UNITED NATIONS REMAINS 'IRREPLACEABLE TOOL' FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, PEACEKEEPING COMMITTEE TOLD, AS IT BEGINS FOUR-WEEK SESSION
Press Release
GA/PK/150
UNITED NATIONS REMAINS 'IRREPLACEABLE TOOL' FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, PEACEKEEPING COMMITTEE TOLD, AS IT BEGINS FOUR-WEEK SESSION
19980330 Too much had been expected and demanded of United Nations in the immediate post-cold war era, and it was neither prepared nor equipped to respond to such expectations, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations was told this morning, as it began its four-week annual session.The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet, said that Member States were unaware of the degree of both the responsibilities and the delays involved in responding to their demands, leading to mistrust and to a new faith in regional organizations. While partnerships with those organizations were welcomed, it would be naive to believe that peacekeeping operations must now be organized by region, by regional and subregional organizations, or by coalition of the willing in each of those areas. The United Nations continued to represent an "irreplaceable tool" at the hands of the international community, he added.
Also this morning, the Special Committee elected Ibrahim Gambari (Nigeria) as Chairman; Fernando Enrique Petrella (Argentina), Michel Duval (Canada), Motohide Yoshikawa (Japan) and Eugeniusz Wyzner (Poland) as Vice- Chairmen; and Hossam Zaki (Egypt), Rapporteur.
The Special Committee Chairman, Mr. Gambari, said that many important changes and developments had occurred in peacekeeping in the last year. As the Committee engaged in a comprehensive review of all aspects of peacekeeping operations, it had a broad array of issues to choose from, requiring the same focus and support which it had consistently demonstrated. Speaking in his national capacity, he said it was imperative that artificial impediments hindering United Nations' responsiveness in tackling peacekeeping challenges be removed. All Member States should live up to their Charter obligations and pay their financial dues in full, on time, and without conditions.
Speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, the representative of Thailand said that developing countries' share in United Nations procurement had decreased from 17.7 per cent in 1996 to 7.54 per cent in 1997. That could not be considered as equitable. Noting that countries of the Non-Aligned Movement were owed about $275 million, he said the issue was of importance to the Movement and could adversely affect its participation in peacekeeping operations. The situation should be rectified immediately. He expressed concern that arrangements initiated by a group of countries under the name of
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Standby High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG), which had an exclusive characteristic, was being promoted as a United Nations brigade.
Referring to SHIRBRIG, the representative of Pakistan said a brigade organized by some countries among themselves was being metamorphosed into and projected as a United Nations brigade in an effort to give it legitimacy. No particular region could be given a pre-eminent position in peacekeeping, nor could it have its own brigade designated as that of the Organization to the exclusion of others. He said that the exceptionally slow phase-out of loaned and gratis officers in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, despite a clear General Assembly resolution, was a matter of particular concern. They continued to occupy their positions in the Department in numbers that did not reflect or correspond to the downsizing of the overall peacekeeping missions.
The representative of the United Kingdom, speaking on behalf of the European Union and of associated countries, said that the increasingly multi- dimensional nature of United Nations peacekeeping required a more effective approach to coordinating the core military tasks of peacekeeping with others, such as demining, disarmament, demobilization and the reintegration of former combatants, civilian police activities and enhancing and monitoring human rights. United Nations personnel must be able to explain their mission better, to both local and international audiences, through a more effective public information capability in each and every mission.
Standby arrangements, he said, continued to be at the heart of efforts to enhance the rapid deployment capacity of the United Nations. It was important to improve and support the standby system and, in that context, reform of procurement practices for the Organization's operations was essential and long overdue. "There is little point in having troops at a week's notice to deploy if it will take six weeks to hire a ship to take them to theatre or to provide them with the necessary logistic support."
The representative of Jordan said it was time for the Committee to begin an examination of how the Organization's peacekeepers should testify before the International Criminal Tribunals, when they were called upon to do so. Guidelines should be established.
The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to resume its general debate.
Special Committee Work Programme
The Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations met this morning to begin its 1998 session. It was expected to elect its officers, decide on its programme of work, and begin its general debate.
It had before it the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Committee (document A/AC.121/42), submitted pursuant to a request made by the Committee last year.
The Secretary-General's report notes that, with the increasing complexity of peacekeeping missions and the conflicts they address, it has become ever more essential to ensure better coordination among all actors during the missions and a smooth transition at their end.
