Fourth Committee

STATEMENT BY COL LIM YOON BOON, MILITARY ADVISER, PERMANENT MISSION OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, AT THE FOURTH COMMITTEE OF THE 65th GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON AGENDA ITEM 53: COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE WHOLE QUESTION OF PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS IN ALL THEIR ASPECTS, 25 OCTOBER 2010

Mr Chairman

At the outset, I would like to thank Under Secretaries General Alain Le Roy and Susana Malcorra for progress report number 1 on the New Horizon initiative and their continued efforts to engage with Member States on the substantive agenda of peacekeeping reform this year. Such efforts engender open communication and trust, which are essential to build a collective vision and direction for peacekeeping operations.

The operating environment for peacekeeping continues to grow in complexity. The expectations of the international community and local populations of peacekeeping operations remain high. To ensure effective peacekeeping, strong backing from New York is important for sound policy advice and development, clear and achievable mandates, and the commitment of the necessary resources to ensure successful outcomes. It is against this backdrop that the Singapore delegation offers the following observations.

Peacekeeping/Peacebuilding Nexus

Sustainable peace and security can only be achieved when the root causes of the conflicts are addressed. This factor should guide the designers of peacekeeping operations, which should also be constructed using an integrated and holistic approach that addresses a range of goals from conflict prevention, peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction. All operations need to build a sense of ownership by the host country and the region because their support is critical to the success of operations on the ground, In this regard, it is important to prioritize socio-developmental reconstruction alongside the establishment of peace and security, as reconstruction can help to rebuild security in conflict-torn areas. To achieve this, relevant actors in peacekeeping operations have to engage more closely with the Peacebuilding Commission to build a firm nexus between the promotion and entrenchment of a resilient peace. Artificial walls that inhibit inter-divisional planning and coordination must be dismantled to pave the way for a more strategic, integrated and comprehensive approach to peacekeeping and peacebuilding. As highlighted in the Secretary General's report on "The Immediate Aftermath of the Conflict," the benefits of starting peacebuilding tasks from an early stage include a seamless transition to medium and long term capacity building in security and development.

Protection of Civilians

My delegation is gravely concerned over the increasing use of sexual violence against civilians in armed conflicts. The recent horrendous incident of mass-rapes of hundreds of civilians, highlighted once again, the critical and urgent need for the protection of civilians in conflict areas. Special attention must be focused on sexual and gender based violence, as their effects on victims and local communities are devastating and severely hamper national reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts. However, feedback from field visits to peacekeeping missions suggests that peacekeepers in the field were still unclear about what was expected of them in 'protection of civilian' tasks. They were also generally untrained in POC, and lacked the resources required to carry out such tasks. It is timely to provide clear 'protection of civilians' guidance to military peacekeepers, and the resources to ensure effective implementation of the protection of civilians. For a start, guidance should be provided to field commanders to initiate planning on 'protection of civilian' tasks from the outset of mission analysis. The need for a standardised operational concept is even more urgent, to effectively deliver on mandated protection activities. We therefore urge DPKO and DFS to hasten the completion of a draft operational concept on 'protection of civilians'.

Global Field Support Strategy.

My delegation supports and recognizes the importance of the Global Field Support Strategy (GFSS) proposed by the Department of Field Support (DFS). We are heartened by the good progress made by the DFS to galvanize support for the GFSS. The resulting momentum is a strong testament to the dedicated and consistent outreach program by USG Susan Malcorra and her team to engage Member States and forge a strong understanding of the new field support concepts.

However, much work remains to be done to make the GFSS a working reality. As we move forward to actualise the GFSS, my delegation would like to reiterate that the main desired outcome of the GFSS is to improve the quality and effectiveness of logistics support to UN peacekeeping operations. We recognise the heavy responsibility of DFS to provide logistics support at the right time, right place and right quantity to meet the many and different demands on the ground. We also understand there is no 'one size fits all solution' that will satisfy all needs. Nonetheless, if millions of dollars are to be invested in the GFSS, the investment by the international community can only be justified for a reasonable, transparent and effective system. The key outcomes that my delegation would like to see include enhanced welfare for logistics service staff and more importantly, improvements in the daily lives of peacekeepers who have selflessly put their lives on the line for the security of others. At the bare minimum, peacekeepers must physically experience an improvement in service delivery, availability and reliability of equipment for their daily work. In this regard, my delegation encourages the DFS to continue to actively engage Member States to ensure transparency in the procurement process, equal excess for all Member States to information and develop, together with Member States, a benchmark for service quality.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.