On Thursday, January 22, the United States President, Donald Trump launched his new “Board of Peace” at Davos, Switzerland with a signing ceremony for the body with $1 billion membership fees and a controversial list of invitees of a group of leaders and Senior officials from 19 countries and Trump’s allies from Argentina, Hungary and other countries gathered on the stage with Trump to put their names to the founding charter of the body.
The Board of peace, analysts contend came to be against the backdrop of Trump’s frustration at having failed to win the Nobel Peace prize despite his claim of having ended eight conflicts.
The Board of Peace was originally conceived to oversee peace in Gaza after the war between Hamas and Israel but the BOP charter has envisioned a wider role in resolving international conflicts, which observers sees as an over-reach as the board will now rival the United Nations. Critics also opines that the Board which was supposed to give Gaza a future but Trump is now using it to attack the “United Nations, International law and multilaterism”.
Observers noted that the Board of Peace was birthed in subterfuge. The United Nations Security Council authorized a board of peace chaired by Donald Trump to oversee the administration and reconstruction of Gaza but what the United States has created now is something entirely different as the Board charter did not mention Gaza and the desire to bring peace to the Middle East conflicts. Critics argued that what Trump attempt to do is to supplant the United Nations and a symbolic declaration of power and creation of another forum to polish his ego.
It will be recalled that the United Nation approved the plan in November 2025 via the UN Security Council Resolution 2803 despite the warning by legal experts that it was a breach of International law.
But what was done in Davos shows that Trump’s plan was to establish his board of peace with the exclusion of the Middle East. Also with the launch of the board, Trump seems to be increasingly competing with the United Nation while shying away from the core mandate which is to oversee peace and the reconstruction of the Gaza strip and stabilize the conflicts in the Middle East.
According to the charter of the Board of Peace, the body intends to “promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict” around the world. The charter also grants its chair extensive power and Trump was named its founding chair. According to media reports, it is solely up to the chair to invite states to be members.
Membership is limited to three years but can be extended by the chair and only states that contribute more than $1 billion to finance the BOP within the first year of its establishment will remain permanent members.
However, observers says that the charter is clearly intended as a challenge to the United Nations and a sign of mistrust towards the global organization. Thus by taking additional functions or tasks contrary to the mandates of the UN, the BOP will certainly be in direct competition with the UN. But the extent to which the BOP can achieve this mandate will depend largely on the approval of its of its members and ability to enforce their decisions but if other countries particularly the current super powers join the Board of Peace, it could become a big challenge for the United Nations.
However, many critics of the BOP says it is a proof of Trump drive to dismantle the international architecture of the UN and replace it with a new institution dominated by Donald Trump as Trump’s ambition for the Board of Peace to play a role in global conflicts appears to be United States attempt to sideline the United Nations Security Council about the relevance of UN and the uncertainty about its future as the primary organization in brokering world peace.
