Checked Against Delivery
Thank you to the French presidency for convening this debate.
Let me also thank Secretary-General Guterres for his briefing and recommendations and of course for the review report we received last month.
And I welcome His Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama to the council.
Colleagues,
Peacekeeping is, at its heart, not about mandates, missions, measures or benchmarks.
It is about people.
It is about the brave women and men who serve under the UN flag, at extraordinary personal risks, to protect lives and support peace.
It is about the civilians, whose safety and dignity, are the very reason the blue helmets are mandated by this Council.
It is also with this conviction that Denmark has, together with Pakistan, sought to keep UN peace operations high on the Council’s agenda during our Council tenure.
To recognise their strengths, to address their shortcomings and to make them fit for the future.
Mr. President,
The fact that no new UN peacekeeping operation has been mandated since 2014 should not be mistaken for a decline in relevance.
UN peacekeeping remains essential to maintain international peace and security.
What has declined, and what should be revitalised, is this Council’s political will to deploy them, adapt them and rethink them.
Secretary-General,
Denmark welcomes your call for a reset. But a reset should not mean a retreat. It should mean ensuring that the UN has the best tools, political strategies and partnerships to act.
To this end, allow me to focus on four key areas.
First, peacekeeping must remain firmly anchored in a political strategy with a clear end-state.
It should create and preserve the conditions for inclusive political solutions, protect civilians and support peace processes.
It is an endeavour encompassing this Council, but also the Secretary-General and the Secretariat.
In the Council, we must establish clear, achievable mandates, and provide the political backing necessary for peace operations to implement them.
We should not simply reproduce existing texts. Every renewal should offer an opportunity to assess objectives, capabilities and the political strategy and where necessary, realign them with realities on the ground.
From the Secretariat, we need comprehensive planning across components and all levels, frank analysis and early warnings, including when existing mandates or configurations are no longer viable.
We need to assess and act on risks, rather than avoid a difficult conversation.
We welcome the suggestions for enhanced use of fact-finding missions, good offices and mediation. The Secretary-General can play an important role in leveraging these tools.
Second, Mr. President,
Mandates must better reflect the realities on the ground.
Conflicts are becoming increasingly regional, particularly in Africa. We should strengthen the capacity of missions to address regional conflict dynamics and make better use of regional offices, envoys and partnerships with regional organisations.
However, regionalisation should not mean outsourcing responsibility. The UN’s universal legitimacy and its unique ability to mobilise and deploy multinational capacities remain a major comparative advantage.
Third,
Effective peacekeeping requires effective and honest relationships with those most concerned.
This includes genuine dialogue with host countries and parties to a conflict, meaningful engagement with troop- and police-contributing countries, and stronger cooperation with regional actors and the wider UN system.
National ownership is essential, but so is host-state compliance with the obligations that underpin a mission’s mandate. Restrictions on the freedom of movement of UN peacekeepers are unacceptable.
We must also ensure that attacks against peacekeepers are not met with impunity as clearly reconfirmed in resolution 2823 – and thank you for highlighting that Mr. Secretary General – co-led by Denmark and Pakistan and adopted unanimously in this Council with a record number of co-sponsorships as the Permanent Representative of Pakistan just mentioned. Perpetrators of crimes against peacekeepers must be held accountable.
Fourth, we must be realistic about resources.
Denmark fully supports greater efficiency, accountability and cost-effectiveness. But efficiency cannot become a justification for hollowing out missions to the point where they can no longer deliver on their political objectives.
Mr. President, in closing,
The challenge before us is not to preserve peacekeeping as it was, nor to replace it with new models for their own sake.
It is to ensure that, when the Security Council chooses to act, the United Nations has the mandate, the capabilities and the resources to make that action count.
That is the essence of a genuine reset: not a lower ambition for UN peacekeeping, but a better targeted and more politically effective ambition.
With people always at its core.
Denmark remains fully engaged to make that ambition a reality.
I thank you.
