UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PEACE-KEEPING OPERATIONS STRESSES NEED FOR ADDITIONAL INVESTMENTS TO SUSTAIN HARD-WON CAPACITY OF THOSE OPERATIONS

Press Release
GA/PK/145

UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PEACE-KEEPING OPERATIONS STRESSES NEED FOR ADDITIONAL INVESTMENTS TO SUSTAIN HARD-WON CAPACITY OF THOSE OPERATIONS

In Address to Peace-keeping Special Committee's Opening Meeting of 1997 Session

"The building of peace-keeping may stand, but it is heavily mortgaged and its foundations are fragile", Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations Bernard Miyet told the Special Committee for Peace-keeping Operations as it began its 1997 session this morning. That situation was difficult to reconcile with the importance of peace-keeping as an essential programme of the Organization, he stressed.

If the United Nations was to continue to develop and keep an experienced staff and if it was to sustain its hard-won capacity to meet the current and future demands of peace-keeping, additional investments were necessary, he added.

Relevant policies and procedures should be reviewed and brought into line with the special demands of field operations, he added, and any new policies must be implemented with full transparency, in a disciplined manner and with adequate controls in place. Reform, which included providing peace- keeping operations with a more secure financial basis, would result in a structure able to cope efficiently with demands.

Also this morning, the Committee elected the following officers: Ibrahim A. Gambari (Nigeria), as Chairman; Fernando Enrique Petrella (Argentina), David Karsgaard (Canada), Yukinari Hirose (Japan) and Zbigniew Maria Matuszewski (Poland) as Vice-Chairmen; and Hossam Zaki (Egypt), Rapporteur.

In adopting its programme of work, the Committee decided to hold a maximum of four sessions of general debate today and tomorrow. Following that, an open-ended working group will meet between 14 April and 1 May. The Special Committee will convene a meeting following the completion of the substantive work by the working group no later than 2 May, in order to consider and approve its report. The report will then be submitted to the fifty-second session of the General Assembly.

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The Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Gambari (Nigeria), said that as the challenges of peace-keeping became more burdensome on the diminishing financial capacity of the United Nations, the Organization had no choice but to cooperate more meaningfully with regional organizations. In West Africa, the cooperative framework between the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) in addressing the Liberian crisis was worthy of emulation. He called upon Member States, as a matter of urgency, to support ECOMOG's efforts to create an atmosphere conducive to the holding of free and fair elections there.

Speakers in the general debate stressed the importance of providing peace-keeping operations with clearly defined, achievable mandates and objectives, in addition to the necessary resources. They emphasized the need to improve the participation of troop-contributing countries in the Security Council decision-making process on peace-keeping operations. Attention was also given to the importance of the Lessons Learned Unit and the need to provide it with regular and predictable financing.

Speaking in the general debate were the representatives of Thailand (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), Netherlands (on behalf of the European Union), Pakistan, Uruguay, Ukraine, Croatia and China.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its general debate.

Special Committee Work Programme

The Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations met this morning to begin its 1997 session. The Committee is scheduled to hear an opening statement by the Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, Bernard Miyet, elect officers, decide on its programme of work and begin its general debate.

Among the relevant documents before the Committee's 1997 session is General Assembly resolution 51/136, of 13 December 1996, by which the Special Committee was mandated to continue its efforts for a "comprehensive review of the whole question of peace-keeping operations in all their aspects", to review the implementation of its previous proposals and consider new proposals so as to enhance the capacity of the United Nations to fulfil its responsibilities in that field.

The general debate will be held in the context of resolution 51/136 as well as the following documents: Assembly resolution 51/137 on the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel; the report of the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations (document A/51/130 and Corr.1); and reports of the Secretary-General on administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peace-keeping operations (documents A/50/983, A/51/803 and A/51/688 and Corr.1).

Under the terms of resolution 51/136, on peace-keeping in all its aspects, the Assembly decided to extend the membership of the Special Committee to past and present troop-contributors as well as to those Member States which were observers at its 1996 session. The Assembly also endorsed the proposals, recommendations and conclusions contained in the report of the Special Committee (document A/51/130 and Corr.1) concerning guiding principles; definitions and implementation of peace-keeping operations; consultations between troop-contributing countries and the Security Council; enhancing the United Nations capacity for peace-keeping; and the Committee's membership. The Assembly also urged Member States, the Secretariat and relevant organs of the United Nations to take all necessary steps to implement the recommendations.

