STATEMENT

by H.E. Ambassador Hoang Chi Trung, Chargé d’affaires a.i.

at the Debate of the Security Council

on “United Nations Peacekeeping Operations”

New York, 29 June 2009

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Mr. President,

I wish to thank you for convening this important debate. I thank Mr. Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Ms. Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, for their presentation and introduction of some preliminary findings and proposals under the New Horizons for UN Peacekeeping Initiative.

Mr. President,

Peacekeeping operations have beyond doubt established a niche role in the spectrum of options available for the maintenance of international peace and security. Juxtaposed to other collective efforts to assist countries emerging from conflict to achieve a steady state of stability, peacekeeping has proven to be a versatile tool and a credible response to deterring or reversing conflicts, and hitherto accumulated a good track of legitimacy when deployed appropriately.

Since the beginning of the new millennium, contemporary peacekeeping, however, has faced one of the most critical moments in its history as a result of the evolving demands for complex and multidimensional mandates, the sheer overstretch of authorized troops and police availability and capability, the changing nature of conflicts as well as the more unpredictable security environment surrounding peacekeepers.

With the annual budget well over $8 billion and the mounting pressures of the global financial crisis, peacekeeping missions have had to shoulder a daunting agenda of deploying at a rapid pace into remote areas, maintaining economies of scale, laying the groundwork for sustainable peace dividends and ensuring achievable mandates with clear benchmarks and within specific timelines.

In the meantime, the unsustainable equilibrium between costs and capacities that vary across operations continues to expose looming gaps among those who take decisions on peacekeeping operations, those who implement them, those who allocate resources, those who have to implement decisions on the ground and the recipient countries.

Sharpening the peacekeeping tool to make it more effective and successful is a continuous process of the Organization. The non-paper on New Horizons for UN Peacekeeping Initiative that will be formally introduced by the Secretariat should receive thorough considerations by the Security Council and the UN membership as well as other stakeholders in peacekeeping activities in order to enable us to draw good lessons and to make peacekeeping evermore effective in the interest of international peace and security.

Mr. President,

The challenges emanating from the expansion and complexity of today’s peacekeeping make it necessary to review existing practices and formulate a comprehensive strategy that cuts across the whole range of activities from the designing of concepts and policies to proper and comprehensive planning, from objective analysis of ground realities to formulation of clear, realistic and achievable mandates and provision of commensurate resources, from ensurance of safety and security of personnel to integrated command and control, and from implementation of mandates to sound draw-down and exit strategies.

Against such a backdrop, since the launch of the Brahimi Report 9 years ago, the Secretariat has undertaken a number of initiatives to enhance the effectiveness, impact and efficiency of peacekeeping operations. A good number of efforts are also underway among the various bodies involved in the decision-making process such as the Fifth Committee, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, the Peacebuilding Commission, UN agencies and programmes and the Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations.

It is then fundamental to decisively improve coordination of these efforts so as to avoid duplication of resources, share best practices and maximize complementary distributions of responsibilities. In so doing, the exercise of mandates and reforms on the peacekeeping track should be carried out in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the universally recognized guidelines, namely the consent of the parties, the non-use of force except in self-defense, total impartiality, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, and non-interference into their internal affairs.

The entire UN membership and international partners can have a role to play in helping alleviate the manifold burdens and tackle the varied obstacles confronting peacekeeping. Troops and police-contributing countries (TCCs/PCCs), most of whom are non-aligned and developing and bear the overwhelming majority of human and material costs of missions, should be involved early and fully in the preparation, planning, monitoring, conduct and evaluation of peacekeeping operations so that their operational experience and intellectual input can contribute to the appropriate, effective and timely decision-making and policy-formulating process at both Headquarters and in the field.

It is, henceforth, crucial to strengthen the triangular communication amongst TCCs/PCCs, the Security Council and the Secretariat as laid out in Security Council resolution 1353 (2001) and the Note by the President of the Security Council (S/2002/56). The cooperation between the Organization and regional and subregional organizations may bring added values if we are to fully comprehend the nature of the situation and if we are to enable the mission to achieve the intended objective, provided that those relationships are regulated on the basis of Chapter VIII of the Charter.

Mr. President,

For the specific limits and comparative advantages that they possess, peacekeeping operations should not be considered a panacea to the definitive settlements of conflicts, which can be met only by addressing the comprehensive political, security, economic and humanitarian dimensions of a given problem.

Experiences have shown that when UN operations are deployed in inappropriate circumstances, the results can be disastrous for the population within the conflict area, for the peacekeepers themselves and even for the viability of the instrument of the peacekeeping. Vice versa, the in-depth understanding of the specific country setting, the sequenced application of the right tools to respond to the underlying conflict dynamics and the early synchronization of the steps leading toward a more normalized situation are best guarantee of a smooth, gradual transition to early recovery and best deterrence against risks incurred by peacekeepers.

In the final analysis, the lasting solution to a conflict means that we have to go beyond military and security measures, incorporating broader and more effective long-term responses that address to the root causes of a conflict and promote national ownership of and contribution to future stability.

It is in this context that the Organization’s potential on parallel tracks should be further strengthened, above all in the areas of preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention, mediation, peacemaking and peacebuilding.