Canada and the CANZ Group Call for a Consensus on Robust Peacekeeping, the Protection of Civilians and Peacebuilding

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) met on October 27 to continue its general debate on the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects. In his statement to the Committee, Canada's representative -– on behalf of the CANZ group (Canada, Australia, New Zealand) -– stressed the need for a consensus from member states on robust peacekeeping, the protection of civilians and peacebuilding.

With regards to robust peacekeeping, CANZ's statement underlined that in order to ensure that the mission objectives established by the Security Council can be met, Member States need to come to a shared understanding on the tasks peacekeepers may be expected to perform, and what implications robust peacekeeping may have on operational requirements.

On the issue of the protection of civilians, CANZ reiterated its concerns that military and police personnel tasked to protect civilians do not have appropriate guidance to effectively implement protection mandates.  CANZ requested that DPKO, in consultation with the wider UN community, commence developing operational guidelines and training standards, as a matter of priority, to assist mission personnel to effectively implement protection mandates.

On peacebuilding, the CANZ group stated that the development of indicators and benchmarks of progress is required to form the basis of a transition policy that would clarify when and how a peacekeeping mission evolves into a peacebuilding one.

Click here to read the full statement