INTENSE PEACEMAKING EFFORTS MUST ACCOMPANY EVERY PEACEKEEPING OPERATION, FOURTH COMMITTEE TOLD

2 November 1998

Press Release
GA/SPD/144

INTENSE PEACEMAKING EFFORTS MUST ACCOMPANY EVERY PEACEKEEPING OPERATION, FOURTH COMMITTEE TOLD

19981102 Committee Continues Discussion of Issues Related to Peacekeeping

The lesson to be drawn from the peacekeeping efforts in Cyprus was that as long as one of the parties concerned was unwilling to comply with the dictates of the international community, then peacemaking would lag behind and result in the indefinite continuation or perpetuation of the problem, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was told this morning.

As the Committee met to continue its consideration of issues related to peacekeeping, the representative of Cyprus said that 24 years after the invasion of his country, the conflict still remained unresolved despite binding Security Council resolutions and strenuous efforts by the Secretary- General. The Cyprus example was the best proof that an intense peacemaking effort must be pursued in parallel with every peacekeeping operation. The Security Council should act promptly and effectively through all available means to redress the situation.

The representative of Croatia said his country was no stranger to questions related to peacekeeping operations. The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), as opposed to the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNPROFOR) and the United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia (UNCRO), had succeeded due to a number of factors, not least of which had been the provision of a clear and achievable mandate from the Security Council and a clear willingness on the part of the United Nations and its Member States to implement it.

The representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said his country had been a victim of abuses by the United States in the name of the United Nations for nearly half a century. The United States still insisted that its forces in South Korea were the United Nations Command, thus deceiving the world. The United Nations could not leave the abuses by the United States to continue indefinitely. If the United Nations kept its eyes closed towards

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that unjust and arrogant act, it would result in tarnishing the image of the world body.

The representative of Jamaica said there was a crucial linkage between poverty, bad governance, abuse of human rights on the one hand, and violent conflicts on the other. Jamaica emphasized the need for development to be seen as an important corollary to peacekeeping and peace-making. Her country welcomed the announcement by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations of a new policy concerning the minimum age of peacekeepers. That policy would serve as an example for police and military forces worldwide, at a time when too many children were being recruited to participate in armed conflict.

The representative of Ghana said his country was the fourth largest contributor of troops to United Nations peacekeeping, with personnel serving in missions in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The United Nations should give priority to developing troop-contributing countries in awarding contracts for goods and services, particularly in relation to their own personnel. Moreover, a substantial portion of the contributions arrears was debt owed to small, poor developing countries which had participated in peacekeeping operations, but had not yet been reimbursed due to the financial constraints facing the Organization.

Statements were also made this morning by the representatives of Egypt, Burkina Faso, Kuwait, Ethiopia, China, India, Myanmar, Belarus, Botswana, Cuba, Philippines, Iran, Ecuador and Indonesia.

The Fourth Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. tomorrow, 3 November, to continue its general discussion on the review of peacekeeping operations.

Committee Work Programme

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) met this morning to continue its general discussion on the comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects.

Before the Committee was a letter from the Chairman of the Fifth Committee drawing attention to paragraph 40 of the report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (document A/53/16). The Committee for Programme and Coordination had recommended that the Economic and Social Council and the competent Main Committees of the General Assembly stress the consideration of the proposed revisions to the medium-term plan that had not been submitted to the attention of sectoral and regional bodies. The proposed revisions refer to Programme 1, Political Affairs, and Programme 3, Peaceful uses of outer space. (For background on further documents relating to the Committee's discussion of the question of peacekeeping, see Press Release GA/SPD/143.)

Statements

HOSSAM ZAKI (Egypt), associating his delegation with the statement made previously by Jordan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, said his country looked forward to further cooperation with the United Nations. He expressed Egypt's satisfaction with the deployment of two new peacekeeping missions, the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA) and the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL). That deployment had come after a period of almost two years during which there had been no new peacekeeping missions, despite there having been situations which warranted them.

Egypt paid tribute to the efforts of the United Nations in supporting African peacekeeping efforts, he said. International efforts should attach more importance to cooperation at the continental level rather than subregional cooperation. The international community should not shun its responsibilities in the peacekeeping field.