By resolution 51/137, the Assembly urged all States to consider ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel in order to bring about its entry into force at the earliest possible date. The Secretary-General was requested to continue to facilitate the dissemination of information relating to the Convention and to promote its wider appreciation.

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The report of the Secretary-General on administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peace-keeping operations addressing management review officers and roving finance officers states that the objective of introducing resident auditors, roving finance officers and management review officers to peace-keeping operations is to strengthen and improve the management of those operations, by providing support to the respective managers (document A/50/983). Constant communication of their findings, comments or recommendations through a system of reporting to the Department of Peace-keeping Operations, the Department of Administration and Management and the Office of Internal Oversight Services should provide an essential element of support while streamlining the tasks related to internal oversight, control and review.

Also under that item, a note by the Secretary-General on the audit of the United Nations Logistics Base at Brindisi (document A/51/803) states that the base at Brindisi is considered to be an excellent logistics complex for the storage and maintenance of United Nations assets from closing and downsizing peace-keeping missions, thereby saving the Organization considerable resources.

Following a field audit of the Logistics Base by the Office of Internal Oversight, the Office recommended, among other measures, that the base assume additional functions only after analysis of their cost-effectiveness and after receiving legislative approval and adequate resources; that the Department of Peace-keeping Operations develop procedures to ensure that essential information for the recording of inventory is provided when closing missions ship materials and supplies to the Logistic Base; that the Logistics Base expeditiously perform a technical evaluation of material and supplies as they are received in order to determine the serviceability of assets and to assure accurate information; and that the Department, in consultation with the Office of Programme, Budget and Accounts, review the existing non-expendable property reporting requirements with a view to developing simplified record keeping procedures for unused peace-keeping equipment.

Another Secretary-General's report under the administrative and budgetary aspects of financing peace-keeping operations, addresses the issue of gratis personnel provided by governments and other entities (documents A/51/688 and Corr.1). It notes that the number of gratis personnel -- personnel seconded by Member States and other entities at no cost to the United Nations -- and the scope of the functions entrusted to them have grown significantly. Under the circumstances the preservation of the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretariat is an important issue.

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The Secretary-General stresses the need to establish uniform policies to guide the acceptance of such personnel and their use throughout the Secretariat and proposes guidelines for the acceptance of gratis personnel to ensure that all concerned comply with United Nations regulations and rules.

The Secretary-General invites the Assembly to reaffirm the principle that Member States collectively should provide the necessary staffing resources to implement the United Nations programmes and activities and to note the conditions and guidelines under which gratis personnel may be accepted. The Assembly is also invited to reaffirm that the acceptance of gratis personnel cannot involve additional financial liability for the Organization.

The report notes that gratis personnel are for the most part staff of their individual governments and not subject to Article 100 of the United Nations Charter and the Staff Regulations. However, by their signing of a special service agreement or any other undertaking signed between the Organization and the donor government, gratis personnel have obligations very similar to the basic duties and obligations imposed upon staff members.

[Article 100 states that in the performance of their duties, the Secretary-General and his staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organization. Member States should respect the international character of the staff's responsibilities and should not seek to influence them in the discharge of their duties.]

In some cases, the report continues, there is no agreement between the United Nations and the individual. In addition, the Secretariat mostly accepts the gratis personnel nominated by their donor governments without independent checking of background, qualifications, experience and performance.

The report states that the greater proportion of gratis personnel have been provided by a limited number of Member States, resulting in a geographical imbalance (80 per cent of gratis personnel are from developed countries). To ensure a better geographical representation, however, a trust fund has been set up to sponsor military officers from developing countries.

According to the report, some donor governments believe that the Organization benefits from gratis personnel and do not agree to pay the related costs. They argue that the cost of support services should be charged against either the existing vacancies in budgeted posts or to the budget in general. The increase in gratis personnel has meant that the capacity to absorb the support costs has diminished considerably. Relevant to that development is the general principle that budgeted resources should not subsidize activities related to voluntary contributions.

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A note by the Secretary-General on the review of the management structure in the civilian staff component of the United Nations Peace Forces (UNPF) (document A/51/305), calls attention to the fact that the UNPF was the most extensive and complex peace-keeping operation in the history of the United Nations. A major conclusion was that the management of UNPF would have been more effective and could have saved significant resources if the management structure had been more appropriate. Frequent expansions and changes in the UNPF mandate made the establishment of adequate internal controls even more important. Future peace-keeping missions should establish, at an early stage, an appropriate management structure with proper internal controls to allow efficient and effective management of operations.

