FIDH Position Paper on UN peacekeeping reforms

28/09/2015
Press release
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(New-York) In view of the UN Peacekeeping Summit, which will be co-hosted by President Barack Obama and Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on 28 September, FIDH calls on member states to commit themselves to improving the protection of civilians in peace missions. At the summit, world leaders are expected to discuss needed reforms to UN peacekeeping to ensure it keeps pace with current challenges. Several nations are expected to offer more troops, equipment, and greater intelligence resources to UN peacekeeping missions.

In its Position Paper on needed reforms, FIDH calls for properly trained and equipped troops with the political will to put themselves in harm’s way in order to defend civilians from the threat of imminent physical violence. FIDH also urges troop-contributing countries to eliminate caveats, which significantly hinders a mission’s ability to protect civilians and calls for the UN Secretariat to monitor troop performance and hold them accountable when they fail to take action to defend and protect civilians.

“The UN Peacekeeping Summit is a good opportunity to remind member states that accountability for misconduct and sexual abuse by UN troops must be a priority. The Security Council should strengthen human rights components in peace missions by requiring them to regularly produce public human rights reports and enhance their cooperation with the ICC.”
Karim Lahidji, FIDH President

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