New York, Sep 13 (Just News): As president of the UN Security Council, Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, chaired a Security Council debate on UN Peacekeeping reform. At the meeting, the Security Council received its first annual briefing on peacekeeping reform, as mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 2378, and Ambassador Haley previewed a U.S. draft resolution to accelerate progress on improving peacekeeping performance.
“Peacekeeping is based on trust between the protected and the protectors. The United Nations puts peacekeepers into this position of trust. We, the Security Council, give them this power. We are responsible for what they do with it – not just for the sake of the victims, but for the sake of the mission, the United Nations, and peacekeeping itself. Once that critical trust is gone, no matter how many resources a mission has, or how strong its leadership, the mission will fail. Even worse than failures to protect are instances in which civilians have been attacked, abused, and exploited by the peacekeepers who are supposed to protect them.”
“The United States shares the Secretary-General’s commitment to peacekeeping performance across-the-board. The ongoing struggle to make progress against the problem has shown the need for clear, objective standards of performance and accountability. We need to create a culture of performance in UN peacekeeping.”
“The United States has introduced a new resolution to empower the UN Secretariat and accelerate progress on improving peacekeeping performance. Our resolution advances three simple but critical peacekeeper performance priorities… In the days ahead, I urge my colleagues to work with us on this resolution. Bring your best ideas of how we can incentivize better performance and hold all peacekeepers – particularly those in the positions of leadership – to the highest possible standards. We owe this to the victims of abuse and neglect, of course. But we owe it to the peacekeepers themselves as well. Their safety and security is directly linked to their performance. The men and women we send into harm’s way need to know that they are always serving alongside other peacekeepers who can be counted on to do their duty and not abuse their power.”
“The people of the United States support the UN when it lives up to the ideals of its founding because we share those ideals. Please help us show that this support is not misplaced. Join us in the effort to ensure that the men and women who represent the United Nations to the world have training, professionalism, and character to match their high mission. So many vulnerable people in the world are depending on us. They’re giving us their trust. We owe them our protection.”
(Justnews/ys/2220hr)
