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Security Council boosts coordination with States contributing to UN peacekeeping

Security Council boosts coordination with States contributing to UN peacekeeping

The Security Council today adopted a series of measures aimed at improving its cooperation with countries that contribute troops, military observers or civilian police to United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Unanimously adopting a seven-page resolution, the Council set out principles governing its cooperation with troop-contributing countries and pledged to follow-up on its actions. In addition, the resolution elaborates specific procedures for enhancing consultations between the Council and troop contributors, paving the way for greater communication on issues of mutual concern.

"This is a major, major resolution changing the relationship between the troop-contributing countries, the Security Council and the Secretariat," said the current President of the Council, Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh. "We have now agreed that the troop-contributing countries can join the Security Council members in a private meeting to discuss the preparation of the mandate for a peacekeeping mission, to discuss their own contribution, to discuss all elements of a peacekeeping mission which was not previously possible."

"There is a closer collaboration and involvement with the troop-contributing countries that will be shaped up through this resolution," he added.

In a statement of principles contained in the text, the Council underlines the importance of bilateral and international cooperation in the area of training, logistics and equipment to help ensure that peacekeepers are able to fulfil their tasks. The Council also underscores the importance of ensuring that national contingents participating in UN peacekeeping operations receive support from the Secretariat, which must be given sufficient resources for that purpose.

In a measure geared towards long-range planning, the statement of principles underlines "the need to maintain a comprehensive approach to improving the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations from their conception, including in preparing contingency plans for volatile situations and promoting cohesive exit strategies."

The resolution also provides a set of operational measures designed to draw on past experience and promote future efficiency. For example, the Council requests the Secretary-General to convene assessment meetings "at appropriate stages of each peacekeeping operation as a part of his efforts to draw the lessons that can be learned, which should be taken into account in the conduct and planning of current and future operations."

Regarding follow-up, the Council pledges to conduct an assessment of the effectiveness of its meetings with troop-contributing countries within six months. The resolution also requests the Council's Working Group for Peacekeeping Operations to conduct, within six months, its own assessment of the new measures.

Today's Council action forms part of an ongoing bid to improve the coherence and managerial efficiency of UN peacekeeping operations. Far-reaching recommendations towards this end were proposed last year in the Report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations. Commissioned by the Secretary-General, the Panel of 10 experts was chaired by former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi.