Chair, Excellencies, Ladies, and gentlemen,
Peace operations are, as the Pact for the Future states, critical tools to maintain international peace and security. Peacekeeping is also the most concrete and visible form of multilateralism and international solidarity. It is as true today as it was 60 years ago when the Special Committee on Peace Operations, C34, was founded. Peacekeeping Operations involve people from all corners of the world, together, on the ground, with a shared objective of contributing to peace.
Peacekeeping is, however, facing numerous challenges. The core of the special committee's work is to address these challenges and improve peacekeeping operations. The number of recommendations from member states this year indicates that reform and change is required.
A reoccurring topic in the C34- negotiations is integration – or rather lack thereof. All peace operations have a plan. However, most of these plans seem to be made bottom up more than top-down. Integration comes first at the end of the process rather than in the beginning. This is less than ideal. The situation is not surprising, as there is a lack of a dedicated organizational body for integrated peacekeeping planning, both in the UNHQ and at mission level. A dedicated capability with carefully selected competent planners would be a substantial improvement.
Protection of civilians is at the core of UN Peacekeeping. It is a task that is easy to understand but challenging for peacekeepers to take on. The threat to children and conflict related sexual violence is of special concern. The objective must be to proact rather than to react. Situational awareness through community engagement from all personnel in missions, peacekeeping-intelligence by qualified personnel, early warning systems and good use of technology can enable missions to anticipate and prevent threats to civilians before they happen. Furthermore, there is a prevalence of small arms in Conflict-Related Sexual Violence incidents. Arms control and disarmament instruments are therefore critical tools of prevention.
We believe all people should have equal chances to make a difference. The work to ensure women's full, equal, safe and meaningful participation in peacekeeping operations must remain an important priority for the Secretariat and peacekeeping missions. Missions must take appropriate steps to ensure gender responsive facilities and procedures. We further encourage all stakeholders to take steps to overcome barriers and identify good practices to increase women’s participation in the defense sector, in line with the findings of the United Nations Report Towards Equal Opportunity for Women in Defense Sector.
The increasing threat of mis- and disinformation and hate speech erodes trust and puts our peacekeepers at risk. We would applaud increased efforts to recruit personnel with the required skillset for positions that address mis- and disinformation. Furthermore, we encourage increased use of technological tools and data analysis to monitor and analyze mis- and disinformation trends. UN would benefit from partnerships with member states and commercial actors to find ways to better utilize new technology to improve peacekeeping.
Chair,
Norway is looking forward to engaging with fellow member states in constructive dialogue throughout the C34 negotiations on how we can make UN peacekeeping operations fit for purpose. We also look forward to the Secretary-General’s review of all forms of UN peace operations, which will be an important tool for us in developing this vital tool for international peace and security further. Our peacekeepers deserve our best efforts.
Thank you for your attention.