PRESS CONFERENCE ON PRESENTATION OF PEACEKEEPING CHALLENGES REPORT BY SWEDEN’S FOREIGN MINISTER

PRESS CONFERENCE ON PRESENTATION OF PEACEKEEPING CHALLENGES REPORT

BY SWEDEN ’S FOREIGN MINISTER

There was a need to enhance cooperation and coordination at all levels in order to make the best use of scarce resources in meeting the challenges of modern peacekeeping, Laila Freivalds, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

She said that an international report, prepared by the “Challenges Project”, offered a number of concrete recommendations on how to strengthen contemporary peacekeeping.  The Challenges Project rested on a few fundamental notions, including the fact that United Nations and other peace operations were dependent on the support of Member States in the form of personnel, as well as ideas.  The report was a compilation of such ideas, best practices and experiences.

The Minister said that the Project’s concluding report, entitled Meeting the Challenges of Peace Operations: Cooperation and Coordination, focused on three sets of questions: enhancing cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, both at the strategic level and through practical guidelines; strengthening capacities to support the rule of law in post-conflict societies, a key task of peace operations which must be included in the planning process at the outset; and redoubling efforts to train and educate the personnel to be deployed in complex operations.

The Minister said she would be presenting the report, on behalf of partner organizations from 14 countries, to Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this morning.  That presentation would mark the beginning of a day-long seminar that would include participation by partner organizations, Member States, the United Nations system and other organizations.

Also present at the press conference was Lieutenant General Satish Nambiar, President of India’s United Services Institution and a former Force Commander in United Nations peacekeeping, who noted that one of the major deficiencies of peace operations across the world was the lack of political commitment by the international community.  Member States must take an interest in giving political backup to missions in the field, and it was disappointing that not enough was being done to strengthen the United Nations in terms of the availability of personnel to carry out field operations.

Another participant in the press conference was Michael Sahlin, Director-General of Sweden’s Folke Bernadotte Academy and a former European Union representative in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, who emphasized that the Challenges Project was dealing with cooperation not only between member organizations and States, but also between those and various global and regional organizations.  It was essential to enhance that type of cooperation and coordination.

A correspondent asked General Nambiar if he was satisfied with the way in which the Peacebuilding Commission was being set up.  Would that address some of the key problems facing peacekeeping and peacebuilding?

He said that, while it was too early for such speculation, there had been reservations on the part of some Member States in terms of the Security Council’s assumption of a larger-than-life role for itself, particularly its permanent members.  There were also reservations about the degree of commitment that wealthy States and financial institutions would make.

Those reservations were well taken among the countries of the developing world, because many such organs were manipulated and not always effective at their level, he said.  He pointed out, however, that the Commission could be made to work, if States were genuine in their commitment and if people recognized that the absence of such a body had caused much damage in the past.  A number of States had relapsed into conflict and misery for lack of reconstruction arrangements.

Asked about active cooperation by the Scandinavian and Baltic Governments, Ms. Freivalds said there was cooperation around the Baltic Sea at different levels.  With respect to peacekeeping, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Norway were establishing a peacebuilding unit within the framework of the European Union.  There was also cooperation on different peacekeeping projects, in the Balkans specifically.

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For information media • not an official record