YouSaid · the spoken record

Dahinden

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13
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2003-11-13
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2003-11-13
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “Mr. Dahinden: Thank you very much, Mr. President, for your kind words. I would also very much like to thank the other members of the Security Council for their positive comments and references to my briefing and to the work of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining. During this debate I have been particularly pleased that the international mine action standards that we are preparing under a mandate from the United Nations have been found useful, and that many comments have been made to the effect that they are being well applied. Much of what I said might have sounded very technical to the members of the Council; but the objectives are of course not. This is about saving lives, permitting operations to take place properly, reducing human suffering and promoting social and economic development.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  2. “Information-management and international standards, and also a better understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the military in such situations, can significantly improve the effectiveness of mine action and can contribute to a smooth transition. That is what the Geneva Centre is committed to achieve in partnership with the United Nations, and we stand ready to assist as required.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  3. “The destruction of stockpiled mines by States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti- personnel Mines and on Their Destruction has usually been completed successfully by their own military forces. The recent global experience in crisis- management and peacekeeping operations has shown that all these emergencies involve a wide range of different actors. It has also proven that the overall success of an operation depends largely on the capability to manage a smooth transition to the post- conflict phase as the international military presence is dismantled.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  4. “The study found that military expertise in breaching minefields is not easily transposed to humanitarian demining, where nothing less than 100 per cent clearance is acceptable if land is to be returned safely to civilian populations. While the military are able to provide warnings to civilians about the dangers of mines and unexploded ordnance, they are not well prepared to undertake ongoing community-based awareness and education campaigns. In general, military peacekeeping troops have not carried out large-scale survey, marking or mine clearance operations. In many countries, the national mine action response has been based around the military, although this has been found to be most effective when aspects such as priority-setting and quality control were under civilian control.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  5. “Training courses and workshops have been held in the context of NATO staff officers courses, as well as through the Partnership for Peace programme. The Centre has recently conducted training on the Standards with the armed forces of Ukraine, to support their mine action efforts with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). As with the information management system, training on the International Standards has been conducted by a number of armies for their own use. The most appropriate role for the military in mine action has been the subject of debate in both civilian and military circles for some time. At the request of UNMAS, the Geneva Centre has recently completed a study of that issue.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  6. “In cases such as Eritrea and Lebanon, where mine action activities are being conducted by a national authority in most parts of the country while other tasks are being undertaken by peacekeeping troops in a mandated zone, the need for common standards is even more critical. In addition to the technical elaboration of the Standards, the Geneva Centre is about to expand its outreach and training programme, with the main effort directed towards helping mine-affected countries continue to implement the Standards. The Geneva Centre also works closely with the military to disseminate the International Standards. As just one example, next week the Centre will be holding a workshop in Santiago at the request of the Government of Chile.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  7. “(A/58/260, para. 60 (f)) The potential benefits for peacekeeping operations of the International Standards would be to improve interoperability among the engineering contingents of troop-contributing nations and to ensure that areas demined by them do not have to be cleared again at a later stage. Peacekeepers clear mines mainly in support of their mission. However, it is important that this work be performed according to agreed standards, and then recorded in a common format. In the past, the mine action activities of peacekeeping operations have often been the origins of subsequent national mine action programmes, but those transitions could have gone more smoothly had there been agreed standards already in place.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  8. “They are prepared, as members have heard from the Under- Secretary-General, under a mandate from the United Nations. The standards have two very important purposes. First, they help to improve quality in mine action and, secondly, they facilitate cooperation among the different actors. Since the standards have become widely applied, there is now a common terminology and shared conceptual thinking, and training and education have improved. In short, there is now much better interoperability and mutual understanding among the different humanitarian mine-action actors. In his recent report to the General Assembly the Secretary-General recommended that "Countries contributing troops to peacekeeping operations with expertise in explosive ordnance disposal and mine clearance should ensure that operations are conducted in accordance with IMAS".”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  9. “Support includes training, technical assistance for system installation and set-up, the transfer of existing data sources to IMSMA, if necessary, and follow-up maintenance and support. As with any professional software, there is continuous development work underway, and the system is available in a range of languages. The ownership and control of the data is, of course, with the user. It is encouraging to see that the military forces of an increasing number of troop-contributing countries are conducting IMSMA training programmes themselves, such as France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Likewise, most international mine- action non-governmental organizations are familiar with the system and use it. Mine-action standards are another major and relevant area of work of the Geneva Centre.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  10. “This is why the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations at its fifty-seventh session encouraged troop-contributing countries to make use of the IMSMA system. In the peacekeeping context, IMSMA is today used by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus and the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. It is also in use by the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and, of course, outside the peacekeeping context, in Iraq. The Geneva Centre provides pre-deployment and post-deployment support for the IMSMA system, which is largely funded by the Swiss Government.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  11. “It is also important to handle and share this information across the different phases of crisis management and reconstruction. Until recently, this has rarely been done in a satisfactory way. Over the past few years, working together with the United Nations Mine Action Service, the Geneva Centre has developed and made available the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA). This is a computer-based tool for the standardized collection, storage, analysis and dissemination of data on the mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) threat. The system now runs in 36 countries or programmes and is mainly applied in post- conflict situations. However, it is very important for mine action that data handling be done in an interoperable way from the beginning.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  12. “Also relevant is a recently completed study on the role of the military in mine action, which was requested by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). Timely and accurate information on the threat of mines and unexploded ordnance is of vital importance for the conduct of peacekeeping operations and for enabling the delivery of humanitarian assistance, as well as for post-conflict reconstruction. Typically, a wide range of different actors, such as the military, local authorities, international agencies and non-governmental organizations, need such information to pursue their tasks. To be effective, it is critical to enable the different actors to collect and exchange information on the threat in a standardized way.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source

  13. “I am grateful and honoured, Sir, by your invitation to address the Security Council today. The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) supports the efforts of the international community to reduce the impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance. It provides operational assistance, is active in research and supports the implementation of the Ottawa Mine Ban Convention. The Centre provides a wide range of services, such as advisory missions, training, evaluation and technical support, to mine-affected countries, donor Governments, the United Nations, other international agencies and non-governmental organizations. Two areas of our work are particularly important to peacekeeping. They are information management and mine-action standards.”

    2003-11-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4858 (2003) · source