HONG JE RYONG (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said his country had been a victim of abuses by the United States in the name of the United Nations for nearly half a century. The United States still insisted that its forces in South Korea were the United Nations Command, thus deceiving the world.

The United States claimed that the United Nations Command had been organized by the Security Council, he said. At that time, the United States had introduced a carefully drafted resolution aimed at using the United Nations for legitimizing its intervention in the Korean War, and had forcibly engineered its adoption in the absence of the then Soviet Union from the Security Council meeting. The United Nations could not leave the abuses by the United States to continue unchecked indefinitely. If the United Nations

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kept its eyes closed towards this unjust and arrogant act, it would result in tarnishing the image of this world body.

MICHEL KAFANDO (Burkina Faso) said his delegation could not stress enough the importance of the rapid deployment of peacekeeping forces. The promptness of the reaction made all the difference in the solution of a problem. Burkina Faso agreed with the Secretary-General that the mere promise of a peacekeeping operation could not restore peace. The causes of conflict must be properly addressed, and it was vital to create the necessary conditions for sustainable development to take place.

He said the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), in his address to the General Assembly, had declared that the international community's failure to restore peace in Somalia and to prevent genocide in Rwanda was a historical milestone. It had revealed that an equal degree of concentration must be given to all problems.

Subregional and regional organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and others had helped to settle disputes, he said. That new awareness had made it necessary to hold joint military manoeuvres for the training of officers. All those efforts complemented the efforts of the United Nations. The importance of cooperation was being recognized; it should be strengthened and made more visible.

MANSOUR AYYAD SH.A. AL-OTAIBI (Kuwait) said peacekeeping had played an important role in reducing tensions around the world, but now had taken on a variety of new and different roles. Those included the transportation of humanitarian material, verifying human rights violations, acting as civilian police and building institutions.

Peacekeeping operations must be clearly delimited and the command structure of the Organization's Member States must be spelled out, he said. Moreover, early warning systems, preventive diplomacy and standby troops would all contribute to ensuring international peace and security. Kuwait praised the work of the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) in safeguarding the ceasefire with Iraq, as well as in verifying that countries continued abuses since the end of the Gulf War. The UNIKOM had acted to reduce tensions, though recent Iraqi actions, particularly its refusal to allow inspectors from the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to visit suspected weapons sites, illustrated the need for such peacekeeping operations.

BERHANEMESKEL NEGA (Ethiopia) stressed the importance attached by his country to the cooperation between the United Nations and the OAU. While many positive steps had been taken by both organizations to strengthen their ties and cooperation, much more remained to be done in order to achieve full utilization of the comparative advantage and potential of each body. Cooperation between the United Nations and the OAU in conflict prevention and

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peacekeeping should focus on enhancing and strengthening of the institutional capacity of the world body through mobilization and provision of financial, logistical and technical support.

He said that, on various occasions, his country had welcomed the initiatives and measures undertaken by Member States to enhance the capacity and preparedness of African countries to participate in peacekeeping operations. At the same time, Ethiopia had made clear its views regarding the need for those initiatives to be closely coordinated with those of the United Nations and the OAU. Those efforts should aim at enhancing and making use of existing OAU mechanisms. The role of the United Nations should not be limited just to that of a clearing house, but should also, in cooperation with the OAU, be involved in the formulation of relevant policies and guidelines, as well as in the evaluation and monitoring of activities in the field. To undertake that important responsibility, the United Nations should be given the necessary resources.

YAW OSEI (Ghana) said his country had lost over 100 of its personnel in international peacekeeping operations and was the fourth largest contributor of troops to United Nations peacekeeping, with nearly 800 personnel serving in missions in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Ghana was concerned at the increasing security threat to United Nations personnel in the field, particularly unarmed military observers and civilian personnel, and urged all host countries and parties to conflicts to take all steps to ensure the safety of the peacekeepers.

He said the United Nations should give priority to developing troop- contributing countries in awarding contracts for goods and services, particularly in relation to their own personnel. Moreover, it was worth recalling that a substantial portion of the contributions arrears was debt owed to small, poor developing countries which had participated in peacekeeping operations, but had not yet been reimbursed due to the financial constraints facing the Organization.