In the Secretary-General's progress report on stand-by arrangements for peace-keeping (document S/1996/1067), the Secretary-General recalls that the purpose of the stand-by arrangements is to have a precise understanding of the forces and other capabilities a Member State will have ready and available. The key element in the system of stand-by arrangements is the "exchange of detailed information to facilitate planing and preparation" for both the participating Member States and the United Nations.

According to the report, an important objective of the stand-by arrangements system is to tackle the problem of the often long period between a decision by the Security Council to establish an operation and the arrival of troops and equipment in the mission area. A key element is "response time", the period of time between the request for resources and the time when they are ready. The Secretariat has registered response times according to the declared individual capacities of Member States which vary from seven days to more than 90 days. However, the speed of deployment is also contingent on political approval and support at the national level, availability of airlift/sealift, a capacity for mission management and logistic sustainment in the field, as well as the conclusion of the necessary administrative procedures.

The introduction of new procedures for determining reimbursement to Member States for contingent-owned equipment, in particular, the elaboration of a contribution agreement for the provision of personnel, equipment and services in support of peace-keeping operations is expected to decrease the level of logistic support to be provided by the United Nations, the Secretary- General states. Significant time could be saved if preliminary contribution agreements were to be drawn up in advance between the Secretariat and participating Member States on the basis of information made available under the standby arrangements system.

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According to the report, the Secretary-General has decided to establish the skeleton of a Rapidly Deployable Mission Headquarters (RDMHQ) to enable the United Nations to deploy quickly a cohesive team of essential civilian and military personnel to the mission area. The RDMHQ would consist of earmarked personnel currently in the Secretariat, personnel nominated by Governments who would remain in their home country until deployment, and a small core of personnel for functions which will require full-time attention. The RDMHQ could remain in the mission area for the first three to six months, during which time it would be gradually replaced, by a mission headquarters staffed by personnel recruited for that purpose. It is hoped that the RDMHQ will be functional in early 1997, says the report.

A Security Council presidential statement addressing demining as a part of the peace-keeping mandate (document S/PRST/1996/37) states that while the primary responsibility for demining in the context of peace-keeping activities lies with parties responsible for the laying of the mines, operational demining should be, wherever appropriate, an integral part of peace-keeping mandates. Noting that early deployment of mine-clearance units would often be important to the effectiveness of a peace-keeping operation, the Council encouraged the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations to examine options for achieving it.

The Council called for improvement in the coordination and clear delineation of responsibilities between the Department of Peace-keeping Operations and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs as well as with other United Nations agencies involved in demining to avoid duplication and to guarantee a coherent and integrated approach towards the whole range of short- and long-term demining needs. Parties to a conflict with primary responsibility for laying mines should desist from further mine laying once a peace-keeping operation was established. They were also obliged to facilitate humanitarian and military demining efforts by providing detailed maps and other relevant information on mines already laid by them and by contributing financially or otherwise to their removal.

The Council encouraged the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations to intensify its consideration of the operational demining aspects of peace-keeping operations, including an analysis of mine-clearance experience in previous peace-keeping operations.

Another Council statement concerns the security of United Nations operations (document S/PRST/1997/13), in which the Council condemns attacks on United Nations personnel and stresses the need to prosecute perpetrators. Citing recent attacks on United Nations and associated personnel, including murder, threats, hostage-taking, shooting at vehicles and aircraft, mine- laying, looting and other hostile acts, the Council expressed concern that those attacks had sometimes been carried out with the deliberate goal of

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disrupting negotiations, international peace-keeping activities and hampering humanitarian access. The Council emphasized that the host country and others concerned must take all appropriate steps to ensure the safety and security of the United Nations personnel and premises.

At the conclusion of its general debate, the current working method of the Special Committee is to have the bureau draw themes from the debate to put before its Working Group. The Working Group meets in closed session during the session to elaborate the Special Committee's conclusions and recommendations.

Statement by Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations

BERNARD MIYET, newly appointed Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, said that this year the Special Committee was meeting with an expanded membership. He expressed confidence that the expanded Committee would continue to provide ideas, support and constructive criticism of peace- keeping activities. Peace-keeping continued to change in size and focus.

