Today representatives from 80 nations gather in London to discuss how best to make UN Peacekeeping ready for the challenges and opportunities of the modern world.
For over 60 years those who don UN Peacekeeping’s blue helmets have held the line between stability and conflict. When political solutions break down and violence erupts, brave UN Peacekeepers are often the best way to protect civilians, calm tensions, and restore order. Today there are more than 100,000 peace keepers operating in every corner of the globe; together they represent one of the largest deployed forces in the world.
At a time of change and crises, the importance of peacekeeping is growing. We have all seen how crises in fragile States, unless swiftly countered, can have regional, and even global, repercussions. Better peacekeeping means more stability, more lives saved from conflict, and fewer ungoverned spaces where extremism can flourish. Thus it’s in our collective interest to strengthen UN peacekeeping so it becomes more responsive, more capable, and more effective.
Yet the changing nature of the threats we face is also changing the nature of peacekeeping. Many of today's 16 active peacekeeping missions operate in complex political situations and dangerous environments. In addition, peacekeepers’ missions have expanded: no longer are they only asked to hold the ceasefire or facilitate humanitarian aid, instead more and more they are being asked to protect civilians, stop ongoing violence, and help rebuild states.
The danger and nature of these missions require well-led, well-trained and well-equipped military units, as well as police and civilian staff. This week’s first-ever UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial, co-hosted by the United Kingdom, is an important opportunity to make progress on the vital work that the UN and Member States began in New York last September. To ensure UN Peacekeeping is up to the task and our peacekeepers are ready for their missions, the United States and the United Kingdom, along with many of our partners, are working with the UN to make improvements in three critical areas, or three “Ps”: planning, pledges and performance.
The first ‘P’ is for planning. To ensure the UN can meet the growing demands for peacekeeping, we need better mission planning to identify when UN missions should deploy, what they should do, and what capabilities they need. We must ensure that we have the right people with the right training and equipment in the right places at the right time. Effective planning at all stages of the mission, particularly as each is conceived and designed, lays the foundation for success. We must also consider how best to make operational adjustments to missions afield as conditions on the ground change.
But we must also make sure the UN has the personnel and equipment needed to carry out the mandated tasks. Because member countries pledge personnel and materiel to UN peacekeeping, our second P must be pledges. At last year’s historic Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping in New York, 52 nations and international organisations answered U.S. President Barack Obama’s call and pledged more than 40,000 additional uniformed personnel, including infantry battalions, police contingents, engineers, intelligence units, and helicopters. Last year, the UK pledged to double its peacekeeping contribution, and the United States, already the largest financial contributor and largest provider of training for peacekeeping, increased its support in nine areas, including logistics, technology and staff officers.
As all our nations deliver on these pledges, we must continue to work at this week’s ministerial to find additional ways for member countries to contribute to UN peacekeeping. The United Kingdom will announce today that 100 troops, in addition to the 300 previously pledged, will deploy to South Sudan to establish a hospital and bring much needed support to the Mission and local population. And today, the United States will announce additional contributions to UN Peacekeeping in five areas, including support to UN leadership development, enhanced training to prevent sexual exploitation and other conduct and discipline issues, assistance in synchronizing capacity building for peacekeepers, support for UN rapid deployment, and advanced technology to improve the efficiency of UN operations.
Our third “P” is performance. We need to make sure the peacekeepers themselves are up to the task to deliver on their mandate. The moment our troops step into their respective missions they must be willing and able to accomplish the mandates given them, such as protecting civilians, abiding by the rule of law, and honouring the UN principles of humanity, impartiality and independence. Here training is critical, and so are high standards. Peacekeepers must be seen as a dependable force willing to act on moral principles such as protecting innocent life.
Unfortunately, despite their many achievements, there are many well documented incidents of peacekeepers failing to live up to the standards expected of them. We must have a zero tolerance approach to sexual exploitation or abuse. Any peacekeeper found guilty must be held accountable. Peacekeepers also have a responsibility to prevent and respond to acts of sexual violence committed by parties to conflict. To ensure these standards are met, our two nations are pressing for training on prevention of sexual violence in conflict to be an integral part of the UN’s pre-deployment training and stressing that the UN employs mitigation and accountability practices. Since the end of 2012 the UK has deployed teams of experts to countries including Bosnia Herzegovina and the eastern DRC to help local efforts to stamp out these human rights abuses. But UN Peacekeeping requires a global effort. All nations must play their part.
Improving performance also means improving leadership and participation. Leaders must be well qualified, and selected based upon merit, and must be empowered to effectively manage their forces in difficult environments. In addition, we will also look at how those new troops can be deployed faster and used more efficiently, and how women can play a more prominent stronger role in delivering peace and security. There are currently too few women wearing UN Peacekeeping’s blue helmets. We’ll only get the most out of our resources by maximising the talent, including women, available that meets our standards.
In a more complex and dangerous world it's time for the UN and all its Member States to step up. By sticking to our three “Ps” of planning, pledges, and performance we will strengthen our global partnership and UN peacekeeping itself. As we make those improvements and look to leverage an improved UN peacekeeping force to make a better world, the words of President Harry S Truman at the Signing of the UN Charter in 1945 will be ringing in our ears: “You have created a great instrument for peace and security and human progress in the world. The world must now use it!”