News

Statement by the Republic of Lithuania at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Peacekeeping Operations: New Trends New York, 11 June 2014 Mr. President, Thank you for organizing this highly pertinent open debate. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for his briefing. Lithuania associates itself with the statement to be delivered by the representative of the European Union. Since the inception of the United Nations, peacekeeping – a concept which was not even mentioned in the Charter – has developed to become an indispensable tool for the maintenance of international peace and security. Nearly 70 missions have been deployed over the time, and the experience and lessons learned from these missions continue to feed into the concept of peacekeeping as it evolves further due to the changing context and requirements on the ground. While today’s trends in peacekeeping can pose considerable challenges, they also highlight the inherent adaptability of UN peacekeeping, which remains one of its major strengths.

Today let me focus on three issues: ensuring capabilities needed to implement peacekeeping mandates, intermission cooperation, and the use of modern technologies. On all these issues, an ongoing substantial dialogue between the Council and TCCs and PCCs is essential.

Former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld once noted that "peacekeeping is not a job for soldiers, but only soldiers can do it." Due to the multi-dimensional character of today’s peacekeeping, the troops on the ground must be able to quickly respond to the challenges at hand and in addition to traditional peacekeeping tasks provide effective protection of civilians, humanitarian assistance, and, in cooperation with country teams and relevant regional and sub-regional actors, engage in early peace- or state- building. This raises new demands for the peacekeeping partnership of the Security Council, Member States and the Secretariat.

Highly mobile unit-task groups with appropriate equipment and sustainment capabilities are increasingly preferred to traditional infantry battalions which are best suited to operate in static configurations. Approaches that integrate infantry, police and gendarmerie, engineering and support structures are being explored and tested in real time.

Operational readiness of troops and preparedness for rapid deployment are an increasing necessity. Capability-driven and qualitative rather than quantitative focus must be maintained in order to ensure the effectiveness and operational value of the peacekeeping force in highly volatile and rapidly changing crisis situations in which peacekeepers carry out their missions today.

Such complex, multidimensional environments also raise new demands for peacekeeper training and readiness to perform an increasing variety of tasks. Being able to read the signals of and act accordingly on gender-based violence, rape as a tool of war, abuse and recruitment of children is key for implementing PoC mandates. Because of the increasing focus on civilian protection and humanitarian issues at hand, IHL, human rights, gender sensitivity training is essential for peacekeepers to be able to carry out their tasks properly.

Pre-deployment assessments are critical for ensuring that peacekeeping contingents meet the UN standards, including on PoC. Even more importantly, all personnel must respect the values of the UN peacekeeping and first of all do no harm. All allegations of misconduct involving peacekeeping personnel, in particular those related to sexual exploitation or abuse, must be examined thoroughly and those responsible must be brought to account. Zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual misconduct wherever and whenever it occurs must be strictly implemented.

Mr. President,

Let me now turn to inter-mission cooperation. While the concept paper notes that inter-mission cooperation should not affect the implementation of particular mission mandates, we believe that such cooperation could in fact help their implementation and should therefore be an inherent feature of overall mission planning.

As crises multiply and UN peacekeeping budget keeps growing, we believe that peacekeeping should not be seen as a patchwork of separate missions, but as a global enterprise in which efficiency gains and synergies should be identified, resulting in an added value and benefit for all the mandates. Broader regional and operational theatre thinking and assessment of crisis situations and conflict trends should take place, possibly going as far as preparing contingency plans for inter-mission support, involvement of regional and sub-regional actors, and options for emergency redeployment in crisis situations.

Emergency redeployment to tackle the situation in South Sudan involving missions in volatile situations can offer a valuable case study for the future. Cases of inter-mission cooperation  in West Africa and the Middle East can also serve as examples while exploring  opportunities for greater cooperation at a regional level. At the same time, cooperation should  also be strengthened on a global level, notably through the implementation of the Global Field Support Strategy and making use of capabilities available at global and regional service centres.

Mr. President,

Finally, let me touch upon the use of advanced technologies in UN peacekeeping. Lately, discussions in the UN have focused on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, whose added value has been recently demonstrated at a relevant Secretariat briefing on their use in DRC.

However, the range of advanced technology that is or could be used to enhance implementation of the complex peacekeeping tasks of today is much wider. GPS technology in mission vehicles, infrared capabilities on aircraft and helicopters, the reduction of mission’s ecological footprint through water saving equipment, the use of cellular or satellite communications as early warning mechanisms by civilians in conflict areas are just some examples.

Technology can be employed not just to enhance situation awareness and facilitate decision making process, but also to bring the peacekeepers closer to the communities they are mandated to protect. It is also important to reinforce the deterrence element, shrinking the space for perpetrators to act undetected and with impunity. Finally, the use of advanced technology could result in substantial resource efficiencies and would allow to optimise the use of critical enablers.

At the same time, technology will not replace the troops and police officers on the ground and can only be seen to perform an enabling and supporting role. Situational awareness without adequate troop capability to act is of little use. The human factor remains crucial in peacekeeping operations. Besides helping to better protect civilian lives, a smart use of technologies in peacekeeping would also help to protect the lives of peacekeepers themselves, as the toll of peacekeeper deaths is becoming unacceptably high.

Only a short while ago, on May 29th, the UN marked the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. Let me conclude by paying tribute and expressing our deep appreciation and respect for all the peacekeepers who put their lives at risk to protect the lives of others- and at times, pay the ultimate price in the line of duty.

Thank you.