Jane Holl Lute, UN Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, recently gave a short, but compelling, view of the logistical difficulties inherent in peacekeeping and the difficult mandates given to UN peacekeepers. (Earlier we posted video from the same address on the role of women in post-conflict environments.) Having fought in the U.S. Army during the First Gulf War and lectured at West Point, Lute is thoroughly familiar with the security benefits that UN peacekeeping imparts to the American public and the rest of the world.
Although Lute doesn't make the connection in these videos, Mark Leon Goldberg, in a recent UNF Insights piece, discussed how growing U.S. arrears to UN peacekeeping are making the already difficult jobs of UN peacekeepers even harder and how "if this trend is sustained, ongoing missions will suffer, and some of the newly proposed missions, such as Darfur, could starve before they ever get off the ground." As the U.S. continues to face significant global security threats, it would be wise for Congressional appropriators, as they tackle the supplemental and look toward FY08 appropriations, to consider UN peacekeeping's benefits to U.S. security, the difficulties inherent in maintaining the peace in 18 conflict zones around the world, and the debilitating effects of denying proper funding. For those of you who are interested, the Better World Campaign has created tailor-made letters that you can send to your member of Congress.
Complex logistics of UN peacekeeping | Difficult mandates given to UN peacekeepers. |
A police workshop in Italy is the UN's latest effort to attract more women into the force. The 4-day conference at the UN Training Centre will bring together 30 gender experts from the UN and elsewhere to strategize on ways to encourage Member States to provide more female officers.
Progress has been made over the last two years in attracting more female officers into the UN Police, including the recent introduction into Liberia of an all-female specialized unit, but while the Peacekeeping Department's (DPKO) Police Adviser Mark Kroeker is full of praise for all his officers worldwide - both men and women, he says the current figure of just 6 per cent of the force made up of female officers is unacceptable.The Peacekeeping Department's (DPKO) Police Adviser Mark Kroeker said, "I am extremely gratified by the increase in the numbers of women who serve in police components in UN missions. But this is way too few. Our attempts at getting our Members States to contribute police are difficult but the attempts in addition to add women to their contribution, this is almost impossible: we need to have women police officers so that we send the signal that women are co-equals in police work and that's the way it should be because they're available for every assignment as every man is in policing." More
Various news agencies are reporting that the on-going six party talks in Beijing were able to resolve the thorny issue of the $25 million of North Korean assets frozen in a Macau bank at the behest of the United States. Until yesterday, this hiccup threatened to derail the talks. But after receiving assurances that the funds will be used for humanitarian purposes, the United States relented. For now, the negotiations are proceeding slowly, but steadily.
However, one of the next issues to be tackled in the six party framework will likely be the most difficult of them all. According to the New York Times, negotiators are trying to set up a working group to investigate claims that North Korea has(or had)a secret uranium enrichment program separate from the well-known plutonium facility in Yongbyon.
In January, Dispatch reported on inflated allegations that United Nations Development Program funds were being converted widely into hard currency to the benefit of the North Korean government. In response to these allegations UNDP moved swiftly, responsibly, and comprehensively to review the concerns expressed by member states. Ultimately, these efforts led to the suspension of certain operations in North Korea.
UNDP's handling of the situation has been widely praised, but that hasn't stopped some from reraking the muck in an attempt to discredit the agency.
A high-level mission to Darfur--led by Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-landmine campaigner--has told the Human Rights Council that the abuses in Darfur continue.
[She] told the Council that ineffective justice mechanisms, the free flow of weapons and a climate of impunity meant Darfur had become a stranger to the rule of law. She said civilians had become the main target in the conflict, which has also exacerbated the underlying social and economic deprivation in Darfur.More than 200,000 have been killed and 2 million displaced since 2003. More
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced yesterday Jan Egeland's return to the United Nations. From 2003-2006, Egeland was the high profile undersecretary general for Humanitarian Affairs and now it seems his experience will be put to use in a new initiative to bolster the UN's conflict mediation services. The position is a project of the Department of Political Affairs, now run by the American former ambassador to Indonesia, Lynn Pascoe, and is intended to create a team of peace negotiators and technical advisors that can be quickly dispatched around the world.
More.