He said that since last year's session, the number of peace-keeping operations had increased by one unit, with the setting up of the Military Observer Group of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), but the size of the staff and the average size of the operations had been reduced, a trend that would continue. At the same time, however, there had been planning and preparation for a new peace-keeping operation in Sierra Leone and preliminary studies were under way to respond to eventual requests from the international community, whether it was with regard to the peace plan for Zaire or anticipating the results of current negotiations in Tajikistan.

Reviewing some of the main developments in efforts to enhance the capacity of the Department of Peace-keeping Operations to plan and support its missions, he said that in the past year there had been an encouraging number of Member States participating in the stand-by arrangements. Also, work continued on internal guidelines for the Department, particularly in the rotation, selection and appointment of military mission personnel. He also cited the following: participation by peace-keeping operations in guiding local police forces with regard to principles of democratic and professional policing; increased activity of the training unit; and the introduction into some missions of a new system for reimbursement of contingent-owned equipment.

He went on to say that other activities of the Department focused on a training programme for senior administrative staff, the development of a Field Asset Control System which would be completed by June and the introduction of a system for the global direct provisioning of spare parts to field missions. The Department was also setting up a centralized medical support management

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system to control and coordinate medical support to all missions. The Lessons Learned Unit had continued to work to enhance the Organizations's institutional memory.

He expressed his commitment to implementing the Committee's recommendation to establish a RDMHQ. He was grateful to those Member States which had contributed to the Trust Fund for the RDMHQ and for others which were considering such a contribution. However, even if additional contributions came through, they would fall far short of the funding required for implementation. Consideration was now being given to request funding for the RDMHQ from the peace-keeping support account. Depending on the decision of the General Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the option of voluntary contribution might have to be revisited.

The international community would continue to face difficult challenges, most of which lay in dealing with conflicts within States, he continued. Such conflicts required peace settlements which would need sustained and intensive efforts by both peace-keeping missions and the international community. For settlements to endure, long-term programmes were required to consolidate and reinforce political gains, long after the peace-keepers had left. He stressed the importance of regional efforts and the activities of the Organization to enhance training activities, particularly in Africa. He expressed the conviction that the Organization must retain the capacity to launch, direct and support peace-keeping operations as well as other field operations to implement often demanding mandates.

With regard to the question of reform, he said he was impressed by the Departments's staff, their loyalty, competence, commitment and capacity for hard work. By any standard, however, the Department was stretched thin in relation to the tasks it was required to perform. All the work that did get done was likely a result of staff commitment rather than of organizational strength. As the Department entered a new phase, it was considering ways of refining its structure and establishing a more effective distribution of responsibilities.

Continuing, he said "a number of outdated policies and procedures stand in the way of timely and effective support of the operations in the field", particularly in the areas of procurement, recruitment, and delegations of authority to peace-keeping operations and other missions. The relevant policies and procedures should be reviewed and brought into line with the special demands of field operations. Any new policies must be implemented with full transparency, in a disciplined manner and with adequate controls in place.

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He also underscored that the rapid growth of the Department had been realized by ad hoc funding, including the use of loaned personnel. The Department had a total strength of 400 personnel, only 55 of whom were paid from the regular budget. Many of the loaned personnel worked in important areas which lacked a solid financial base. "The building of peace-keeping may stand, but it is heavily mortgaged and its foundations are fragile", he said. That was difficult to reconcile with the importance of peace-keeping as one of the essential programmes of the Organization.

If the United Nations was to continue to develop and keep experienced staff, he said, and if it was to sustain its hard-won capacity to meet the current and future demands of peace-keeping, additional investments to enhance organizational strength would be necessary. Reform of the Department would result in a structure able to cope with demands in the most efficient manner. That included providing it with a more secure financial basis.

Statementby Special Committee Chairman

IBRAHIM A. GAMBARI (Nigeria), Chairman of the Special Committee, said that the United Nations now faced new vistas of international peace-keeping. Successful international peace-keeping would depend on all actors in the endeavour coming to terms with the reality of the difficult situations on the ground. The achievement of international peace and security remained the essence of the collective goal and the raison d'etre of the United Nations. In that regard, he had gone on record against the growing tendency of some Member States to be selective, in terms of embracing one instrument of conflict prevention and management and also selecting which international conflict situations deserved United Nations involvement, simply for political or financial convenience.

