Global perspective Human stories

States must boost efforts to fill capability, personnel gaps in peacekeeping, UN official tells Security Council

Bintou Keita, Assistant Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations, addresses the Security Council.
Bintou Keita, Assistant Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations, addresses the Security Council.

States must boost efforts to fill capability, personnel gaps in peacekeeping, UN official tells Security Council

Partnership and resources are key to ensuring that every United Nations peacekeeping mission is supported by properly‑trained, well‑equipped and motivated troops and police, a senior UN peacekeeping official told the Security Council on Thursday, during its discussion on how best to fill critical capability gaps.

In her briefing, Bintou Keita, the Assistant Secretary‑General for Peacekeeping Operations, praised the Council for helping to fulfil current and future gaps by pledging and preparing new capabilities, and providing direct financial and political support to strategic force generation and training efforts.

Further, the Council had demonstrated its commitment to strategic force generation by adopting resolution 2378 (2017), she said, calling on it to continue its leadership role by ensuring that mandates were matched with appropriate resources.

Turning to the role of police‑ and troop‑contributing countries, she asked that they remain flexible and adaptive in the capabilities they provided. Critical training such as e‑learning programmes on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse should be further supported by Member States and included as part of mandatory pre‑deployment training for all uniformed personnel.

Member States should continue to invest in more sustained training initiatives, as well as better equipment to maintain United Nations standards and adapt to new operating environments. Cautioning against one‑off training just before deployment, she said it was necessary to focus on all the aspects, including training, equipment and gender balance.

She reassured the Council that the Secretariat would further enhance its ongoing work in strategic force generation and targeted training support. Regional and subregional organizations, including the African Union and the European Union, could also play an integral role.

“We are working closely with these organizations and their Member States to ensure that United Nations peacekeeping standards were understood and adhered to,” she said.