The report says that measures implemented to enhance the coordination of United Nations activities include the establishment, depending on the mandate, of full humanitarian components or humanitarian units as integral parts of peacekeeping missions to ensure full coordination with humanitarian agencies. Those and other measures facilitate a smooth transition to post-conflict peace- building once a peacekeeping mission has completed its mandate. The deployment of a United Nations political office at the time of a mission's withdrawal can help strengthen the gains already achieved by the peace process, as it has in Liberia, and smooth the transition from peacekeeping to peace-building.
According to the report, changes in the mandate of a peacekeeping mission during its deployment, as opposed to transitions occurring at its completion, are made by the Security Council based on the recommendations of the Secretary- General. He provides a full analysis of the political and military situation on the ground, the reasons that might require modification of an operation's mandate and the resources required to carry out the revised mandate. The development of recommendations on an operation's mandate includes full consultation with the mission, especially in regard to their political, military, humanitarian and logistical aspects.
With respect to enhancing United Nations capacity, the report says that new procedures for death and disability compensation for contingent members were set out by the Secretary-General in the report on that question (document A/52/369). By its resolution 52/177, the General Assembly authorized the Secretary-General to implement the reimbursement measures outlined in that report.
Regarding gratis personnel, the report states that their use has been addressed in General Assembly resolution 51/243 of 25 September 1997. The phase-out plan for gratis personnel, prepared by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Management, pursuant to resolution 51/243, was reflected in the Secretary-General's report of 8 December 1997 entitled "Phasing
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out the use of gratis personnel in the Secretariat" (document A/52/710). In that report, the Secretary-General acknowledges the potential consequences of an immediate large-scale withdrawal, and expresses the intention for a gradual phase-out, not later than 31 December 1999.
On the security of peacekeepers, the report says that the United Nations Security Coordinator is invited to participate in the planning process, including reconnaissance missions to the field, and to advise on measures to ensure the safety and security of civilian and military United Nations peacekeeping personnel.
Recalling proposals developed in consultation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on the enhancement of Africa's capacity for peacekeeping, the Secretary-General states that, while partnerships have begun to develop among States in the provision of training, equipment and related assistance, such initiatives could have neither meaning nor chance of success unless the States that would benefit share the principles and objectives that inspire them. The Secretariat, therefore, has encouraged African States to be fully involved in the development and execution of those initiatives.
The report states that progress on establishing the rapidly deployable mission headquarters has been slow, as the necessary funding was not made available through voluntary contributions to the trust fund set up for this purpose. On civilian police, the Secretary-General reports that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has made requests in its Support Account submission to strengthen the Civilian Police Unit. The Secretariat has continued to stress the importance of including civilian police in the standby arrangements system.
Statement by Under-Secretary-General
BERNARD MIYET, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said that three United Nations missions had closed successfully in the past year -- in Liberia, Guatemala and Croatia. A preliminary review of those three operations might give the impression that the trend towards the progressive and steady reduction of United Nations peacekeeping activity continued unabated as had been the case over the last two years. That would be a misperception; just last Friday the Security Council had adopted a resolution authorizing the establishment of the new United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA). Expected to be fully deployed by April, MINURCA would take over responsibility from the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of Bangui Agreements (MISAB) and would work to maintain security and stability in Bangui. That was a major shift and a significant development, reflecting a renewed confidence in the capacity of the Organization to carry out such activities. It was also a strong and symbolic message sent to Africa at a time when the continent was receiving, and deserved, strengthened support and attention.
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The Department of Peacekeeping Operations had also carried out over the last year, at the Security Council's request, significant contingency planning for different potential operations in the Great Lakes region which had not been deployed. It had also planned and prepared a possible operation for Sierra Leone which should bear fruit in the coming weeks.
On the issue of gratis personnel, he said that the Department, constrained by its fragile base of budgetary support, must be consolidated so that it could accomplish the fundamental tasks which had been entrusted to it. It was essential that its already reduced staffing level be maintained in the future, even as the search continued for all possible means of economizing on personnel.
