Remarks at a UN Safety Council Open Debate on the Way forward for Peace Operations

John Kelley
Acting Representative of the United States
New York, New York

AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Mr. President, and let me congratulate you on assuming the presidency. I’d additionally prefer to thank Under-Secretary-General Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo, Ambassador Zahneisen as PBC Chair, and Jenna Russo from IPI on your briefings and insights right this moment.

The United Nations has a novel function in addressing lots of right this moment’s most tough and delicate conflicts, however UN peace operations right this moment wrestle with a system that’s in want of reform and reprioritization.

The United States due to this fact continues to advocate UN return to its foundational goal of sustaining worldwide peace and safety. In different phrases, we have to go “back to basics.”

As a part of these bigger UN reform efforts, UN peacekeeping particularly have to be extra accountable, adaptable, and clear.

In doing so, the UN might be higher in a position to train its comparative benefits, together with by deploying multinational, tailor-made, focused options to handle peace and safety issues.

First, to enhance accountability, excellence in efficiency have to be higher rewarded and incentivized. At the identical time, expedient and consistently-applied penalties should even be imposed, together with for efficiency failures, conduct and self-discipline points, useful resource mismanagement, inaction within the face of impediments to missions’ mandates, and non-intervention when imminent risk of bodily violence in opposition to civilians come up.

Reform ought to make sure the UN has clear and constant efficiency requirements for each uniformed and civilian personnel and clear accountability mechanisms which are used to handle underperformance within the environment friendly execution of mandates. Similarly, each particular person perpetrators in addition to TCCs and PCCs have to be held to account for cases of sexual exploitation and abuse, as applicable, with out political consideration.

Second, to extend transparency, UN headquarters, in cooperation with peace operations on the mission-level, should interact in built-in planning. This consists of each headquarters-level state of affairs planning in addition to built-in army and civilian mission-planning.

These efforts will guarantee UN peace operations have actionable finish states and timelines, clear and demonstrable metrics to attain these end-states, and a streamlined help construction that each fosters innovation and responsibly allocates shared sources.

Missions should be capable of showcase their progress and actively – collectively – work themselves out of a job.

To help transparency, reforms are wanted to make sure clear mandates articulate a desired aim or finish state, prioritize obtainable sources, and supply the flexibleness for mission leaders to find out how finest to attain these targets based mostly on dynamics on the bottom.

Reforms are additionally wanted to make sure the Council is supplied with common, frank assessments and lifelike suggestions – not simply what it needs to listen to.

These efforts to extend transparency are crucial so all members can see a concrete, measurable return on our funding.

Third, to empower adaptability, peace operations have to mirror the political and operational realities of the second. These embrace the necessity for clear and centered mandates, duties, and help constructions, which can assist acquire buy-in and make important contributions to defusing and resolving battle via peace operations.

Targeted and achievable mandates – relatively than burdensome mandates – may also assist deal with the rising belief deficit dealing with peace operations right this moment.

Reforms for adaptability can embrace the modular approaches instructed within the DPO’s current examine on the way forward for peacekeeping, which might assist guarantee peace operations are centered, nimble, and context-specific. This may also be achieved via adaptive planning, structural modifications that help flexibility, and incentives for considerate risk-taking relatively than an acceptance of the established order.

In conclusion, Mr. President, the United States stays involved concerning the UN’s bureaucratic inefficiencies, politicized initiatives, and burdensome mandates that inhibit clear prioritization and pressure sources.

President Trump is steadfast in his aim of restoring peace the world over. And President Trump additionally has made clear the UN must concentrate on its core mandate to higher place it for fulfillment.

That is why we proceed to advocate for important reforms to the UN, together with via the Review on All Forms of Peace Operations. Progress in responding to this pivotal time within the transformation of the UN would require broad political backing, operational wherewithal, and visionary management. We have to be prepared to satisfy the second.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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