‘UN peacekeeping operations lack unity for conflict situations’

Islamabad : The most important challenge to the UN peacekeeping operations around the world is the lack of unity among member states for a collective response towards the conflict situations, said Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre François Renaud Lacroix while talking to media on Monday. Lacroix is currently in Islamabad for the 28th Annual IAPTC Conference, being held in Islamabad from Nov 4 to 8, 2024.

He said that the list of successful UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, Asia and Latin America is long. "That all happened because we had a united international community supporting not only the peace keeping operations but also the peace process, for implementing the agreement in a united manner. Today we don't have that. The ultimate objective to peace keeping, that is to establish durable peace, is illusive. In fact, in most of the crisis that we face today, the prospect of achieving durable solution are delusive. The peace keepers nonetheless do achieve very important things every day, by preserving ceasefire, preventing escalation, mitigate damage and protecting thousands of civilians every day," he said while talking to media representative.

Lacroix termed the impact of climate change, global terrorism, transnational criminal activities and the misinformation and disinformation - as new challenges to global peace. "We have many UN Bodies at work which are addressing all these issues. We have a strategy on digital transformation of peacekeeping, we have plan for safety and security of peacekeepers in place and we also working on accountability on crime against peacekeepers," he said while elaborating UN response towards emerging challenges to the world peace.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations said that the UN is working on having more women in peace keeping. "We will not only continue these efforts but we will go further and adapt to new circumstances. In the bigger picture, we need to think of how the new modes of peacekeeping would look like. We cannot control the degree to which the member states would give space to UN solution to crisis but what we can control is what do we do to eradicate these crisis situations."

Responding to questions regarding situation in Southern Lebanon, Lacroix said that it is challenging for peace keepers to operate in these circumstances. "All parties have an obligation to respect safety and security of peacekeepers. It is not an option but an obligation, and we keep reminding the both sides of this fact." He said that there has been a number of incidents which have impacted different UN missions.

"Eight UN peacekeepers have been killed so far and many have been wounded. I would not say that all incidents were deliberate that but we are in a position to say that some were deliberate attacks. All of these incidents are being investigated. And IDF has indicated that they will proceed the investigations as well." He said that the UN have visual evidence that some attacks were deliberate and those came from IDF. "We have protested all the incidents. Whether deliberate incidents or those that were not deliberate. Our duty is to remind all parties in the conflict that the safety of UN peacekeepers is an international obligation."

About situation in Palestine, he said that There UN have three peacekeeping missions in the region - one in South Lebonon, one on Golden Heights and one based in Jerusalem. "Lately, when operation started in Southern Lebanon, there was a request from Israel asking UN mission to vacate their position which Un decided not to vacate and UN peace mission kept holding these position as we have a commitment to UN mandate given by the UN Security Council. Lacroix said that though the UN peacekeepers intervention is limited, the stay in their position so that when the eventually ceasefire happens, they have to be ready to support the implementation of the political solution. "In the meantime, they carry out number of activities including by supporting the local population through medical help, movement of civilians, even sheltering civilians. In order to that, we have to keep a liaison with both parties."