Building Peace in Venezuela: challenges and opportunities

The Center for Justice and Peace (CEPAZ) and the University for Peace (UPeace) are delighted to invite you this Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 11:00 AM (EDT), to an open event in which we will discuss the role of the United Nations in the Venezuelan crisis and the possibilities of peacebuilding mechanisms in Venezuela. This will be an open event with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish and English.

Background

Venezuela is currently suffering one of the most complex economic, political, and humanitarian crises in the world, characterized by State violence exerted through security bodies and other State groups, with a constant and progressive detriment of the political and juridical institutions, the formal economy, and the development policies, entailing severe social inequalities and underlying poverty.

The United Nations should discuss possible solutions that can stabilize the social, political, economic, and humanitarian conditions and allow for the construction of sustainable peace in the country, considering the fragility of the current situation. It is vital to address the root causes of the crisis and use peace management and conflict resolution tools. These solutions cannot be superficial but specially tailored to the roots of the problem to build a sustainable and durable state of peace.

As described by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Policy Committee, peacebuilding involves a range of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management and laying the foundations for sustainable peace and development. Peacebuilding strategies must be coherent and tailored to the country’s specific needs, comprising a carefully prioritized, sequenced, and therefore a relatively narrow set of activities aimed at achieving the above objectives.

Peacebuilding is about reaching a peaceful status and creating structures that can maintain that peaceful status once reached.

Aiming to discuss peacebuilding in Venezuela, CEPAZ and the University for Peace (UPeace) made a call on April 8, 2021, inviting the academic community to present articles on the role of the United Nations in the Venezuelan situation.

The results of this call will be presented in an open event with simultaneous translation in Spanish and English on Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 10:00 AM (EDT), focusing on the action of the United Nations regarding the crisis the applicable peacebuilding mechanisms in Venezuela.

Objectives

With this open event, we aim to:

• Present the results of the call for academic articles of April 8, 2021, on the Role of the United Nations in the Venezuelan situation.
• Promote a discussion on the Venezuelan crises and its impact on the international community along with the action of the United Nations concerning the Venezuelan situation and the options for peacebuilding