UN Security Council reforms peacekeeping operation

UN General Assembly

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on reforming its peacekeeping operation.

As CGTN’s Liling Tan reports, there’s growing pressure to make peacekeeping more efficient and relevant.

“First, we must recognize the ‘primacy of politics’ so that peace operations are deployed in support of active diplomatic efforts, not as a substitute,” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

With the new resolution adopted to fix U.N. peacekeeping, world leaders hope to undertake reforms to fix how U.N. missions are planned, deployed and tasked to keep the peace.

U.N. peacekeeping, which now numbers more than 110,000 personnel deployed across 16 missions, has long come under pressure for its inefficiencies, and multiple sex abuse scandals.

“Member States are now certifying, prior to deployment, that none of their personnel has a history of misconduct or human rights violations. The Secretariat also vets certain senior personnel,” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

There have been many discussions over the years on reforming the system. Now this resolution aims to turn words into action.

“It is important that peacekeeping reform should help foster a safe and stable environment in host countries, that can facilitate sustainable development and the elimination of poverty and other root causes of conflict,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

While much of the pressure for reform has come from the U.S., which is the biggest funder of UN peacekeeping, China is also a major contributor.

It is the second-largest financier to U.N. peacekeeping, and the biggest contributor of troops among the permanent five members of the Security Council.