Secretary-General, Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to add my thanks to the over 110 Member States participating today in this seminal event for United Nations Peacekeeping. The continued success of the Ministerial process demonstrates the deep and widespread commitment to peacekeeping by governments across the world.
This event comes six months after the high-level meeting on Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) when the same community stated its collective commitment to peacekeeping. We must now turn our focus on how we are fulfilling these commitments.
On the Department of Peace Operations and our new mandate, I want to speak about four priority aspects that inspire our efforts to implement peacekeeping missions.
First, we deploy all efforts possible to promote political solutions and develop regional strategies so as to bolster the momentum in political processes.
For example, in the Central African Republic, the peace agreement agreed upon with the support of the United Nations under the leadership of the African Union is now being implemented, making real progress, with the parties now agreed on the establishment of an inclusive government.
In South Sudan, our mission is using its good offices to support the implementation of the peace agreement signed, which was concluded with the support of IGAD and was signed on the 12th of September last year.
And, finally, in Mali, MINUSMA is playing a crucial role to move the implementation of the peace agreement forward.
I am nonetheless mindful that there is only so much the UN can do to cement political progress. We cannot achieve lasting peace without our partners. I appeal to all of you to support the achievement of political solutions where we do not yet have them, and the implementation of peace agreements where we do.
Second priority: the overall number of missions and peacekeepers is currently diminishing. We are reconfiguring our missions to be more mobile and more proactive. We are not seeking large traditional units at present. Instead, as the Secretary-General underlined, we must address the critical shortfalls including helicopters, quick reaction forces, peacekeeping intelligence capability and counter-IED units, as well as qualified staff officers.
Third area of priorities: we are committed to enhancing peacekeeping performance for maximum impact. The link between performance and the safety and security of peacekeepers is clear, and enhancing both is an utmost priority. This includes a renewed commitment to implementing the Action Plan on improving the security of peacekeepers, which is part of Action for Peacekeeping together with our highest-risk missions.
We are also putting in place a comprehensive system to assess our missions’ overall performance, as well as the performance of military and formed police units. Those units with shortfalls can now be identified and engaged proactively to receive targeted training support as well as support for equipment shortfalls. We are placing special emphasis on pre-deployment training and enhanced assessment, leadership training and in-mission training. We also encourage Member States to enter into partnerships to improve our units’ capacities where needed.
Fourth area of priority: we are strongly committed to increasing the number of women peacekeepers and to ensuring women’s full and meaningful participation in political processes. And of course, I join others in congratulating our dear colleague Commander Braga from MINUSCA for having received the women peacekeeping award this year.
When women are involved in peace processes, the resulting agreements last longer, and we are proud to have been part of joint political advocacy that contributed to a woman signatory to the recently signed peace agreement in the Central African Republic. Increasing the number of women soldiers and police deployed to peacekeeping missions is an operational imperative. For example, the establishment of engagement teams that include women can create—actually does create—trust and build enduring relationships that help to prevent violence against civilians.
I applaud the many Member States that have made strides in the recruitment, training, and nomination of female peacekeepers and I ask you all to pledge to meet the targets we have set for deploying women peacekeepers – and strongly encourage you to put more senior women peacekeepers into leadership roles.
These are, Excellencies, the four areas of priority that I wanted to highlight before you. But we have a comprehensive plan for implementing Action for Peacekeeping in two pages, and this plan has been or will be circulated to all of you during this meeting.
As we turn now to the act of pledging, allow me to share my gratitude to all of you. I am proud to be at the helm of peacekeeping, pride which is mirrored in each and every one of the women and men serving as United Nations Peacekeepers. On behalf of them, I would like to thank you all for your presence here today and your unwavering support to UN Peacekeeping.
Thank you for your attention.