International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

Ladies and Gentlemen
Dear Friends:


It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Palais des Nations today for our commemoration of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. First of all, I should like to thank the Soldiers of Peace International Association for their contribution to our events here today and our panellists for being with us to share their views and experiences. I am sure that we will have some enriching – and hopefully thought-provoking – exchanges.

Let me start this roundtable discussion by delivering to you the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan’s, message for this international day:

“Last year, the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers was inaugurated to commemorate more than half a century of dedication and sacrifice by peacekeepers serving under the UN’s blue flag around the world to build confidence, reconcile warring parties and relieve suffering. Alas, the past 12 months have given us many more such sacrifices to mourn.

Every one of these sacrifices commands our deep respect. They should also inspire us. We must continue to strive, as those brave peacekeepers did, to make it possible for the community of nations to live in peace.

Today, more than 53,000 uniformed personnel and at least 11,000 civilian staff from 94 countries serve in 15 missions across the globe. Those numbers are likely to increase: the Security Council has just approved an operation for Burundi, and another is being planned for Sudan.

The growth in missions is a welcome sign that many countries are choosing a healthier path as they emerge from violent conflicts. But it places enormous strain on our existing resources. I urge Member States to provide the additional peacekeepers that will be needed, and the resources to go with them.

Peacekeeping has long since evolved beyond its traditional role as a monitor of ceasefires. Today, UN missions engage in such tasks as assisting political transitions, building institutions, fostering the spread of the rule of law, supporting economic reconstruction, supervising elections, disarming militias and former combatants, facilitating humanitarian aid programmes and re-settling refugees and displaced persons.

In Liberia and Sierra Leone, peacekeepers are disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating former combatants from two brutal civil wars. In Timor-Leste, they are helping a fledgling nation take its first steps and build national institutions. In Western Sahara, they have helped organize the first contacts between some refugees and their families in nearly 30 years.

Peacekeeping missions can never end wars by themselves. But they do offer the best possible way of ensuring there is a sustainable peace. On the International Day for UN Peacekeepers, let us remember that the most expensive peacekeeping operation costs far less than the cheapest war. That is an investment well worth making.”

Before I give the floor to our distinguished panellists, I would like to add a few remarks of my own: In over 50 years of United Nations peacekeeping, our Blue Helmets have come to symbolize core principles and values of the Organization itself: commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes and to reconciliation; respect for the dignity of each human being and for their human rights; a deep sense of responsibility for fellow women and men; and a sense of duty towards succeeding generations. In serving the United Nations, our peacekeepers have inspired us with their courage, their determination and their commitment to protecting and helping their fellow human beings. They have won the respect and the trust of the international community and the people they serve with their integrity and professionalism.

United Nations peacekeeping continues to play a critical role in the maintenance of international peace and security. As the recent resolutions on Haiti, Cote d’Ivoire and Burundi demonstrate, peacekeeping is in greater demand than ever. As the Secretary-General mentioned in his message, over 53,000 troops, military observers and civilian police serve in the 15 current operations – the highest number of personnel since 1995.

At the same time, these operations are entrusted with ever-more complex and comprehensive mandates that go beyond the limited military functions of the traditional peacekeeping mission. This expansion of duties brings significant new challenges – not only to our Organization but also to the individual peacekeeper. It is a mark of the remarkable personal qualities and professional skills of our peacekeepers that they continuously rise to the challenge as role and mandates grow.

The development of the peacekeeping mandate also raises expectations – both on the part of the international community authorizing the mission and on the part of the communities that the peacekeepers are deployed to assist. Sometimes resources do not keep pace with these evolving mandates. We have a duty – as an international community – to show the same solidarity to our peacekeepers as they do on a daily basis to the people they protect and assist. We must enable them to carry out their functions as effectively as possible and strive to close any gap between expectation and capability.

This International Day provides us with a welcome opportunity to express our deep appreciation to our peacekeepers. We take great pride in their achievements in some of the most dangerous and difficult conflicts around the world. It is also an important opportunity to raise public awareness of the peacekeepers’ indispensable contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security. And it is an occasion for us to reflect on the nature of the current peacekeeping challenge and how we address it as effectively as possible. Communities in conflict look to us to meet that challenge and we owe it to them to do so.

We are fortunate to have with us today three panellists with extensive experience in peacekeeping: Mr. Laurent Attar-Bayrou, Professor Jean-Marc Turlure and Mr. Hany Abdel-Aziz. I am sure that they will offer interesting insights on our common peacekeeping challenge.

Thank you very much.