To make the best use of the Department's inherent capabilities, to organize its work optimally and to make the most economical use of its personnel, he envisaged structural modifications in the Department, including the transfer of the Situation Centre under the authority of the Assistant Secretary-General in charge of the Office of Operations. That could enhance the Department's responsiveness to the operations already deployed and its ability to provide the support they required as rapidly as possible. In addition, the integration of the Lessons Learned Unit and the Policy and Analysis Unit would help in putting to use the lessons drawn from past experience in defining the policies and directions of the future.
He said civilian police accounted for nearly a quarter of all peacekeepers deployed. The work of the International Police Task Force (IPTF), the creation of the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH) and the institution of the Police Support Group in Eastern Slavonia demonstrated that civilian police was increasingly considered as a tool uniquely suited for creating a necessary climate of confidence, allowing peace to begin to take root. There was unanimous recognition of the growing importance of the indispensable need to strengthen the Civilian Police Unit, and the Department had taken that requirement into account in its Support Account submission.
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations, he said, continued to be firmly committed to developing standby arrangements. As of today, 71 countries had associated themselves with the United Nations standby arrangements and 16 had signed a memorandum of understanding; Finland would sign later this morning.
He said that too much had been expected and demanded of the United Nations in the immediate post-cold war era. It was neither prepared nor equipped to respond to such expectations, and Member States were unaware of the degree of both the responsibilities and the delays involved in responding to their demands. That has led to deep mistrust in the Organization and, due to strong inducement by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to a new faith in regional organizations.
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He said, while regional organizations could play a constructive role, it should not be forgotten that regional and subregional arrangements could face more acute political, structural, financial or logistical limitations than those which confront the United Nations.
In the spirit of Chapter VIII of the Charter, partnerships with regional organizations were welcomed. However, it would be naive or even dangerous to believe that peacekeeping operations must now be organized only region by region, or solely by regional and subregional organizations, or by coalitions of the willing in each of those areas. Today, while misapprehension and unclear thinking had led to a crisis of confidence, the United Nations continued to represent an irreplaceable tool at the hands of the international community. But there must be renewed understanding of what United Nations peacekeeping could and could not do, and some degree of consensus as to the means to be used to achieve those objectives.
He said that, while most of today's conflicts took place in countries that might be remote from the focus of the populace of major Powers, inaction towards them sent a tacit invitation to illegal and competing foreign interventions, as it had in Congo-Brazzaville in the course of last year. Since most of today's conflicts had international, as well as civil, characteristics, they had the potential to destabilize their neighbours and to spread throughout entire regions.
Statement by Special Committee Chairman
IBRAHIM GAMBARI (Nigeria), Chairman of the Special Committee, said many important changes and developments had occurred in peacekeeping in the last year. As the Committee engaged in a comprehensive review of all aspects of peacekeeping operations, it had before it a broad array of issues from which to choose and on which to focus. It should continue the focus and support it had consistently demonstrated.
Speaking in his national capacity, Mr. Gambari associated his country with the statement made on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. It was imperative that artificial impediments hindering the United Nations' responsiveness in tackling peacekeeping challenges be removed. In that connection, all Member States should live up to their Charter obligations and pay their financial dues in full, on time and without conditions.
He said that troop contributors had put their men in harm's way and some of those men had paid the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the Organization. The confidence of Member States, especially those with weaker economies, could only be restored if those with larger and stronger economies assisted in improving the financial health of the United Nations. Many troop-contributing countries, including Nigeria, were owed substantial amounts for expenses incurred on the Organization's behalf.
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Although the United Nations remained the focal point for the maintenance of international peace and security, he said, it needed the assistance of regional organizations and arrangements to manage crises in different parts of the world. It was impossible for the United Nations to meet its Charter obligation in the area of peace and security all alone, which was why there was great wisdom in improving cooperation between the world body and regional organizations.
Nigeria was proud to showcase the framework of cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) in the West African subregion, he said. It was on record that Nigeria had lost more than 200 soldiers, while over 1,000 had been wounded and $3 billion had been spent to finance ECOMOG operations in Liberia. With that record of achievement, and the recent success in bringing peace to Sierra Leone, the subregion had an effective mechanism.
He reiterated the call made by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the international community, through the United Nations system, to respond adequately to ECOMOG's need to complete its tasks of disarmament and demobilization in its present area of operation and its development as the nucleus of a future subregional peacekeeping arrangement.
