UNA-UK has contributed to an expert briefing book on reforming UN peace operations. The book is intended to inform the first meeting of a new High Level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations, established by the UN Secretary-General at the end of October.
The panel will examine the state of UN peace operations today, identify emerging needs for the future and make recommendations for improving and strengthening the UN’s capacity to undertake peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Led by Jose Ramos-Horta from Timor Leste, this is the first major independent assessment of UN peace operations since the review led by Lahkdar Brahimi, which culminated in the well-known “Brahimi Report” in 2000. The Brahimi Report called for a recommitment to peacekeeping from member states and made recommendations to ensure that operations were properly resourced, equipped and able to operate under clear, credible and achievable mandates.
The Panel includes Ian Martin from the UK, who received UNA-UK’s Sir Brian Urquhart Award for Distinguished Service to the UN in 2013. Ian has led UN missions in several countries, including East Timor (1999), Nepal (2007-9) and most recently Libya (2011-12).
UNA-UK’s submission to the briefing book focused on the overall approach of the UN to peacekeeping operations, stating that “a strategic, holistic approach to peace operations…starts and ends with prevention”. UNA-UK hopes that the Panel will both present new ideas and consider ways to address current gaps in institutional capacity that can be filled by enhancing existing tools and processes. An example of the latter includes improving communication between the Security Council in New York and human rights mechanisms based in Geneva. The submission also stresses the importance of following up on the recommendations and agreements that have followed previous reform initiatives. Contributions from over 60 experts, think tanks and civil society organisations were collected by the Center on International Cooperation and the International Peace Institute and provided to Panel members in the lead up to their first meeting.
Read UNA-UK’s submission here.
Photo: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets Ian Martin, then Special Representative for Libya and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), UN Photo
