Negotiated Political Settlements Responding to Aspirations of People Central to Peacekeeping Operations, Secretary-General Tells Forum

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, to the high-level dialogue on United Nations peacekeeping operations, in New York today:

I thank the Foreign Ministers of Finland, Indonesia, Rwanda and Uruguay for hosting this important event, together with the International Peace Institute.

UN peacekeeping is at a pivotal moment, as today’s conflicts outpace international peace and security responses.  Major armed conflict has tripled since 2008.  New patterns of violence are confounding traditional mechanisms.  Our challenge is to continue adapting to this evolving peace and security landscape.

It is with this in mind that last year I established the High-Level Panel on Peace Operations.  The report of the Panel has provided a solid foundation on which to build a reinvigorated approach to UN peace operations.

The Panel has rightly focused on people, politics and partnerships as the central themes of peace operations for the future.  These themes have been taken up in my own agenda for action, submitted earlier this month to the General Assembly and the Security Council.

Central to our work must be the pursuit of negotiated political settlements that respond to the aspirations of the people we serve.  We must do so through coordinated, collective efforts — bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally.

And we must do no harm to the people we are mandated to protect; the role of peace operations is to advance the rights of people, not to themselves become threats through misconduct or abhorrent abuse.

I intend to make significant changes to the way we plan and conduct peacekeeping operations, in order to make them faster and more responsive, agile and flexible.  This effort will include strengthening our capabilities, and making better use of technology in order to better implement mandates, especially in high-risk environments.

I also intend to tackle the longer-term challenge of sustaining peace, and addressing the underlying causes of conflict.

Adapting UN peace operations to meet today’s challenges is a collective effort.  While we in the Secretariat have a central role to play in bringing these reforms to fruition, UN peace operations remain the manifestation of collective will.  Member States will also have to rise to the moment and make sure that we have the tools we need to do the jobs we are assigned.  The Leaders’ Summit on Peace Operations yesterday was a significant affirmation of support, and increased contributions of enablers will be particularly critical.

I hope that this backing will be demonstrated in other ways as we move forward in implementing the package of recommendations contained in my report on the future of UN peace operations.

Thank you for your engagement and commitment to this hugely important endeavour.