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Remarks at the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations General Debate

Ambassador David Pressman
Alternate Representative to the UN for Special Political Affairs
New York, NY
February 18, 2015

 

AS DELIVERED

Madame Chairwoman, Members of the Bureau, and distinguished colleagues,

Our discussion today is particularly timely because today, February 18, marks the 50th Anniversary of the General Assembly's resolution establishing the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.

Fifty years after we began meeting to discuss the operational and technical challenges of UN peacekeeping, the need for sustained focus and innovation on how to best design and deploy effective operations that are able to deliver on their mandates is as imperative today as ever before.

Peacekeeping operations today are more complex, more dangerous, and more multidimensional than in the past, and violence against peacekeepers is increasing amid the ever-changing complexities on the ground. There can be little doubt that today’s conflicts put peacekeeping personnel and civilians alike at greater risk of harm. Where the world needs peacekeeping today – and the tasks we need peacekeepers to perform – are simply different than before. And yet our systems for designing, planning, and deploying peacekeeping missions have remained too static – even in the face of rapidly evolving requirements and dynamic operational environments.

That is why our conversation in this Committee, and the work of the High-Level Panel, and the concerted engagement of troop contributors and the Secretariat is so important – to ensure that we are not using the familiar approach to designing, deploying, and assessing peacekeeping missions just because it is familiar. The demands placed on peacekeeping today require innovation and strength; innovation to ensure that we are designing and deploying missions in the most efficient and effective manner, and strength in ensuring that the international community stands behind the brave men and women of UN peacekeeping when they are imperiled or when they are inhibited.

The United States salutes the dedicated men and women who put themselves at risk to restore peace and to protect civilians – some of whom have given their lives in service to this end. In Mali, thirty-two peacekeepers have died from hostile acts and another 122 MINUSMA peacekeepers have been wounded since the start of that mission. The UN Disengagement Observer Force has had to pull back from the area of separation because of fighting, and just last year 45 peacekeepers from that mission were taken hostage.

We condemn all violent attacks against peacekeepers and civilians. But let’s recognize that the threats to peacekeepers are multifaceted. Peacekeepers are not just threatened by armed groups and terrorists. They are also imperiled by governments that frustrate peacekeepers’ ability to function, impede their ability to carry out core tasks, and in doing so, undermine the security of both the civilians the UN seeks to protect and the peacekeepers sent there to do that.

One recent example is chilling. When reports emerged that hundreds of women had been systematically raped by military forces of the Government of Sudan in one village in North Darfur, UNAMID, appropriately, attempted to investigate. UNAMID, however, was repeatedly denied access to that village, only being allowed to enter on one occasion for a few hours and even then only being allowed to interview victims in the presence of Sudanese military and intelligence officials. This kind of harassment and intimidation is a threat – not only to the ability of peacekeepers to protect civilians, this threat imperils the peacekeepers themselves. Thanks to the executive summary of the Cooper report into allegations of the manipulation of UNAMID reporting, we discovered that Sudanese government and pro-government forces were more closely tied to attacks on UNAMID troops than we had been led to believe. In one incident, the Government of Sudan reportedly threatened to bomb a UNAMID convoy carrying a member of the Panel of Experts.

So as we sit here and discuss the safety and security of peacekeepers in this year’s C-34 negotiations, our task is broader than ensuring adequate training, planning, and resources – though without a doubt those are essential. Our task also includes reaffirming our collective political commitment to ensure respect for peacekeepers, to press for compliance with Security Council mandates, to ensure full and unfettered access for peacekeepers to do their job, expeditious clearing of necessary equipment and medicines through customs, and, when peacekeepers fall under attack, to demand that host countries swiftly bring perpetrators to justice. Member states have an important role to play in realizing these actions to help create a safer environment for both peacekeepers and civilians.

Despite the challenges faced by peacekeeping operations, we should all be encouraged because of their commitment and the hard work of so many Member States to ensure their success.

Among the positive developments in the past year, numerous Member States have worked with the Secretariat to develop a set of manuals establishing agreed standards for performance for a wide range of military skill sets needed for UN peacekeeping operations. By setting out UN peacekeeping doctrine in these manuals and clearly defining the tasks and capabilities expected of particular units deploying to an operation, countries can now develop specialized training to meet required tasks. With the continued help and support from all of us, we encourage DPKO to continue in 2015 the important work of developing training materials keyed to these manuals.

Secondly, there is now a mechanism for reviewing the readiness of contingents in the field, which is a key component to mission success. Readiness assessments for field personnel will help identify and correct gaps that can undermine a mission’s safety and effectiveness.

Additionally, the High-Level Panel has taken up many of the same questions we will discuss here. We urge the Panel to focus on strengthening the planning and performance of peacekeeping operations to ensure that missions can effectively fulfill their responsibilities in the environments in which we now need to deploy peacekeeping operations.

To that end, and recognizing the need to enhance our ability to deploy peacekeepers more rapidly, last autumn, Vice President Biden co-hosted a peacekeeping event here during the opening of the 69th session of the General Assembly with representatives of more than 30 countries to encourage new contributions to peacekeeping, and the United States is committed to working with other countries to generate further contributions over the next year, leading to another high-level meeting in September. In August, President Obama announced the creation of the African Peacekeeping Rapid Response Partnership (APRRP), a U.S. commitment of $110 million per year for three to five years to build capacity in six African countries to rapidly deploy peacekeepers to emerging crises. In addition, the United States has helped to train and equip more than 287,000 peacekeepers and supported deployment of more than 197,000 personnel from 38 countries to 29 UN and regional operations around the world since 2005. We also support UN police and rule of law activities. Since 2010, we have trained 5,174 police from eight countries to prepare for deployment to UN peacekeeping missions.

Point being, our commitment to peacekeeping runs deep, because we know just how much brave peacekeepers, backed by strong political support from the member states gathered here, can and must accomplish. Thank you.

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