
USUN PRESS RELEASE # 17 (02)
February 12, 2002
Statement by Ambassador Richard S. Williamson, Alternate U.S.
Representative to the UN for Special Political Affairs, in the general debate in the UN Special Committee on
Peacekeeping Operations, February 12, 2002
Mr. Chairman, I join with others to congratulate the Chairman and other
members of the bureau on their re-election. I particularly note, with appreciation,
Ambassador Duval's continued failure to carry through on his intentions to make each
successive chairmanship of the Working Group of this Committee his last.
I wish to thank the Secretary-General for his report, and Under
Secretary-General Guéhenno for his thoughtful and thought-provoking remarks. I look forward
to the Secretariat's briefings in the coming weeks, and to the Secretariat's input into
our discussions.
On behalf of the United States, I would like to thank all of our
colleagues in this committee who work to advance peacekeeping at the UN. And, as all of
you here know:
Now, I believe, we have entered a phase of consolidation and
implementation. As member states, we have a responsibility to ensure that our resources
are adequate, and that they are used efficiently and effectively. This committee has a
critical role to play in realizing that the core goal we all share - ensuring the
peacekeeping capacity of the United Nations - is achieved through the changes that we have
initiated and supported.
In the remarks of other delegations, I was pleased to hear the positive
references to the consultation process initiated under Security Council resolution 1353.
Admittedly, many of these meetings have not been riveting. Nonetheless, I think we can
welcome the beginnings of a fair and inclusive process. All of us -- troop contributors,
financial supporters, Secretariat representatives, Security Council members -- will want
to ensure that, over time, we make these meetings an efficient means of exchanging
information.
I am also pleased to hear the positive comments on the "new
mechanism" of consultation adopted by the Security Council in January. The U.S. sees
this mechanism as complementary to meetings held under 1353, and we welcome the leadership
of Norway's Ambassador Strommen as Chair of the Security Council's Working Group on
Peacekeeping and look to him to set a defining course for the use of this mechanism. We
envision, of course, that its use will be limited to times of particular necessity. We
agree with others who advocate allowing time for both mechanisms to develop. In our
opinion, a formal review in the near future would be counterproductive.
This session of the Special Committee will, like others before it, address
the heart of on-going UN peacekeeping concerns.
I look forward to Assistant Secretary-General Sheehan's presentation on
Sustainable Deployment Stocks in Brindisi. My government assumes that planning for one
complex peacekeeping mission will be a good starting point from which we might build upon
later. We also would encourage the Secretary-General to include in future reports to this
Committee an overview of the activities in Brindisi. After all, it is the expertise
resident in this Committee that will be able to appreciate and evaluate the effectiveness
of the Brindisi standby deployment stocks on peacekeeping operations.
My government continues to believe in the usefulness of an Information
and Strategic Analysis System - ISAS. We welcome the recommendation of this Committee to
establish such a unit. We continue to believe that the proper placement of this unit
within the UN system will be the key to its success. To be effective in providing
peacekeeping operations with the best, most complete, information, we believe that the
unit must be placed above all of the UN Departments that would contribute information to
it.
Other colleagues have mentioned the necessity of addressing the
preparation of peacekeepers not only for the tasks they will be expected to perform, but
also for the physical conditions they will encounter. With respect to diseases
peacekeepers may encounter, my government agrees that a review of DPKO training procedures
on this topic is worthwhile. We would encourage it, and specifically welcome comments on
programs that raise the level of HIV/AIDS awareness and reduce risky behaviours among UN
peacekeepers, as well as efforts to measure the effectiveness of programs.
As this Committee looks at past and present peacekeeping operations, and
contemplates the structure and function of future peacekeeping missions, all of us
recognize the interrelationships among peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and conflict
prevention. Clearly, the member states and Secretariat representatives who participate in
this Committee have knowledge and experience which must be incorporated into any serious
discussion of these issues. In very practical terms, with each new peacekeeping operation,
we will have to address the question of where peacekeeping ends and peacebuilding begins.
What we must not do, however, is allow the availability of peacekeeping support funds to
tempt us into extending the definition of peacekeeping into peacebuilding activities, or
even further into conflict prevention and reconstruction. In short, we must not, even with
the best of intentions, make the mistake of substituting our judgment on matters which are
the expertise of other organs of the United Nations.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your time and attention.