UN Peacebuilding Week - Diverse Pathways for Sustaining Peace: The Role of Customary and Informal Justice Actors in Peacebuilding
Hybrid & In-person - 304 E 45 th St, New York, NY 10017, 11 th Floor
Interpretation available: EN-SPA-FR-PT-AR
UNITED NATIONS PEACEBUILDING WEEK 2026 SIDE-EVENT
Co-organizers: UN PBPSO; IDLO; Kituo Cha Sheria; Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers; Open Society Africa; Research for Mozambique (REFORMAR); Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies; UNDP; & UNODC
Co-sponsors: Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kenya, Permanent Mission of Panama, Permanent Mission of the Philippines, and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland.
Inclusive, legitimate, and effective justice is a core enabler of conflict prevention and sustaining peace. In conflict‑affected, fragile, and post‑conflict contexts, people-centred, inclusive, and locally responsive justice approaches can help repair social relations, restore trust, and strengthen rule of law and social cohesion, laying critical foundations for durable peace. In many peacebuilding contexts, where there are significant barriers to accessing formal justice institutions that may be weak, absent or emerging from conflict, customary, informal, community and Indigenous justice (CIJ) systems serve as the primary pathways through which people seek to resolve disputes, claim rights, and address grievances. As such, CIJ actors can play a decisive role in shaping people’s lived experience of justice and in influencing whether disputes are addressed peacefully or escalate into violence.
This side event situates engagement with CIJ actors within the UN Peacebuilding Architecture’s focus on prevention, inclusion, and partnerships, with particular attention to gender‑responsive and rights‑based justice approaches. It will highlight the importance of coherent, people- centered justice ecosystems that strengthen constructive interaction between CIJ actors, formal justice institutions, and peacebuilding processes through complementarity, referral pathways, and shared standards. Particular attention will be given to restorative justice approaches, including Indigenous and community‑based practices, both within CIJ systems and at their interface with formal institutions, as tools to address conflict‑related harm, reduce over‑reliance on incarceration, and rebuild social bonds fractured by violence.
The main objective of the event is to:
Demonstrate the peacebuilding value of diverse pathways to justice by sharing concrete examples of innovative and inclusive engagement strategies sustain peace
Examine opportunities and risks in engaging with CIJ actors, including how issues of gender inequality, power imbalances, and accountability can be addressed
Foster knowledge exchange and deepen learning on restorative justice approaches, including Indigenous and community‑based practices
Word of welcome:
Ms. Elizabeth Mary Spehar, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding and Peace Support
Speakers:
Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa (pending confirmation)
Judge (Prof.) Joel Mwaura Ngugi, Kenya Court of Appeal and Chair of the National Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Alternative Justice Systems Policy
Judge Abdulkareem Ba Abad, Deputy Minister of Justice for the Documentation and Courts Section, Republic of Yemen
Ms. Michelle Doerlemann, Justice Expert, United Nations Transitional Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS)
Ms. Tina Lorizzo, Director, Research for Mozambique (REFORMAR)
Ms. Jessica Roland, Senior Specialist for Inclusive Peace, Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers