International Day of UN Peacekeepers

High Commissioner,
Major General Lund,
Mr. Attar-Bayrou,
Ms. Lüssi Umuhoza,
Excellencies,
Peacekeepers,
Ladies and gentlemen:

Welcome to today’s event to mark the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, which is dedicated this year to the topic of “Investing in peace around the world”.

It is my great pleasure to share with you a video message the Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, has prepared for this occasion.

[Video message is presented on the screens]

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Secretary-General’s video message underscores the many ways in which our dedicated peacekeepers invest in peace in the various conflicts around the globe. Now more than ever, it is essential that we all support their work.

Strengthening and facilitating the work of UN peacekeepers has been the aim of the Secretary-General’s efforts to reform the UN’s peace and security strategy, functioning and architecture.

The security environment has been undergoing tremendous change, change that requires a United Nations that is more pragmatic and flexible in applying the entire spectrum of available measures, including good offices, mediation, arbitration and peace operations. The Secretary-General has called for a “surge in diplomacy for peace”, with Member States in the lead and the UN System as catalyst, convenor, bridge-builder and honest broker.

Existing approaches to peace and security have been almost entirely focused on conflict management. Far more time and resources have been invested in responding to crises rather than preventing them. Peacekeeping missions consume about 70% of the organization’s ordinary budget. We need a change in mindset, moving from a reactive mode to preventing conflicts from erupting or spinning out of control in the first place. The Secretary-General has therefore declared prevention as his first priority.

To further improve the current system, he has established an Internal Review Team and we are expecting its results in a few days. The Team is taking into account existing proposals, including those of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations, the Review of the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture, as well as the Global Study on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325.

The Internal Review Team is also looking at interlinkages between the United Nations System’s peace and security pillar with the development and human rights pillars. The success or failure of the United Nations’ work on peace and security is closely intertwined with the roll out of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. There is no doubt that reaching the development and human rights-related Sustainable Development Goals would be a game-changer on the way to long-term, sustainable peace. At the same time, safeguarding peace and resolving conflict are prerequisites to achieving the development and rights-related SDGs. In that spirit, we need to invest in a continuum of measures, from prevention, conflict resolution and peacekeeping to peacebuilding and sustainable development.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Secretary-General has vowed to make 2017 a year for peace. The more than 113,000 troops, police and civilian personnel currently deployed around the world will be instrumental in this effort. I sincerely thank them for their personal investment in bringing about and keeping peace. Since the deployment of the first peacekeepers, more than 3,500 of them have paid the ultimate price for this commitment. Our thoughts today are with them and their families and also with the countless women, men and children they have been trying to protect and who continue to suffer from the consequences of conflict and strife. We owe it to all of them to make conflict prevention and reform of the UN’s peace and security architecture a reality.

I am very happy that today’s panel will further discuss how this ambitious agenda can be achieved and I look forward to the deliberations.

Thank you all for being here with us today.

Thank you very much.