU Annual Conferences. The partnership has developed into collaboration, from frameworks around peace, security and transitions. During their Fifth Annual Conference held in 2021, the two organizations reflected on their work in several peace efforts including the negotiations in Libya, the Sahel while reemphasizing the need for peaceful settlement with regards to the situations in Sudan and South Sudan. MSU provides operational and mediation support to these processes.
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In 2016, a technical workshop among mediation entities, organized in Rome, focused on exploring technical tools and approaches used in delivering mediation support services. Read the summary.
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In 2014 and 2015, two additional meetings were hosted respectively by the League of Arab States (LAS) in Cairo, and the European Union (EU) in Brussels. Both meetings brought together senior experts from the United Nations, the OSCE, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as well as LAS and the EU, as part of a common effort to strengthen cooperation and knowledge-sharing on peace mediation in accordance with the UN Guidance for Effective Mediation. The common thread of discussions focused on a key principle of the UN Guidance: Coherence, Coordination and Complementarity (CCC) in mediation processes, with particular focus on contexts in which one or more regional organizations are involved. Read the report.
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In 2012, a meeting took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the OSCE and the United Nations. That meeting focused on getting the perspectives of regional, subregional and other international actors for the development of the United Nations Guidance for Effective Mediation. Read the report.
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In 2010, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) brought together representatives from the United Nations and key regional organizations in Vienna, Austria, to foster closer cooperation and knowledge-sharing on preventive and quiet diplomacy, dialogue facilitation and mediation. Read the report.
