Swedish statement at the UN Security Council Briefing on UN peacekeeping operations

Thank you, Madam President,

Let me begin by thanking the three briefers for their valuable perspectives and of course Under-Secretary-General Lacroix for your briefing and Madam President, to you for offering this platform for today's discussion.

Madam President,

We welcome the renewed efforts, spearheaded by the Secretary-General, to strengthen peacekeeping, and to move from words to action in making peace operations fit for the 21st century.

We, the members of the Security Council, needs to play our part in this process. This entails giving realistic mandates and adequate resourcing for the missions – but also putting political pressure on all key actors and supporting the broader UN system's efforts.

UN Cooperation with regional and sub-regional organisations must also be enhanced.

Listening to our three Force Commanders, it is clear that immense challenges remain, and we know that the peacekeeping environment today is more complex and high-risk than ever before.

Madam President,

In our own experience from MINUSMA, peacekeeping-intelligence is vital for informed decisions and operational planning. It is also crucial that missions are able and ready to act upon information received.

It is also important to have a thorough selection process for senior mission leadership and military and police commanders. The evaluation of leaders needs to improve and special attention should be given to willingness to act, to take initiative and to assume responsibility.

In addition, uniformed units must have the right training, skills and equipment to be able to protect civilians, themselves and deliver on mandates. This requires support for capacity building and better reporting on underperformance.

Madam President,

We strongly support efforts to prevent and combat sexual exploitation and abuse within the UN system. Proper gender mainstreaming and implementation of the women, peace and security agenda also requires adequate funding.

Madam President,

Let me now end by focusing on the questions to our briefers.

So my first question will go to all of you:

• What do you think needs to be done by the Secretariat, the missions and the TCCs to enhance the percentage of female personnel, both uniformed and civilian, in missions?

My second question goes to Lieutenant General Ngondi, from UNAMID:

• Given the task of protecting civilians that are the biggest challenges you face as a commander to deliver on the mandate, how do you address these? How are conditions affected by on-going re-configuration of the mission?

My third question goes to Major General Deconinck:

• Could you please elaborate on current challenges faced in protecting hospitals, health care facilities and personnel against attacks? And, to document and report on these attacks? Is the mission's mandate and resources sufficient for it to carry out these tasks?

And my fourth question is to Lieutenant General Kamanzi:

• UNMISS, together with MONUSCO, is a mission that has a more flexible and effective brigade unit. In some regions, we have also seen regional reserves that - on short notice - can be moved between missions. What would you say are the pros and cons with these more flexible and robust units as brigades or regional reserves?

Thank you.