SHEN GUOFANG (China) said various activities of United Nations peacekeeping operations had suffered gravely, due to the large amount of arrears of peacekeeping assessments by some countries. China was opposed to the unilateral move of any country to set a ceiling for its peacekeeping assessments. It was even more strongly opposed to the shifting of financial burdens to developing countries, or the imposing of discriminatory financial arrangements on developing countries.

With the continuous reduction in peacekeeping personnel and expenses in recent years, he said, United Nations peacekeeping operations had entered a period of stable development on a relatively low level. That offered the Organization a good opportunity to improve its work in the field of peacekeeping operations and to readjust the structure and staffing of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. His country hoped that in the process

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of replacing gratis personnel, full consideration would be given to the balance between the representations of developing and developed countries, and priority would be granted to the candidates from countries that did not have nationals in the Peacekeeping Department. China also favoured strengthening the Department's civilian police unit, including increasing its staff.

PATRICIA DURRANT (Jamaica), associating her delegation with the statement made previously on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, said that peacekeeping had originally been developed as a method of controlling dangerous regional conflicts, and had involved such tasks as monitoring ceasefires, separating hostile forces and maintaining buffer zones. While those tasks continued to be performed, the proliferation of conflicts stemming from diverse factors had resulted in complex missions which simultaneously involved political, military and humanitarian activities.

Many of the conflicts in which the United Nations was called upon to intervene took place within the borders of States, and had political and military repercussions on neighbouring States, often resulting in cross-border refugee flows, she said. In those new situations, traditional military peacekeepers had been joined by civilian police officers, electoral observers and human rights monitors, and were called upon to utilize the essential tools of peace-building, peace making and post-conflict peace-building. It had, therefore, become necessary to integrate and coordinate actions aimed at addressing the root causes of violence and subsequently laying the foundations for a durable peace.

She said that with the differing causes of conflicts, action by the United Nations must be tailored to specific situations to strengthen the peace process. Another dimension was the crucial linkage between poverty, bad governance, abuse of human rights on the one hand, and violent conflicts on the other. The Secretary-General's report on the Work of the Organization (document A/53/1) had pointed out that the ultimate relationship between social justice, material well-being and peace must be taken into account if action was to be pursued far enough to prevent local conflicts from escalating and spilling over into the international arena. Jamaica emphasized the need for development to be seen as an important corollary to peacekeeping and peacemaking. It must involve cooperation among the various United Nations agencies at the field level.

Jamaica welcomed the announcement by the Under-Secretary-General of a new policy concerning the minimum age of peacekeepers, she said. It was hoped that that policy would serve as an example for police and military forces worldwide, at a time when too many children were being recruited to participate in armed conflict.

R. MARGABANDHU (India) said his country supported the statement made previously by Jordan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. While India had supported the United Nations peacekeeping activities as an article of faith,

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it was its firm belief that durable peace could only be based on economic growth and development. Many of the peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations were in situations caused by poverty, underdevelopment and inequalities. Peacekeeping operations could not be substitutes for the elimination of inequities and inequalities.

He said that while peacekeeping was in a phase of retrenchment, civilian police components had increased quite rapidly and today made up about a fourth of the personnel deployment in United Nations peacekeeping operations. There were no accepted guidelines or principles or agreed concepts which delineated the parameters of their activities. Moreover, there was an urgent need to have a broad geographical base for selecting civilian police commissioners and ensuring that the appointment of other senior police personnel in peacekeeping operations took into account the size of police contributions.

TIN WINN (Myanmar) said, as contemporary peacekeeping operations became more complex and multidimensional, it was absolutely necessary to strictly observe the principles and purposes enshrined in the United Nations Charter, including respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.

He said that in the context of the ongoing United Nations reform process, it was vital to continue to improve the Organization's ability to effectively plan, deploy and manage current and future peacekeeping operations. Moreover, Myanmar underlined the need for continuing consultations between troop contributors and the Security Council. Adequate consultations should also be held among the Council members. Major merits of the standby arrangement system should be identified and discussed so as to provide Member States with the opportunity to participate in and support United Nations peacekeeping operations.