This session of the Special Committee should present its members with the opportunity to address many of the problems being encountered in peace- keeping, he said. One of the major problems had always been the financing, and the importance of adequate financial resources to the effectiveness of United Nations peace-keeping operations could not be overemphasized, he stressed. Therefore, all Member States should live up to their obligations under the United Nations Charter and pay their dues in full, on time and without conditions. Sound financial health of the Organization would not only promote the collective keeping of peace in troubled areas but also restore the confidence of Member States who, despite their weak economies, were able to make the necessary sacrifice for the maintenance of international peace and security. It was unfortunate that there had been protracted delays in the reimbursement of troop-contributors, including delays in the processing of claims for troops and equipment provided by Member States to operations whose mandates had been completed.

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He said his delegation fully supported efforts aimed at shortening the time lag between a Security Council decision authorizing a peace-keeping operation and actual deployment. Consideration of all the proposals for rapid deployment should be within the context of the existing stand-by arrangements. There had been concerns regarding the procedure adopted by the Department of Peace-keeping Operations to compose the RDMHQ. That matter should be handled with caution and as transparently as possible. That project, like any other in the area of maintenance of international peace and security, should enjoy as wide a geographical spread in personnel composition as possible, without prejudice to the effectiveness of the concept and the overall desire to achieve maximum results.

As the challenges of peace-keeping, peacemaking and peace-building became more burdensome on the diminishing financial capacity of the United Nations, the Organization had no choice but to cooperate more meaningfully with regional arrangements and organizations in the resolution and management of conflicts, he continued. In the west African subregion, the existing cooperative framework between the United Nations and ECOMOG in addressing the Liberian crisis was commendable and worthy of emulation. While the United Nations should work hand-in-hand in cooperation with other arrangements and to resolve crises and conflicts in different parts of the world, the framework for cooperation should be carefully worked out in order to avoid any misunderstanding.

He went on to say that the United Nations remained the focal point for the maintenance of international peace and security, and for that reason it should not be relegated to the background in the search for peace by regional, multilateral or other such arrangements, no matter how powerful. At the same time, those regional organizations or arrangements that had demonstrated enough resolve in managing particular crises and required international assistance through the United Nations deserved every encouragement. It was a matter of great concern that despite repeated calls for international financial and logistic support for ECOMOG, only a few Member States had responded positively. Less than seven weeks before the crucial election in Liberia, scheduled for 30 May, he called upon those Member States that had not done so to provide, as a matter of urgency, financial and logistic support to ECOMOG to enable it to create an atmosphere conducive to the holding of a free and fair election. He hoped that the current session of the Special Committee would provide the opportunity once more to look at ways of improving the working relationship between the United Nations and regional arrangements.

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Statements in Debate

CHARIVAT SANTAPUTRA (Thailand), speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, said now that the Special Committee had been formally expanded in membership, its members should discuss its role and importance, as well as ways to enhance it. The Committee had always been mandated to be the only proper forum to formally discuss peace-keeping operations in all its aspects. The Non-Aligned Movement believed that no aspect of peace-keeping operations should proceed without being adequately discussed in and recommended by the Committee. An open-ended working group under the Committee should be contemplated if an important aspect of peace-keeping should arise.

Regarding the issue of officers on loan, the Non-Aligned Movement welcomed the request made by the General Assembly to the Secretary-General, on an interim basis, and pending consideration and a final decision on that issue, not to expand the number of gratis personnel which were currently implementing mandated activities, he said. The Non-Aligned Movement was seriously concerned with the imbalance between the personnel in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations funded by the United Nations regular budget and loaned officers funded directly by States which sent those officers. It was alarming that certain important divisions in the Department continued to be staffed entirely by loaned personnel, and the Non-Aligned Movement urged that the transparency of that practice be ensured. The recruitment of Department's personnel, in whatever form, should reflect the principle of equitable geographical representation as far as possible.

The United Nations must be given the resources to finance all mandated programmes, including peace-keeping operations, he said. All Member States must contribute to the cost of peace-keeping, in accordance with the existing special scale of assessments, which took into account the special responsibilities of the five permanent members of the Security Council as well as economic considerations. It was regrettable that there were certain developed countries with the capacity to pay that still did not pay their contributions in full and on time. That was not fair to other Member States, and any unilateral deviation on that matter undermined the effectiveness of United Nations peace-keeping operations.

