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Parliamentary support key for improving UN peace operations - Annan

Parliamentary support key for improving UN peace operations - Annan

The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has urged an international organization of lawmakers to work for more coherent and far-sighted global strategies, and advocate improvements in UN peacekeeping operations.

"As the institutional bridge between the state and civil society, as the link between the local and the global, you are uniquely well-placed to work for a United Nations that is more effective and more responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people you represent," the Secretary-General said in a message to a seminar on "Strengthening United Nations Peace Operations," organized by Parliamentarians for Global Action in New Delhi from 2 to 3 March.

Recalling the recommendations put forward on Mr. Annan's request by a panel on UN peace operations led by Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi - the so-called Brahimi Report - the Secretary-General noted that many of the proposals required legislative approval, action or additional resources. "That is where you, as parliamentarians, have a crucial role to play," the Secretary-General said.

Mr. Annan also stressed that there was an acute need for increased support from the legislators' Governments for peace operations once they were mandated, in terms of well-equipped and trained troops, police and civilian personnel, as well as more flexible administrative and financial rules and regulations that promoted operational effectiveness.

The Secretary-General's message was delivered by the Director of the UN Information Centre in New Delhi, Feodor Starcevic, who also conveyed a statement on behalf of Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, on the lessons learned, status of implementation of the Brahimi Report and the future of UN peacekeeping operations.