SECURITY COUNCIL THEMATIC DEBATE ON UN

UNCLAS STATE 081194 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPKO UNSC SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL THEMATIC DEBATE ON UN PEACEKEEPING REF: A. STATE 66001 ¶B. STATE 4905 ¶1. The Security Council will hold a thematic debate on UN peacekeeping on August 5. This is the culmination of six months of discussion of how to better inform the Council's decisions on UN peacekeeping mandates, including through better and earlier discussions with troop- and police-contributing countries. The discussions, launched by a joint UK/French non-paper in January, were organized by Japan as chair of the Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping. The Council anticipates resuming regular meetings of the Working Group in October. These discussions take place in a larger context, including an extensive internal UN Secretariat review of how best to meet the demands of peacekeeping over the next three to five years. The operational issues involved will be taken up by the General Assembly and referred to the GA's Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) and the Fifth Committee (Budget) for action in the spring of 2010. Info addressees on this message include Embassies in countries that are particularly engaged with UN peacekeeping issues, including the top ten troop-contributing countries. USUN may join consensus on the UK-drafted Presidential Statement (PRST) on peacekeeping in para 3, please consult with the Department if there are any substantive changes to the draft text. May USUN draw on the points in paragraph 2 for U.S. remarks. ¶2. Begin points: --The U.S. outlined its approach to current and future challenges in UN peacekeeping at the June 29 Security Council thematic debate on peacekeeping, convened by Turkey. We have five brief (but key) points to make on this occasion. --First, we commend the United Kingdom for its leadership, as well as all our colleagues on the Council for the serious engagement on this issue since January. --Adopting this PRST in both letter and spirit will enhance the chances of success of both current and future peacekeeping operations. --In this statement, the Council pledges to consider carefully whether proposed new missions will have the resources and conditions conducive to success. We have made a commitment to give UN operations clear, credible and achievable mandates, and to review progress and obstacles to ensure that we can make any corrections that are needed. --Second, this PRST acknowledges that both the Security Council and the Secretariat must do a better job of consulting with troop- and police- contributing countries, especially when adopting new mandates or renewing old ones. The troop and police contributors bring a wealth of experience to this discussion, and their concerns should be heard. This is a key point arising from these discussions. --Third, we appreciate and welcome the efforts of the UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support to push the debate on the future of UN peacekeeping. --The recently-issued non-paper ("A New Partnership Agenda: Charting a New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping") rightly reminds us that this is a collective effort. While the Security Council, General Assembly, Secretariat and individual Member States have distinct roles and responsibilities, the success of UN peacekeeping depends on our collective unity of purpose and effort. --The non-paper launches an appeal from one partner, the Secretariat, to the rest of the group for help: to energize faltering peace processes, mobilize missing capabilities, meet local capacity- and peace-building needs, consider new models for mission planning and support, and clarify key peacekeeping concepts, especially "robust" peacekeeping and protection of civilians. --In the just-released DFS support strategy, which we will review with great interest, there is a bold set of proposals on how to streamline and speed delivery of services, seeking to make peacekeeping operations more effective and efficient. --The U.S. remains ready to do its part, and we will receive new ideas with an open mind. We look forward to discussing the various proposals in both non-papers in greater depth over the next few months. --At the same time, we expect the Secretariat to do all it can to improve mission leadership and management, strengthen personnel and procurement systems, achieve economies and savings, prevent waste, fraud and abuse, and clarify the roles and responsibilities of UN actors at Headquarters and in the field. --Fourth, the U.S. is ready to begin acting on the spirit and letter of this PRST and the New Horizon non-paper. --The mandates of the UN Missions in Liberia, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo will come up for renewal in September, October and December, respectively. We welcome early dialogue with troop and police contributors to these missions on their views and concerns. We also welcome early recommendations from the Secretariat on Security Council and Member State actions that could increase the likelihood of successful mandate implementation and responsible mission draw-down. --And, finally, the U.S. will be appealing to all Member States to do more for UN peacekeeping, but we are also asking more of ourselves. That begins with meeting our financial obligations. We are pleased that the Congress has authorized the administration to clear arrears accumulated from 2005 to 2008 and to meet our obligations in full for 2009. End points. ¶3. Begin text of Presidential Statement: ¶1. The Security Council reaffirms the recommendations made in its resolutions 1327 (2000) and 1353 (2001) and in the statements of its President dated 3 May 1994 (PRST/1994/22), 4 November 1994 (PRST/1994/62),28 March 1996 (PRST/1996/13), 31 January 2001 (PRST/2001/3) and 17 May 2004 (PRST/2004/16) and the note by its President of 14 January 2002 (S/2002/56) and confirms its intention to strengthen further efforts to implement fully these recommendations. The Council recalls in particular from the statement of its President of 3 May 1994 the appropriate factors that should be taken into account when the establishment of a new peacekeeping operation is under consideration. ¶2. The Security Council believes that United Nations peacekeeping is a unique global partnership that draws together the contributions and commitment of the entire UN system. The Council is committed to strengthening this partnership. The Council recognises the important work conducted by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, the Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations, the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly and the UN Secretariat to ensure that peacekeeping efforts provide