Chair,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
It is an honor to join you for the Annual Debate of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.
UN Peacekeeping operations are one of the global community’s most effective tools in the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security. It supports political processes, protects civilians, helps curb violence, and supports efforts in peacebuilding, the protection of human rights, and the pursuit of sustainable development.
I would like to thank all those Member States who have supported UN Peacekeeping operations, both through resources support as well as through personnel on the ground. Likewise, we are indebted to the women and men who are serving in some of the most challenging places on earth and risking their own lives to protect others and fulfill the mandates set by the international community. They deserve our sincere admiration and gratitude.
Excellencies, I welcome the significant progress that has been made to reduce the number of fatalities amongst UN peacekeepers; to establish robust systems to manage the risks of misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse; and to improve the environmental risk management and performance of Peacekeeping operations.
That said, we must always be in pursuit of better, particularly when it comes to the lives and well-being of peacekeeping personnel. More needs to be done to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers and to improve the performance of peacekeeping operations.
We must also continue our efforts to prioritize gender equality across peacekeeping operations. One of my priorities for the 76th Session is gender equality, and I am therefore a strong supporter of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda, and the pledge for gender parity amongst the staff deployed to UN peacekeeping missions.
Relatedly, I will be organizing a Holhuashi Dialogue on the Women, Peace and Security agenda in March and am already looking forward to the fruitful discussions on how to facilitate action to enhance women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in peace processes and political solutions.
I am pleased, that women’s participation in peacekeeping operations has been expanded and the targets from the Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy have all been surpassed, except for military contingents. More women in peacekeeping means more effective peacekeeping.
Here too there is room for improvement. For example, capacities of the protection of civilians, including early warning, civilian harm mitigation, training, and community engagement must be strengthened. The use of technology in peacekeeping should also be enhanced. Moreover, greater partnership between all peacekeeping stakeholders, including troop and police contributing countries, host countries and regional organizations should also be strengthened.
Excellencies,
There are clear positive interlinkages between peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and sustaining peace. And I welcome the conceptual shift to peacebuilding and sustaining peace as one of the most significant outcomes of recent UN reforms.
While peace operations lay the foundations for peacebuilding in host countries, on many occasions the peacekeepers perform specific peacebuilding related tasks aimed at sustaining peace.
Prevention should be the foundation of building and sustaining peace. The root causes of conflicts and crises often lie in poverty, exclusion, inequality, discrimination, and serious violations of human rights.
There is a reason that the UN was built on the three pillars of human rights, development and peace and security. Our peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations can and must further strengthen these pillars.
The 2030 Agenda and its blueprint to sustainable, inclusive development is one of the world’s best preventive tools against violent conflict and instability.
And this must be backed by sustained political engagement, national leadership and ownership, strong partnerships, and financing. Here is where the discussion today and the work of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations becomes so crucial.
To streamline and strengthen the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations, I call on all stakeholders to fulfil their commitments outlined in the Declaration of Shared Commitments on Action for Peacekeeping. And I welcome the Secretary-General’s Action for Peace Plus (A4P+) as means to accelerate the implementation of the Declaration.
Excellencies, the work of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations has a direct impact on the direction of peacekeeping policy, priorities, practice, and training. I wish the Committee successful negotiations during its substantive session.
Thank you.
