26 Mar 2012

UN / PEACEKEEPING

Top UN peacekeeping officials told the told the Security Council today that building lasting peace required helping national institutions reach a point where they could maintain a sufficient level of stability and security and that careful preparations were needed to ensure their survival after mission drawdown. The Council also issued a Presidential Statement on the Sahel region and called for the restoration of constitutional order in Mali. UNTV

Posted at: March 26, 2012 1:52 pm

Duration: 02:47

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / PEACEKEEPING
TRT:  2.47
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
 
DATELINE: 26 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
 
SHOTLIST:
 
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
 
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
 
26 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY
 
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations: 
"Efforts to build peace will continue long after a peacekeeping mission has left a country. As peacekeepers, we have a responsibility towards countries emerging from conflict to help secure a peace, a peace that will endure without our presence."
5. Cutaway, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations:
"Building peace means helping national institutions reach a point where they are able to maintain a sufficient level of stability and security, in particular through respect for the rule of law and human rights. It also means that these national institutions are sufficiently representative so that they can maintain the consensus necessary to advance the peacebuilding process. Peace is more likely to be sustained if tangible progress is also made to address basic needs and advance economic recovery."
7. Cutaway, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations:
"No matter how much progress a country has made towards building peace, we have to be mindful that the departure of a peacekeeping mission can be expected to raise anxieties, and may be destabilising in and of itself. Building confidence between the host government, key national stakeholders and the international community and clearly articulating the facts of a transition through continued dialogue and communication strategies is critical to a successful drawdown planning." 
9. Cutaway, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Susanna Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, United Nations: 
"In many countries, peacekeeping missions provide major support to national authorities with regard to infrastructure maintenance, transport and logistics among others. As with our efforts in peacebuilding, we have to work with our national counterparts to prepare for the impact that mission drawdown is likely to have on national resources, capacities and budgets."
11. Cutaway, delegates 
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations: 
"The Security Council condemns the acts initiated and carried out by mutinous troops against the democratically elected government and demands that they cease all violence and return to their barracks. The Security Council calls for the restoration of constitutional order and the holding of elections as previously scheduled." 
13. Med shot, delegations
14. Wide shot, Security Council meeting ends.

STORYLINE:

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous told the Security Council today that United Nations (UN) peacekeepers have a responsibility towards countries emerging from conflict to help secure "a peace that will endure without our presence."

He stressed that building peace meant helping national institutions reach a point where they are able to maintain a sufficient level of stability and security, in particular through respect for the rule of law and human rights.

"Peace is more likely to be sustained if tangible progress is also made to address basic needs and advance economic recovery," he said.

He said that regardless of how much progress a country has made towards building peace, the departure of a peacekeeping mission could be expected to raise anxieties, and "may be destabilising in and of itself."

In that context, he said building confidence between the host government, key national stakeholders and the international community, as well as clearly articulating the facts of a transition through continued dialogue, was critical for drawdown planning.

Echoing those comments, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Susana Malcorra emphasized that peacekeeping missions often provide major support to national authorities with regard to infrastructure maintenance, transport and logistics, and preparations with national counterparts were needed to address the likely impact of a mission drawdown on national resources, capacities and budgets.

Also today, the United Kingdom's Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who holds the Council presidency for March, read out a Presidential Statement on the Sahel region in which the 15-member body condemned the "acts initiated and carried out by mutinous troops against the democratically elected government" in Mali. Demanding that the rebels cease all violence and return to their barracks, the Council called for the restoration of constitutional order and the holding of elections as previously scheduled.

In that statement, the Council also called for efforts to resolve the larger crisis in the Sahel region based on an integrated strategy for immediate and long-term needs, encompassing security, development and humanitarian issues.