The Non-Aligned Movement attached great importance to the issue of reimbursement to troop-contributing countries because contributions from developing countries were crucial to the success of peace-keeping operations, he said. It had reiterated the necessity of solving that issue, particularly for developing countries, for it was linked directly with decisions to send troops in future operations. The Movement hoped that the Department's attempts to improve the process of reimbursement would speed the process to troop-contributing countries and lead to an effective solution to the delays.

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NICOLAAS H. BIEGMAN (Netherlands), speaking on behalf of the European Union, welcomed the expanded format of the Special Committee. While it supported the suggestion of a more focused approach to the general debate, that should not prevent the Committee from addressing other subjects of importance related to peace-keeping. The Committee should avoid too much detail on questions of financing and staffing of the Department of Peace- keeping Operations as they were issues currently being dealt with by the Fifth Committee.

He said that over one-third of the regular and peace-keeping budgets was provided by the member States of the European Union, promptly, in full and unconditionally. The financial situation of the United Nations had detrimental effects on peace-keeping operations, he said, urging all Member States to pay their assessed contributions.

He stressed the importance of providing peace-keeping operations with clearly defined, achievable mandates and objectives and clear command structures. Changes in mandates during a mission should be based on thorough reassessment. He also attached great importance to improving the participation of troop-contributing countries in the decision-making process in the Security Council relating to peace-keeping operations. Addressing the concerns of troop-contributors would help to provide a basis for continued availability of troops for those operations by non-members of the Council. It was also important in the establishment of viable mandates to have a thorough evaluation of past experience. He stressed the need for provisions for regular and predictable financing of the Lessons Learned Unit so that it would no longer have to rely on the support of individual Member States.

Close coordination and cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations was required in peace-keeping operations, he said. He encouraged the Secretary-General to continue the regular meetings between the Organization and regional organizations at Headquarters. He stressed the importance of efforts to develop African capacities in peace-keeping and supported proposals to enhance training activities for peace-keeping opportunities in Africa and widen African participation in stand-by planning, to enhance the rapid deployment capabilities, the development of "partnership arrangements" with African countries as well as the intensification of cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The Union called for further emphasis on the use of measures to prevent disputes from escalating into conflict or to limit the spread of such conflicts, should they occur, he said. More attention should also be given to peace-building. Post-conflict peace-building should be dealt with in a peace- keeping context. He also stressed the importance of demining activities.

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While the Union supported the Secretariat's achievements in the field of peace-keeping, there was still room for improvement. The Peace-keeping Department must identify core, surge and specialist functions and develop appropriate structures in that regard. Contractual and financial procedures concerning equipment and transportation should be re-examined. More attention should be given to set proper standards for the management of United Nations assets in the field. Moreover, there was a need for close coordination among the different departments and the Secretariat, the various components of peace-keeping operations as well as between missions and other organizations.

He supported the long-overdue establishment of a RDMHQ. However, he said, further steps in the field of rapid deployment were necessary. A number of States of the European Union were exploring practical ways to improve stand-by arrangements and would like an update on the situation from the Secretariat. A further role for the United Nations should be to provide guidelines for national training for peace-keeping operations. Civilian police officers could play a key role and he welcomed the initiative to establish Civilian Police Selection Assistance Teams. The deployment of information units in the field should also be part of the planning of an operation and should be envisaged at the earliest possible stage. He requested the Secretariat to consider including an information component in its consideration for a RDMHQ.

AHMAD KAMAL (Pakistan) said Pakistan, as one of the largest troop- contributors, attached importance to the deliberations and recommendations of the Special Committee. The goal of peace-keeping should not be to separate warring factions and then to pull out leaving behind a huge vacuum. The goal should be to move towards the causes of conflicts and violence, with well- defined political will in order to resolve the root causes. Preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and post-conflict peace-building should be the cornerstones of United Nations peace efforts. It was important for the United Nations to evolve an early-warning mechanism in order to act before the outbreak of a conflict, rather than intervene once a conflict had already erupted. There should also be a greater attempt at achieving political solutions to disputes, under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter, which provided for mediation, arbitration, good offices.

