Statement by Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Pakistan in the Debate of the Security Council on UN Peacekeeping - 23 January 2009

  1. Mr. President, I would like to thank you on behalf of the Pakistan delegation for the opportunity to participate in this important debate initiated under your presidency. We align ourselves with the statement to be delivered by the representative of Morocco on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. Let me also thank our three distinguished briefers for their informative briefings this morning.
  2. Peacekeeping is today the biggest enterprise of the United Nations, rightly termed as its flagship activity. It is restoring peace, bringing solace and offering hope to millions of people afflicted by conflict and complex crises around the world. Success in recent years has raised expectations – rightly so – as well as the demand for UN peacekeeping. And the ensuing challenges, of making peacekeeping work even better, are equally complex and exceptional. We believe it is the collective responsibility of the member states to ensure a more effective and successful employment of this tool for the maintenance of international peace and security. It is in this spirit and context that we see your initiative.
  3. Pakistan brings multiple perspectives to this debate. First, as one of the most consistent and leading contributors of military and police personnel to UN missions. Pakistan’s current contribution of 11,135 is an all time high, constituting over 12% of total UN deployments. We have been the overall top contributor ever since the advent of the surge in demand in 2003. A large part of our participation is in the most difficult and complex situations in Africa. Second, Pakistan is also host to one of the first UN peacekeeping missions i.e. the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, a mission which has played an invaluable role in building confidence and maintaining peace and stability in that region. Third, our field perspective is complemented by our continuing and deep engagement in the policy discussions on peacekeeping and peace-building.
  4. In the Council itself, Pakistan was the first to put a special focus on the issue of surge and other growing challenges of complex missions, in which regard a wide-ranging Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2004/16) was adopted in May 2004. Coinciding with that Pakistan had also proposed the idea of ad-hoc composite committees, which made an important contribution in the evolutionary discussions on the Peace-building Commission.
  5. Mr. President, we believe that the challenges facing peacekeeping need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner with a common strategic vision. The Brahimi Report made a pivotal contribution to this work and remains relevant today, though not fully implemented. On the initiative of the Secretary General, the Member States approved, during the 61st session a major peacekeeping reform proposal aimed at strengthening the overall capacity to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of mission mandates. A review of that process is now due. Peace Operations 2010 is also underway in parallel. In our view, merit of any new initiative or process, whether member state or Secretariat driven, should be gauged in the context of its relevance and coherence with the ongoing processes, as well as the role and responsibilities of the relevant UN bodies with regard to peacekeeping.
  6. Our collective efforts to address the challenges and to attain the objectives of peacekeeping cut across a range of key issues. I would like to highlight a few which are essential for success:
    • One, the continuing need to adapt and equip peacekeeping to cater to the changing requirements.
    • Two, the respect for the basic and agreed tenets of peacekeeping.
    • Three, the need to preserve the identity of UN peacekeeping from other kinds of peace operations.
    • Four, the need for equal attention to addressing inter-state conflicts along with intra-state crises.
    • Five, the need to operationalize a truly holistic approach to conflict prevention, addressing the root causes of conflicts and preventing their relapse through a fuller interface of peacekeeping and peace-building and formulation of right exit strategies.
    • Six, exploiting the potential of cooperation with regional organizations, within the framework of the Charter, making use of the comparative advantages, but without substituting the primary role of the United Nations.
    • Seven, formulation of clear, realistic and achievable mandates based on an objective and comprehensive analysis of ground realities; and provision of commensurate resources to enable the missions to fulfill those mandates.
    • Seven, and perhaps the most crucial is the political support and collective commitment of Member States to UN peacekeeping.
  7. These overarching issues, in our view, should guide the process of any strategic oversight. The issues listed in the Presidency’s non-paper, i.e. preparation, planning, oversight and evaluation are right on the spot. These are the core functions and activities that need to be given prime attention, not only by the Council but also in the work of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34), where like the Council too much energy has been diverted to peripheral issues. To better perform these core functions, some of the questions identified in the non-paper are quite relevant. There are three sets of priorities: i) reinforcing interaction between all key actors; ii) enhancing information flow and exchange in all directions and at all stages; iii) improving capacities to generate accurate and objective analysis and assessments and feeding them into decision making processes designed to perform the core tasks better.
  8. From the nature and scope of these activities, it is obvious that they cannot be only Council-centric. As the central body writing and reviewing peacekeeping mandates, the Council should carry out all necessary internal thinking and improvement of its working methods to better carry out its responsibilities. We welcome all efforts in that direction. However, since mandates are to be implemented on ground by troop contributing countries, majority of whom are not members of the Council, there is a obvious need to bring them fully into the loop. This requires a genuine and meaningful partnership, which should extend from deployment and operational aspects to a role in decision making and policy formulation. We believe that partnership with TCCs must also encompass their proper representation in the operational as well as top managerial positions both in the field and the UN headquarters.
  9. Mr. President, member states would agree that effective strategic oversight also requires full adherence to the principle of unified command and control under the United Nations. In the field, this must apply to all peacekeeping operations. There also appears to be a need for strategic oversight in the Secretariat which is still grappling with the complexities of a new structure.
  10. The strategic objective of the Security Council is the maintenance of international peace and security. That is also the objective of peacekeeping. We believe some of the difficulties of decision making – where or where not to deploy, where to strengthen, where to cut or draw-down – could be overcome by putting “peace and security” as an objective and the main benchmark. We agree, it is easier said than done. But if individual interests and political expediencies could give some way to this common objective, things can be done better by the Council. In the same vein we believe that although cost is a consideration, it should not over-ride the interest of saving lives and preventing conflicts. There must be efficient management of resources. But, as others have also said, resources must not be stretched to a limit that risks the viability and success of the missions. That of the many options, UN peacekeeping is considered the most economical, a point also made by Mr. Annabi, then it should make us invest more in this enterprise, through a much broader sharing and contribution by all member states.
  11. Mr. President, we can meet the challenges of peacekeeping and realize our objectives through a cooperative and collective endeavour. We therefore thank you for consulting us. We would remain engaged with your country and all member states to take our work forward.

Thank you.