Statements in Debate
Sir JOHN WESTON (United Kingdom) spoke on behalf of the European Union and of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Cyprus. The increasingly multidimensional nature of United Nations peacekeeping required a more effective approach to coordinating the core military tasks of peacekeeping with others, such as humanitarian demining, practical disarmament measures, demobilization and the reintegration of former combatants, civilian police activities, and enhancing and monitoring respect for human rights. United Nations personnel must be able to explain their mission better, to both a local and international audience, through a more effective public information capability in each and every mission.
He said that it was absolutely vital that Department of Peacekeeping Operations, in the wake of the decision progressively to reduce the number of posts filled by loaned personnel, continue to be able effectively to plan, deploy and manage peacekeeping operations.
Standby arrangements, he said, continued to be at the heart of efforts to enhance the rapid deployment capacity of the United Nations. It was important continuously to improve and support the standby system and, in that context, reform of procurement practices for the Organization's operations was essential and long overdue. "There is little point in having troops at a week's notice to deploy if it will take six weeks to hire a ship to take them to theatre or to provide them with the necessary logistic support." An efficient and timely
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procurement system must be part of an integrated logistics strategy which took into account all the necessary phases -- planning start-up, deployment, sustainment and termination.
He said that non-payment of arrears meant that troop contributors, including members of the European Union, were owed millions of dollars.
CHARIVA SANTAPUTRA (Thailand), speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), said several of the Movement's members were among the largest and most consistent troop-contributing countries for the United Nations. It was important to re-emphasize that the Organization's peacekeeping operations were not, by themselves, solutions to conflict. They were ad hoc measures to prevent conflict situations from escalating, while ways for peaceful resolutions were being sought.
The Secretary-General's report on implementation of the Committee's recommendations should have been submitted in good time for the current session. The importance and timeliness of that report could not be overemphasized. The Movement strongly urged the Secretariat to produce the report in good time.
The Secretary-General's report to the Assembly on gratis personnel had stated that such personnel in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations would be phased out by 31 December 1999, he noted. He believed that those personnel could be phased out long before that deadline and wanted to know how the Secretariat had arrived at that date. That issue which affected the geographical balance of posts within the Department needed to be strongly addressed. Also, procurement statistics showed that in 1996 developing countries had a share of only 17.7 per cent in United Nations procurement. Furthermore, of the developed countries' share, goods and services worth 67.39 per cent were provided by only four Member States. A year later in 1997, all developing countries' share had reduced to only 7.54 per cent. That could not be considered equitable.
At present, countries of the Non-Aligned Movement were owed approximately $275 million, he continued. The Movement attached great importance to that issue since it could adversely affect its participation in United Nations peace-keeping operations; the Secretariat should rectify that situation expeditiously. The Organization must be given the necessary resources to finance all mandated programmes, including peacekeeping operations. Member States' contributions should be paid in full, on time and without conditions.
He said the Non-Aligned Movement had supported the development of the United Nations standby arrangements system, which, the Special Committee in its 1997 session had agreed, "constitutes a key to the increased effectiveness and rapid deployment capacity of peacekeeping operation". Member States had the right to organize any kinds of groupings, and recently a group of countries had initiated arrangements in that regard under the name of Stand-by High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG). He expressed concern that the Brigade, which,
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according to available information, had an exclusive characteristic, was being promoted as a United Nations brigade.
Noting that there was an increasing demand for civilian police in peacekeeping operations, he said there should be clear guidelines on how civilian police in such operations should conduct their business. All countries should be offered the opportunity to be involved, when and if such guidelines were adopted. Operational mine clearance and humanitarian mine clearance should remain separate, as they were different in nature and scope. He recalled the Department's commitment to promoting those activities separately by utilizing the expertise at its disposal.
Transparency by the Secretariat in approaching and selecting Member States to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations was very important, he said. The "Blue Helmets" were representatives of the Organization in a peacekeeping operation. Hence, their conduct and misconduct were matters of utmost importance to themselves, as well as to the United Nations. The Organization had already established a uniform code of conduct for all troops and military officials. Similar guidelines were also required for civilian police personnel. More importantly, respect for the guiding principles of international humanitarian law for all troops authorized through United Nations mandates was essential.