The establishment of a Trust Fund for the RDMHQ was a step in the right direction because it would obviate the need for loaned officers to staff that arrangement, he said. That Fund should be set up in a transparent manner with sufficient contributions in order to fulfil mandated tasks. Regional logistic bases, on neutral territory, should also be established. Those bases would work alternatively as RDMHQ and Early-Warning Wing for a particular region, and they could employ experienced officers from Member States, on an ad hoc basis, to assist them in carrying out their functions.

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The preponderance of loaned or gratis officers in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations remained an issue of serious concern, he continued. At previous sessions of the Committee, an overwhelming majority of Member States had expressed serious concern and called for a thorough review and reversal of that practice. The blanket reason of the United Nations financial crisis was an unacceptable argument for undermining the impartiality and international character of its staff. His delegation looked forward to a thorough review of that vitally important subject during the current session.

All Member States must pay their assessed contributions in full and on time, in accordance with the existing scale of assessment, he said. The deteriorating financial situation continued to adversely effect the reimbursement of troop costs and the use of contingent-owned equipment by participating countries. That alarming situation was threatening the continuation of existing peace-keeping operations. Therefore, it was necessary to undertake effective planning, budgeting and administration of peace-keeping operations.

JULIO BENITEZ SAENZ (Uruguay) said the issues considered by the Special Committee were sensitive and deserved serious, transparent treatment. His country supported the process of expanding the membership and was doing its utmost to move it forward. That was one more milestone on a long road of contributing to peace-keeping in various parts of the world. However, there were aspects that continued to cause concern, and his delegation was sure that the new management of the Peace-keeping Department would do its best to resolve them. Uruguay considered the make-up of the Secretariat in the peace- keeping arena not to be in tune with broadest geographic representation, and believed that that issue should be addressed.

The situation of Member States with payments in arrears continued to be serious, he said. Payments to Member States for troops participating in operations, including personnel on the front lines selflessly resolving conflicts, was also a matter of concern. The burden of contributing countries continued to become more burdensome, and those contributions made by developing countries went above and beyond what was usually done in those operations. In some instances, those countries were also supplying the very administration activities of the operations as well. Therefore, Uruguay supported the contention that the attitude of countries not making contributions to peace-keeping accounts did not match the efforts of the countries equipping and staffing the operations. Without a solution to that problem it would prove most difficult for developing countries to contribute to further peace-keeping operations.

Regarding the establishment of the RDMHQ, on the basis of the current parameters as described at the last session of the Special Committee, Uruguay supported the concept as a developmental necessity, he said. His delegation

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would be most pleased to see more consultations on the matter. It also took pleasure in noting that sufficient inputs had been forthcoming for the Trust Fund to cover the start-up of the project. Yet Uruguay questioned why the financial aspects of that project had not been addressed straightforwardly at its inception.

His delegation also wished to underline the importance of undertakings involving demining activities, in the context of peace-keeping operations, he said. The efforts subsequent to demining were fundamental to the role of the United Nations in the context of peace-keeping operations. A study of that issue and further initiatives along those lines could prove quite useful.

VOLODYMYR D. KHANDOGY (Ukraine) said the decrease in the number of peace-keeping operations and personnel was the result not only of the precarious financial situation of the Organization but also because the International community lacked the clear-cut approaches and adequate instruments necessary to respond to modern conflicts. An enhanced capacity of the United Nations in the field of peace-keeping should become an integral element of the Organization's efforts to reform itself. At the same time there must be a clear legal framework to carry out peace-keeping operations, the cornerstone of which should be the consent of the relevant host governments.

A crucial aspect of United Nations reform in the area of peace-keeping was the further strengthening of a consultative mechanism between the troop- contributors and the Council, he said. The safety of United Nations personnel should also be an integral part of any peace-keeping mandate and all necessary measures should be taken to ensure their safety. He also supported the development of specific measures to improve and strengthen stand-by arrangements. Ukraine intended to sign the memorandum of understanding concerning specific resources it had already made available for inclusion in stand-by arrangements. He supported the establishment of the RDMHQ as it would greatly assist in solving the problem of delayed response and would also contribute to more effective peace-keeping. At the same time, it was necessary to ensure the equitable geographical representation in the composition of the RDMHQ.

An issue of special concern to Ukraine, he said, was the use of land- mines in the areas of conflicts and the danger they posed both to civilians and peace-keepers. He hoped the Committee would give the problem adequate attention. He stated that Ukraine had started a stage-by-stage paying off of its arrears and would increase its payments. However, a new, fair system of assessment for peace-keeping based on specially developed economic criteria should be created. The Committee should keep an eye on the question of diversification of the sources of financing for peace-keeping operations, including attracting non-budgetary resources.