ALYAKSEI SKRYPKO (Belarus), associating himself with the statement made previously by Jordan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, stressed the importance of addressing the root causes of conflict. Belarus supported a predominantly preventive character for the peacekeeping activities of the United Nations, the development of a comprehensive early warning system and a more active recourse to peaceful political instruments. Peacekeeping operations in themselves could not be viewed as settlement of conflict and should not substitute measures to address the root causes of conflict. the Department of Peacekeeping Operations should rather be used as a temporary mechanism for the containment of conflicts, while peaceful political means to settle disputes were being sought. In that context, Belarus supported the integrated concept of "preventive peace-building" put forward by the Secretary-General, envisaging efforts to promote development with the aim of attacking root causes of conflict.

He said that the Secretary-General's successful mission to settle peacefully the situation in Iraq early this year and the recent de-escalation

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of tensions around Kosovo had given a strong impulse to the strengthening of a preventive component within peace efforts of the United Nations. Resolution of those situations by political means was a vivid demonstration of the need to limit the use of force in peace-building efforts of the Organization, to utilize to a much greater extent the peaceful instruments of settling conflicts.

In current conditions, when regional and subregional conflicts were on the rise, the role of a regional arrangements and agencies in the prevention and settlement of conflicts had increased significantly, he said. Belarus welcomed the enhanced activity of regional arrangements, which in many cases possessed greater capabilities than those of the United Nations to effectively react to emerging conflicts. The contribution of regional arrangements was welcomed, particularly the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the OAU and the ECOWAS.

SHIMANE KELAOTSWE (Botswana) said that successes in peacekeeping were generally scored where the parties to the conflict welcomed the United Nations as an honest mediator, as in Mozambique. Failure seemed to manifest itself where the Organization's authority was not respected or where the mission, or some of the Member States participating in it, were held in suspicion. The cases of Rwanda, Bosnia and Somalia were illustrative in that regard. The situation in those countries, and in some other parts of the world, remained potentially explosive. The international community, especially the Peacekeeping Department, should never tire in its search for permanent solutions to situations with the potential to threaten regional peace and security in different parts of the world.

He said that the ever-present but constantly changing nature of conflict and war made it imperative that United Nations peacekeeping should be continuously adjusted to meet the emerging challenges of each conflict situation. That might entail the promotion of national reconciliation and national healing among people who had been ready to exterminate one another on political, ethnic or religious grounds. While future peacekeeping operations should attach great importance to national reconciliation as the fundamental basis for lasting peace, a situation in which reconciliation and national healing were impossible in the circumstances of the day should also be foreseen. Thus, where the warring factions were not amenable to national reconciliation, peacekeeping, if available as an option, should still be resorted to.

RAFAEL DAUSA (Cuba) said his country supported Jordan's statement made previously on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. The strengthening of the work of the Special Committee must serve to enhance its relevance and also contribute to sending the appropriate message from the international community to the Security Council regarding peacekeeping operations.

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He said what was needed from the international community, and especially from former colonial countries that had reached high levels of development, was to contribute to eliminate the underlying causes of conflicts. It was somewhat paradoxical that there was an increasing trend towards a decline of official development assistance (ODA), and that in the Organization some countries put forth conditions and hindrances to developing countries' development programmes.

The Rapid Deployment Mission Headquarters structure, composition and functionality continued to raise reservations among many delegations, he said. Financial and personnel aspects added to the complexity of the question. In dealing with the Deployment Mission many questions arose: would it not be possible to better use all the Peacekeeping Department's human resources by streamlining, consolidating and improving the planning functions, and to accomplish the Deployment Mission's functions with those resources? Or was it that the lack of voluntary contributions was construed as a decline of political support by Member States?

JAMES DROUSHIOTIS (Cyprus) said that 24 years after his country's invasion, the Cyprus problem still remained unresolved despite resolutions repeatedly adopted by the United Nations, including binding Security Council resolutions and strenuous efforts by the Secretary-General.

The Cyprus example was the best proof that an intense peacemaking effort must be pursued in parallel with every peacekeeping operation, he said. The lesson to be drawn from Cyprus peacekeeping efforts was that as long as one of the parties concerned was not willing to comply with the dictates of the international community, then peacemaking lagged behind and resulted in the indefinite continuation, if not the perpetuation of, the problem. The answer lay not in abandoning the peacekeeping effort. In the face of continued intransigence by one side, it was vital to press ahead with effective peacemaking through the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and by all available means.

