UNITED NATIONS: Cautioning against using the UN peacekeeping as a "stopgap measure", Pakistan has underscored the need for the operations to be part of a comprehensive political solution, which also addresses underlying causes of the conflict for peace and stability.
"Peacekeeping must prepare the ground for post conflict reconciliation, reconstruction and development," Amjad Hussain Sial, acting permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Natioans (UN), told the General Assembly's Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.
Speaking in a debate on the world body's peacekeeping operations, he said that Pakistan had been in the forefront of supporting the UN peacekeeping for more than 50 years.
It was currently the largest contributor to the peacekeeping missions, with over 10,600 personnel deployed to nine missions. Over the last decade, Ambassador Sial said the demands on peacekeeping had grown tremendously in magnitude and complexity.
But he said there was a need to exercise caution in introducing new concepts advocating the use of force by peacekeepers for implementing mandated tasks, including the protection of civilians. Those concepts needed to be considered within the framework of the guiding principles of peacekeeping, including the consent of parties, impartiality and the non-use of force except in the case of self-defence.
Regarding the Global Field Support Strategy, the Pakistan envoy said that care should be taken that its efforts did not undermine the operational effectiveness of field missions.
He then outlined a number of key concerns of troop-contributing countries, including: that the conduct of peacekeeping operations needed to be driven by the unique needs of each mission, not by political or financial considerations; that troop-contributing counties needed to be consulted in the drawing up of mandates, as well as in their implementation, and in making any changes to them; that there should be a greater representation from those troop-contributing countries at UN Headquarters; ways to improve the safety and security of troops should be considered by the Special Committee; and the process for reimbursements on account of death and disability must be streamlined.
"Along with others, we have played a significant part in forging UN peacekeeping as an instrument of international peace," the Pakistan envoy told the Committee.
"We want to see it serve, and serve better, the collective purposes of the United Nations and of the peoples whom we represent here."
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