What's In Blue

Posted Sun 25 Mar 2012

Briefing and Consultations on Peacekeeping

On Monday (26 March) the Council is scheduled to receive a briefing from Hervé Ladsous, head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), followed by consultations. The UK, as Council President this month, has initiated this briefing and suggested that the focus be the Council’s role in transitions in peacekeeping and the need to have a better understanding of peacebuilding activities. It is likely that one of the areas that Ladsous will cover is the need to encourage dialogue between the Secretariat, the host country and the Council. (These peacekeeping briefings were initiated following the August 2009 presidential statement, (S/PRST/2009/24) which encouraged discussions on peacekeeping with DPKO and the Department of Field Support.)

It appears that one of the aims of this discussion is to encourage Council members to think strategically beyond the 12-month mandate cycle and focus on the end-game for peacekeeping missions. With this in mind, Council members may tackle the question of whether more information on peacebuilding activities on the ground may be useful in helping them make informed decisions on drawing down a peacekeeping operation and how best to get that information.

Another area that could be covered is the Council’s relationship with peacebuilding bodies, ECOSOC and governing councils and boards of the World Bank and UN agencies. Members who believe that the Council should not get involved in development issues are likely to be wary of increasing the Council’s interaction with these peacebuilding actors.

While some members agree that this is an important topic and deserves the Council’s attention, there is a sense that given the complexity of the issue perhaps more than one discussion will be needed. It remains to be seen if this issue will be taken up for further discussion either at future peackeeping briefings or by the Working Group on Peacekeeping.

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