In short, peacekeeping and peacemaking were complementary, he said. When peacemaking fell behind on account of one party, the Security Council should act promptly and effectively through all the means available to it in the United Nations Charter to redress the situation.

MARIA LOURDES RAMIRO-LOPEZ (Philippines), associating herself with the statement made on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, said that tensions still drew nations into conflict, diverting attention and resources away from development. Regional cooperation in conflict situations was still the key to managing potential conflict. In that regard, the Philippines supported the call for greater regional participation in maintaining international peace and security, with the United Nations continuing to remain as the cornerstone in their maintenance.

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She said that the ready availability of peacekeepers must never be taken for granted. No Member State should be emboldened to challenge the peace or push the envelope of conflict thinking that, at the right time, the United Nations and its peacekeepers would come in and save everyone from falling off the brink. The fundamental responsibility for keeping the peace was on the shoulders of States. They must continue to relate to each other and treat their nationals based on the clearly established norms of inter-State and intra-State behaviour. More than anything else, mistrust and misunderstanding continued to be enemies of peace. Those were problems that no amount of peacekeeping could solve.

VICE SKRACIC (Croatia) said his country, host to five distinct United Nations peacekeeping operations, was no stranger to questions related to peacekeeping, including its aims, achievements and shortfalls. His country believed that the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), as opposed to the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNPROFOR) and the United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia (UNCRO), had succeeded due to a number of factors, not least of which had been the provision of a clear and achievable mandate from the Security Council and a clear willingness on the part of the United Nations and its Member States to implement it. Other factors, such as a clear shift in the balance of power in the region, as well as strong and decisive leadership, had certainly played their part.

As peacekeeping operations became more demanding and multifaceted, he said it was more important for the Security Council to measure the uniqueness of each situation against options available before deciding on a course of action. Croatia also regarded cooperation with regional organizations as an essential part of the ongoing process of peacekeeping and peace-building, as well as the maintenance of international and regional peace and security. Moreover, his country believed that appropriate early reaction to a potential crisis that might have regional or international repercussions was the best way to avert the crisis.

MEHDI YOUSEFI (Iran) said his country associated itself with the statement previously made by Jordan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. Peacekeeping operations should be established and conducted with clearly defined mandates, objectives, command structures and secure financing in order to ensure the fruitfulness of the efforts directed towards peaceful resolution of the conflict.

United Nations peacekeeping operations should reflect collective effort of the United Nations membership for the maintenance of international peace and security, he said. Accordingly, equal opportunities should be ensured for the widest participation of Member States in all aspects of peacekeeping. As an important step in confidence building, transparency and partnerships in maintaining international peace and security, Iran reiterated the positive role which concerned States could play in bringing about ceasefires and

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restoring peace, security and tranquillity in a war-ravaged region. In regard to mine clearance, mine awareness and victim assistance, his country welcomed the Peacekeeping Department's proposal concerning the assessment mission that the United Nations Mine Action Service and United Nations agencies were to conduct in Iran.

SANTIAGO APUNTE (Ecuador) said that peacekeeping operations were not the best available option for ending conflict since dialogue and diplomacy could be used. Peacekeeping operations must be considered as the exception rather than the rule. That was why it was important to stress preventive diplomacy.

He said that to participate in ongoing or future peacekeeping operations, countries needed training. That was what had enabled States to have a better concept of the vision of peacekeeping. Ecuador had participated in peacekeeping missions and intended to explore new experiences in the future.

The full integration of civilian police in peacekeeping missions was vital, he said. While the informative material produced by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations was very valuable, it should be made available in all the official languages of the United Nations.

HAZAIRIN POHAN (Indonesia) said efforts by the United Nations to contain and terminate armed conflicts -- reduced in recent years, but rendered more complex -- had strained the Organization's capacities, both financially and institutionally. Given the increasingly difficult situation that the United Nations had had to face in maintaining international peace and security, it had resorted to seeking cooperation with regional organizations or agencies. Undeniably, the promotion of regional peace and security had proved to be a significant factor in enhancing overall global peace and security.

Indonesia believed that regional organizations could play an active role in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations efforts for peace without intervening in the internal affairs of States. However, the methods for cooperation and coordination with regional organizations needed to be improved, and finding ways to strengthen interaction between the United Nations and regional organizations in the political, security, economic, social and other fields had now assumed greater importance.

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