the best possible results. ¶3. The Security Council has endeavoured in the past six months to improve its dialogue with the Secretariat and with troop and police contributing countries on the collective oversight of peacekeeping operations and to develop the following practices: (i) regular dialogue with the Secretariat on the general challenges of peacekeeping; (ii) efforts to deepen consultations with troop and police contributing countries, including through the Security Council's Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations and the debates organized on January 23 and June 29, 2009; (iii) organisation of political-military meetings on specific operations to improve the shared analysis of operational challenges; (iv) encouraging regular updating of planning documents by the Secretariat to ensure consistency with mandates; (v) improved monitoring and evaluation, through the use of benchmarks, as and where appropriate, that enable progress to be charted against a comprehensive and integrated strategy. ¶4. The Security Council has identified several areas where further reflection is required to improve the preparation, planning, monitoring and evaluation of peacekeeping operations: (i) Ensuring that mandates for peacekeeping operations are clear, credible and achievable and matched by appropriate resources. The Council stresses the need regularly to assess in appropriate consultation with other stakeholders, the size, mandate and composition of peacekeeping operations with a view to making the necessary adjustments where appropriate, according to progress achieved or changing circumstances on the ground; (ii) Better information sharing, particularly on the military operational challenges, through inter alia systematic consultation by the Secretariat with Member States in advance of deployment of a technical assessment mission on its objectives and broad parameters, and debriefing on its main findings on return. The Council encourages the practice of holding meetings between Council Members and the Secretariat at the political-military expert level prior to discussion of mandate renewals. The Council recognises the need to improve its access to military advice, and intends to pursue its work on mechanisms to that effect. The Council will continue to review the role of the Military Staff Committee; (iii) The Council intends to increase its interaction with the Secretariat in the early phase of mandate drafting and throughout mission deployment on the military, police, justice, rule of law and peacebuilding dimensions of an operation; (iv) Earlier and more meaningful engagement with troop and police contributing countries before the renewal or modification of the mandate of a peacekeeping operation. The Council welcomes practical suggestions to deepen such consultations. It recognises that through their experience and expertise, troop and police contributing countries can greatly contribute to effective planning, decision-making and deployment of Peacekeeping operations. In this regard, the Council welcomes the interim report of the Security Council Working Group (S/2009/xx) and encourages it to continue to address the issue of cooperation with troop and police contributing countries and other stakeholders. The Council commits to making progress on this issue, and to reviewing its progress in 2010; (v) Greater awareness in the Security Council of the resource and field support implications of its decisions. The Council requests that where a new peacekeeping mission is proposed, or where significant change to a mandate is envisaged, an estimate of the resource implications for the Mission be provided to it; (vi) Enhanced awareness in the Security Council of the strategic challenges faced across peacekeeping operations. The Council welcomes the briefings to that effect received from the Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Department of Field Support since January 2009, which should continue on a regular basis. ¶5. The Council recognises the need to weigh the full range of responses when addressing a situation which may endanger international peace and security, and to deploy UN peacekeeping missions only as an accompaniment, not as an alternative, to a political strategy. The Council recognises the importance of mobilising and maintaining the political and operational support of all stakeholders. ¶6. The Security Council recognises the urgent need to increase the pool of available troop and police contributors and welcomes efforts of Member States to coordinate bilateral assistance to them. The Council supports efforts to improve cooperation and appropriate coordination through the life of a mission with relevant regional and sub-regional organisations and other partners. The Council recognises the priority of strengthening the capacity of the African Union, and the role of regional and sub-regional organisations in maintaining international peace and security in accordance with Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. ¶7. The Security Council welcomes efforts by the Secretariat to review peacekeeping operations and to provide enhanced planning and support, and encourages the Secretariat to deepen these efforts. In this regard, the Council takes note of the assessments and recommendations provided in their non-paper A New Partnership Agenda: Charting a New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping and the support strategy contained therein, and intends to give them careful consideration. ¶8. The Security Council recognises that further debate is required among Member States, including in the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, to develop a wider consensus on a range of issues including the robust approach to peacekeeping and the implementation of protection of civilians mandates among other issues. The Council reaffirms the relevant provisions of its resolution 1674 (2006). The Council looks forward to reviewing the implementation of protection of civilians mandates later this year. ¶9. The Security Council recalls the statement of its President of 22 July 2009 (PRST/2009/23) on Peacebuilding and in particular re-emphasises the need for coherence between, and integration of, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and development to achieve an effective response to post-conflict situations from the outset. The Council requests the Secretary-General to provide in his reports on specific missions an indication of progress toward achieving a coordinated UN approach in-country, and in particular on critical gaps to achieving peacebuilding objectives alongside the mission. ¶10. The Security Council remains committed to improving further the overall performance of UN peacekeeping and will conduct a further review in early 2010. End text. CLINTON