UN officials sign agreement stressing human rights in peacekeeping operations

The top United Nations officials for human rights and peacekeeping today signed a cooperative agreement that stresses respect for civil liberties as fundamental to the promotion of peace and security.

“I would like to see my Office much more involved in the search for peaceful solutions and in peace negotiations, in practical terms,” Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, explained in Geneva at the signing, which also involved the Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno. “And we should also participate actively in the implementation of peace agreements.”

In strengthening and expanding their cooperation, the agreement calls for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the High Commissioner’s Office to “seek to establish, institutionalize and maximize the mutual exchange of expertise, advice, information, training and support, drawing upon their respective capacities and mandates.”

The signing of the agreement came as a one-week meeting of heads of human rights field presences closed. Also present was Danilo Türk, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs.