(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday the UN peacekeepers operations worldwide need to be revamped to better fulfil their mandates in a changing world and in the 21st century.
Addressing a Security Council meeting on "Peacekeeping operations, new trends" called for by Russia, Ban said "we face huge peacekeeping challenges.
New phenomena are affecting our work, and new approaches are on display." He noted that peacekeeping operations are increasingly mandated to operate "where there is no peace to keep," giving as examples the situations in Darfur, South Sudan, Mali, and the Central African Republic and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than two-thirds of all the military, police and civilian personnel are operating.
The chief added that there are 116,462 as the total number of personnel serving in 16 peacekeeping operations worldwide, with a global budget approaching USD 8 billion.
He also noted that some UN peacekeeping operations are being authorized "in the absence of clearly identifiable parties to the conflict or a viable political process." "When there is no clear path towards peace, crises will inevitably recur and peacekeeping operations are much more likely to struggle to meet their mandates," he told the Council.
He gave as examples Mali where no comprehensive agreement was in place, and the situation remains precarious, the Central African Republic, where there was a political framework for transition but the process has been gravely undermined by inter-communal violence, and South Sudan where conflict has re-emerged.
"A broader discussion is needed on how UN peacekeeping should adapt to new demands and what capabilities and resources it needs to adapt.
We must also ask what the limits of UN peacekeeping are and whether it is always the right tool," Ban said.
Ban said he has asked the Secretariat to initiate work on a review of UN peacekeeping.
"Mandates, political leverage, logistical support, training, accountability, rules of engagement, technological innovation, and clarity on caveats of troop- and police-contributing countries are just a few areas that may warrant review," he suggested.
Ban further told the Council that "we must also use all possible forms of technology that can enable our peacekeeping personnel to operate more safely and cost-effectively." "We will continue to consult with the legislative bodies on the deployment of unmanned unarmed aerial vehicles based on the experience we have gained with their deployment to MONUSCO (UN Stabilization Mission in DR Congo,)" he said.
He also complained that while there have been improvements in the mechanisms and speed with which the United Nations deploys uniformed personnel, "it does not have a standing reserve force that it can deploy on short notice" once a Council decision is taken. "It is important that we all work together to ensure we are able to deploy or reinforce our missions, when necessary, as quickly as possibleآ" We need to have a clear-sighted view of what capabilities peacekeeping will need to meet the challenges ahead," he urged. He said in this regard that arrangements are underway to draw more effectively from regional standby forces belonging to the African Union and the European Union.
"We must bring to bear the full range of tools at the disposal of the international community to consolidate peace and achieve an enduring political solution to conflicts wherever we are called to act," he concluded.
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