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IVAN SIMONOVIC (Croatia) said a lack of political will, especially among smaller States, would create a situation whereby the influence and interest of larger States on peace-keeping operations would play the central and decisive role in determining United Nations involvement in conflicts, often to the detriment of affected as well as interested States. Since Croatia requested the deployment of a peace-keeping operation in its territory in 1991, it had witnessed the inherent problems associated with the traditional approach to peace-keeping. His delegation believed that peace-keeping mandates must be clear and decisive, and an implementing force must be given the resources and personnel required. Giving a peace-keeping operation a mandate that was not within its ability to implement was not only erroneous but would also have the effect of harming United Nations relations with competing parties on the ground. General Assembly resolution 50/30 stated that mandates should be linked to overall political goals which must be translated into clearly formulated military aims.

An improvement of the rapid reaction capabilities of the Organization was essential, he said. It was arguable that many tragic conflicts, if caught in the early stages and acted on, could have been stunted or avoided altogether. The proposed establishment of a RDMHQ was a good start, and the Special Committee should encourage the Secretariat to further develop and improve on already stated arrangements for planning and organizing rapidly deployable peace-keeping operations. However, a proposed Rapid Reaction Force must not be misused by political and other manipulation, and its operations should be under the constant surveillance and political control of the Security Council.

His Government also supported the strengthening of cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations in peace-keeping, he said. Regional organizations, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), were well- suited in roles of regional conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy due to their direct interest and influence on potential crises in their particular regions. Executive authorization for peace-keeping should continue to come from the United Nations, while lack of progress on the part of the regional organization should prompt the United Nations into more direct and decisive action.

Croatia also supported, in its entirety, the Security Council presidential statement of 28 March 1996, concerning meetings with actual or potential troop-contributing countries, he continued. The enhancement of transparency in the work of the Council with regard to peace-keeping should allow the Council to make more informed and realistic judgements concerning its commitments to potential peace-keeping operations, as well as allowing troop-contributors to make a more informed judgement on their possible role in that operation. The measures described in the statement were not exhaustive,

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however, and the Council, as a special measure, should invite host countries to attend troop-contributors' meetings.

WANG XUEXIAN (China) said since the Committee's session last year, United Nations peace-keeping operations had continued to shrink. At the end of 1996, about 26,000 people were serving 16 peace-keeping operations at a total annual coast of approximately $1.6 billion. United Nations peace- keeping operations were also moving towards militarization to a certain extent. There was a growing trend of authorizing Member States to dispatch United Nations multinational forces or send troops of regional military organizations. It was therefore necessary to carefully study and summarize the pros and cons, as well as the experience and lessons, of those practices.

The peace-keeping practice in recent years had made clear the importance of strengthening the United Nations rapid-reaction capability, he said. In order to improve efficiency, the Secretariat had taken measures in the past year to shorten the time between the Security Council's authorization of peace-keeping operations and their actual implementation. However, it seemed that developing the military capacity of peace-keeping operations had become the priority in the peace-keeping field. In addition, when the United Nations was short of money, some important peace-keeping functions were being contracted or sub-contracted to a small number of countries. His delegation was deeply disturbed by those developments.

The shortage of peace-keeping funds remained a critical issue and demanded a prompt solution, he continued. At the end of 1996, Member States owed the Organization $1.7 billion in back dues for peace-keeping alone, with the arrears of the United States amounting to more than half of that total. As a result of the shortage of peace-keeping funds, resources necessary for important function in the field were being mobilized through voluntary contributions. That situation was bound to adversely affect the financial basis of the United Nations and cast doubt on the fairness of the Organization. In order to remove the negative impacts brought by the financial crisis and further enhance its peace-keeping capability, his delegation called on the major contributors to pay up their assessed contribution in full and without conditions.

The management of peace-keeping operations was an important issue that should be given the Committee's special attention, he said. For example, each year United Nations peace-keeping operations made large procurements worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but they were not always made on the basis of a public bid. As a consequence, suppliers from a very small number of countries had monopolized peace-keeping procurement. The improper management of goods in stock had often led to blind procurement, which in turn caused huge waste.

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