AHMAD KAMAL (Pakistan) said his delegation shared the Non-Aligned Movement's perception about the apathy shown by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in not providing a timely report on the recommendations of the Special Committee. The report had been specifically requested nine months ago, and its late submission had hindered the Committee's work. Due note had to be taken of the discourtesy and the disrespect towards Member States, which was inherent in a situation in which a reporting requirement was treated all too casually, and where the report was circulated on the last working day before the Committee's meeting.
He said the continued existence of loaned and gratis officers in the Department, and their exceptional slow phase-out despite a clear Assembly resolution, was a matter of particular concern. The magnitude of peacekeeping had come down from 70,000 troops to less than 14,000. However, loaned or gratis officers continued to occupy their positions in the Department in numbers that did not reflect or correspond to the downsizing of the overall peacekeeping missions.
The proposed initiative of SHIRBRIG had led to differences of opinion, he said. A brigade organized by some countries among themselves, without the participation of major and consistent large troop contributors, was somehow being metamorphosed into and projected as a United Nations brigade in an effort to give it legitimacy. No particular region could be given a pre-eminent position in peacekeeping, nor could it have its own brigade designated as that
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of the Organization to the exclusion of others. If SHIRBRIG was to be created, it was the United Nations which should establish it and call for contributions from all Member States in a non-discriminatory and non-selective manner.
Linked to that, he continued, was the question of the rapidly deployable mission headquarters,which had been a matter of such urgency in August 1996. Despite what was then described as a dire need, the necessary funding had not been forthcoming. The Member States which had been eager to supply their own gratis officers did not appear to be willing to contribute an equivalent amount to the Trust Fund for the funding of that headquarters. What needed to be examined was whether, in the absence of the proper funding, the tasks of that office could not be performed by the Mission Planning Division of the Department.
He said the Non-Aligned Movement view regarding the need for broader geographical representation in civilian police posts should be implemented with due diligence. Another area of deep concern was the procurement policy of the United Nations, in general, and of the Department, in particular. It was clear that only a fraction of the total volume of procurement was coming from developing countries; action needed to be taken to rectify that anomaly. Exact details should be provided to the Committee on an updated list of procurement contracts, broken down by item and country.
Despite the expanded membership of the Committee, and despite important recommendations made by the Committee last year, the practical output was slender, he said. The expansion and the need to adjust the Committee's Bureau to reflect the major troop contributors was a problem that would have to be addressed. The Bureau could, for example, be expanded to two members per region, or the modalities for a rotation in its composition and in the distribution of posts could be reviewed. Regional groups could be asked to make proposals for their respective representatives in an expanded or rotated bureau. Breaking up the single once-a-year three-week sessions into two or three shorter session in the year, for the same total duration, should also be considered.
Prince ZEID RA'AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN (Jordan), expressing support for the position of the Non-Aligned Movement, said the public image of United Nations peacekeeping continued to be negatively affected by media revelations over the conduct of a few of its personnel. However, there had been one recent, positive development. He lauded the unprecedented decision by the former United Nations Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), General Romeo Dellaire of Canada, to testify before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
It was now time for the Special Committee to begin an examination of how the Organization's peacekeepers should provide testimony before the International Tribunals, when they were called upon to do so, he said. Guidelines should be
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established to ensure that all United Nations peacekeeping personnel, past, as well as present, should, if requested, make themselves available to the tribunals.
He said certain issues required the attention of, and then remedial actions by, the Secretariat. They were the inability of the United Nations to reimburse troop-contributing States, because some Member States had not paid their assessments in full and on time; and the slow manner by which the Secretariat had addressed certain specific issues, such as the processing of contingent-owned equipment write-offs.
While his delegation welcomed the progress made in the consultations between the Security Council and the troop-contributing nations, it reiterated its call for further improving those consultations through greater institutionalization and through the inclusion of those countries which were specially affected by a crisis, and were from the region concerned. Jordan also supported Portugal's position that troop contributors should actively participate in the early decision-making phase of Council deliberations in potential peacekeeping operations. Within each peacekeeping mission, there must exist a uniform set of rules of engagement.
The number of senior civilian police positions allocated to each country should correspond to the size of the country's overall contribution to that specific mission, he said. The Secretariat should also ensure, for the sake of fairness, that all Member States were informed whenever changes in peacekeeping occurred -- either when missions expanded, or when posts became available, in the mission or in New York. That should be done without prejudice to the privileges of the Secretary-General to appoint his senior officials.
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