UN / PEACEKEEPING LACROIX PRESSER

STORY: UN / PEACEKEEPING LACROIX PRESSER
TRT: 1:46
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 25 MAY 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN headquarters

25 MAY 2023, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. Close up, photographer
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“Our peacekeepers, in spite of all the challenges, preserve ceasefires from collapse, from resumption of hostilities, in places such as southern Lebanon. And in spite of all the challenges that they're facing, particularly in the biggest operation in Africa, they protect every single day hundreds of thousands of civilians.”
5. Wide shot, press room dais
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“The first and the major challenge that we're facing is one that the UN is facing as a whole, which is the increased division amongst our membership. Because every single peacekeeping operation is a political undertaking, and it is aimed at supporting political efforts. But we're more likely much more likely to succeed in supporting these political processes, these political efforts, when we have united international community and united Security Council in particular.”
7. Wide shot, press room dais
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“We must think about whether and how the mandates of peacekeeping operations could evolve - and they have evolved significantly over the last decades - but I think we also need to emphasize and make more efforts towards what I call the more network multilateralism. Because these drivers of conflict that I'm talking about there are regional and global in nature, and most of our peacekeeping operations are deployed in a single country. So, we need to partner more with other entities within and beyond the UN system.”
9. Wide shot, press room dais, end of briefing

STORYLINE:

Peacekeeping Chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix today (25 May) said United Nations peacekeepers, despite challenges, “preserve ceasefires from collapse” and “protect every single day hundreds of thousands of civilians.”

Marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers Lacroix told reporters in New York that the main challenge faced by UN Peacekeeping, is “the increased division amongst our membership.”

The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations said, “every single peacekeeping operation is a political undertaking, and it is aimed at supporting political efforts. But we're more likely much more likely to succeed in supporting these political processes, these political efforts, when we have united international community and united Security Council in particular.”

Lacroix stressed the need to emphasize “network multilateralism” as drivers of conflict such as climate change, transnational crime and terrorism, “are regional and global in nature, and most of our peacekeeping operations are deployed in a single country.”

He said, “we need to partner more with other entities within and beyond the UN system.”

International Day of UN Peacekeepers was established by the UN General Assembly in 2002, to pay tribute to all men and women serving in peacekeeping, and to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.

The theme for this year’s observance, “Peace Begins with Me”, recognizes the contribution and efforts of UN peacekeepers alongside many partners including the communities that we serve to secure peace and progress.