Secretary-General, to Seminar, Says Special, Personal Representatives,

 

Envoys ‘Face’ of UN, in Charge of Remarkable Number of Working Parts

 

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks delivered by teleconference to the seminar for his Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, today, 23 November:

It is a pleasure to join you, even if only by teleconference.  I regret that my schedule and pressures in New York has kept me from joining you in person.

I understand you have had a very rich seminar.  I am grateful for this opportunity to add my thoughts to the mix.

First, let me say thank you for your hard work, your leadership and your sacrifices.  The United Nations is in ever greater demand for conflict prevention, crisis response, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.  That means rising expectations and more pressure on all of us ‑‑ but especially you ‑‑ to deliver.

I am glad you have had this chance to speak to your peers.  I am in touch with each of you, of course ‑‑ although never enough.  But you don’t have enough opportunities to talk with and learn from each other.  I trust your exchanges this weekend have given you food for thought.

Let me share a few thoughts of my own, and then we can open the floor for discussion.

First, the big picture.

You will all have noted the great amount of time I have spent on climate change this year.  We are now on the eve of the Copenhagen Conference.  You may have seen news reports suggesting it is destined by be a disappointment.  To the contrary, momentum is building.  I believe we will reach a deal that sets the stage for a binding treaty next year.

Whatever happens, climate change will remain at the top of the United Nations agenda in the months ahead.  So will other issues of the global commons.  We will be making a big push on the Millennium Development Goals, including through a summit in September.  We will be active on hunger, health and food security.  The global economic crisis will continue to inflict suffering on the poor and vulnerable.

All of this not only occupies my time; it has a significant effect on your work even if you yourselves do not have specific mandates to address these issues.

It is also relevant in terms of the integration we seek in cases where UN agencies operate alongside a peacekeeping operation or special political mission.

I am pleased to note the improving working relationship and many new synergies between missions and country teams.  “Delivering as one” is not just about the development side of our operation; it must apply to our entire presence in a country.

Second, re-tooling our machinery.

I am keenly aware of the need to constantly examine and update our peacemaking architecture, mechanisms, technologies and toolkit.  That effort must encompass the full range of what we do:  conflict prevention, through the strengthening of our mediation and related capacities; peacekeeping, through the New Horizons process, the associated Global Support Strategy and the concept paper on robust peacekeeping; and, peacebuilding, through my recent policy paper, the Peacebuilding Commission and Support Office, and efforts to clarify roles and identify critical gaps.

I would like to see greater cross-fertilization of our experiences across this continuum.

Third, staff security.  The security of our personnel is a top priority ‑‑ not just because of recent attacks in Kabul and Islamabad ‑‑ but because this has always been essential for doing our work.

I am seeking new money in the regular budget for the next biennium to better screen and protect access to vulnerable United Nations locations.  I am proposing that an emergency fund be established to help the Department of Safety and Security to meet the new demands upon it.  We must increase the hardship incentive for staff working in dangerous posts.  And of course, we must support victims and their families through greater funding and a new unit dedicated to this effort.

We have an important balance to strike here.  Staff want to work; they want to be effective, and will take acceptable risks in order to do their jobs.  We should never under-react to threats.  Yet we should not overreact, either, and create situations in which staff are both unable to work yet are still at risk.  Management has a duty to ensure that staff efforts are worth the risk.

Fourth, the protection of civilians.

The Security Council’s increasing attention to this is an important evolution.  But as we all know, mandates to protect civilians have given rise to very high expectations, yet the necessary are hardly ever provided.  I know you are doing your best to meet this challenge.

The OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]/DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] study and the adoption of Security Council resolution 1894 earlier this month have created strong momentum.  We now have the basis for arriving at a shared understanding among Member States, the Secretariat, and the missions.

Fifth and finally, my efforts at Headquarters.

I am not some kind of Moses, offering 10 commandments for you to follow ‑‑ although perhaps you think I tried at one of our earlier gatherings!

Fundamentally, I am here to support you.

I am committed to filling vacancies, speeding up the appointment process and ensuring that there are no leadership vacuums.

I am determined to pursue investigations into sexual abuse and other infractions with all due haste, given the cloud these can cast over a mission.

I want and need your advice.

It is you, on the ground, who know best when our posture needs to evolve in response to quick-changing events.  It is you to whom we should turn first for guidance when mandates might seem to compete with or contradict each other.  It is you who are the face of the United Nations, for the people we serve and for the regional organizations with which we are working more closely.

You are in charge of a remarkable number of working parts.  I am grateful for keeping them all moving in a coherent, productive direction.

Thank you.  Now I would welcome your comments and questions.

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For information media • not an official record