On Tuesday 25 September, European Council President Donald Tusk called for the adoption of the measures proposed by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the reform of peacekeeping operations.
According to a UN press release, Guterres launched the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) in order to renew mutual political commitment to these operations via the development of a series of principles and commitments agreed by common accord with a view to creating peacekeeping operations adapted to the future, the objective being to reach an official agreement before the end of 2018.
"The measures proposed by the secretary general are urgent and the time for such actions has come", Tusk said at a high-level event organised on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. He added that "UN peacekeeping must become far more effective and efficient so as to confront the new conflicts and crises that arise every day around the world".
Tusk also called on the UN member countries to contribute their share to the financing of the operations, saying that the EU would "continue to play an active and constructive role in the negotiations on the budget". In July, 193 UN member countries had agreed to grant $6.689 to the 15 or so peace operations currently managed by the UN (in other words, around 100,000 military) for the 2018-19 period. The financial experts wanted another $122 million. For 2017-18, the budget stood at $7.3 billion.
Strengthening cooperation
The EU has committed to strengthening its cooperation with the UN in the field of peacekeeping. "The Union wants to see greater emphasis on political solutions, prevention and an integrated approach to interventions", Tusk said.
Eight new common priorities have been listed for 2019-21: (1) establish a UN-EU collaborative platform on women, peace and security; (2) strengthen cooperation between missions and operations in the field; (3) assess how best to act in complementarity during the planning and execution of transitions of missions and operations; (4) further facilitate EU member states' contributions and support to UN peace operations; (5) support conflict prevention and political processes and solutions; (6) intensify cooperation on policing, the rule of law and security sector reform; (7) enhance cooperation with African-led peace operations; (8) strengthen cooperation on training and capacity building.
"These priorities (...) seek to ensure complementarity and enhance synergies between UN and EU missions and operations. Key cross-cutting aspects include human rights and fundamental freedoms, ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law, and implementing the women, peace and security agenda", the joint EU-UN declaration states. It adds that "these priorities form part of the broader EU-UN partnership where we will continue to engage together in promoting multilateralism and a rules-based order as the most effective way for addressing pressing global challenges". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)