YouSaid · the spoken record

Karel J.G. van Oosterom

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15
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2020-07-07
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2020-07-07
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un-security-council

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  1. “In conclusion, there are various ways in which we, as individual States Members of the United Nations, can contribute to enhancing the effective promotion and protection of human rights by peace operations. We believe that adequate resources, realistic mandates, strong partnerships and practical training on human rights and related topics are essential for ensuring that peacekeeping operations effectively contribute to the enjoyment of human rights by the local population. In times of COVID-19, that has not become any easier for United Nations personnel on the ground. That is all the more reason to stand by them and give them the tools they need to effectively implement their mandates.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  2. “To facilitate that, the Netherlands and Spain have been organizing a gender-in-operations course since 2011. That international course is open to the military, civil society and diplomats. It is held twice a year in Europe and twice a year, in cooperation with the United States Africa Command, in Kenya, for participants from the African continent. Practical tools for preventing and addressing sexual exploitation and abuse must be addressed within predeployment training. Contributing to the training of peacekeepers in the areas of human rights, protection of civilians and gender is one of the most effective ways to counter threats to human rights and security in the volatile situations in which peacekeepers operate.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  3. “It resulted in an increased number of reports on IED locations, which has saved lives. Furthermore, we believe that peace is sustainable only when women are actively involved in peacebuilding. This is why we applaud the appointment of gender advisers in United Nations peace operations. By providing active guidance on gender to missions’ military components, the protection of women and children is increasingly promoted at the operational and tactical level. The Netherlands has actively contributed to that development, inter alia, by deploying a gender adviser to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. To further improve the inclusion and mainstreaming of gender in missions, it is paramount for troops to be trained on the subject.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  4. “Therefore, among other subjects, human rights are integrated in our predeployment training. After the predeployment training, participants are able to identify human rights violations and abuses, can explain United Nations policies on human rights and can identify human rights-related roles in a mission and know which actions to take when human rights abuses and violations are being observed. That enhances the capacity of Blue Helmets to act when human rights violations and abuses occur in front of their eyes. During our deployment in MINUSMA, we encountered a local population that was greatly concerned about improvised explosive devices (IEDs). In order to increase the ability of civilians to protect themselves from IEDs, an information campaign was launched.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  5. “That brings me to my third point — training. The Action for Peacekeeping agenda shows the connectedness between the promotion of human rights and protection of civilians. As an Action for Peacekeeping champion on protection, one of our priorities is to contribute to making available context-specific, mandate- specific and scenario-based predeployment training. For years now, we have been organizing protection-of-civilian training in cooperation with the United States Africa Command and Rwanda. In those trainings, we focus on improving knowledge and practical skills in the area of protection, human rights and gender. The Netherlands uses the core predeployment training materials of the United Nations as the core resource for our predeployment trainings.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  6. “Peace and development advisers play a crucial role in linking the work of the peace, development and human rights pillars of the United Nations. Thirdly, I want to underline that the scale and nature of human rights challenges can be met only through close strategic and operational partnerships with host Governments, regional organizations, humanitarian organizations and local civil society groups and other key stakeholders. Resolution 2447 (2018), which the Kingdom of the Netherlands initiated together with Côte d’Ivoire during our 2018 membership of the Security Council, provides an ongoing mandate for United Nations support in order to strengthen the national machinery for the administration of justice in any given operation. The resolution stresses national ownership and the role civil society can play.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  7. “In order to effectively carry out human rights responsibilities, all mission personnel must have an overall understanding of international human rights and humanitarian law and receive adequate training on prevention and response before deployment. Secondly, the Netherlands is a strong supporter of enhancing cross-pillar cooperation for reinforcing the promotion and protection of human rights. The United Nations system needs to work more coherently and in an integrated and comprehensive manner to effectively address human rights violations, prevent conflict and build peace. The Joint United Nations Development Programme-Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention is a signature example of successful cross-pillar cooperation.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  8. “Bearing in mind the complex situations in which peace operations are conducted, it is evident that the burden cannot be carried by dedicated human rights teams alone. An effective response to human rights violations requires the involvement of all mission components, the wider United Nations system, as well as external partners. First of all, an effective response to human rights violations requires a fully integrated, coordinated and comprehensive approach. Both the uniformed and civilian components of peace operations must play a role in the promotion and protection of human rights. That includes the United Nations police, in its operational and advisory roles.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  9. “Most multidimensional peace operations nowadays have a human rights team tasked with, among other things, monitoring and documenting human rights violations, assisting with other mission tasks and helping national authorities to carry out their human rights responsibilities and uphold the rule of law. Let us take a look at what that capacity looks like in practice. Currently, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights employs no more than three dozen human rights advisers around the globe. In the same vein, we cannot expect that the Human Rights and Protection Division of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is able to counter all violations and abuses in a country that makes up an area of over 1,000,000 square kilometres.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  10. “It is important to analyse the causes of conflicts and to gain insights in the way forward to sustainable peace. Then, it is up to Member States to provide missions with the necessary tools to assist in improving the lives of the people concerned, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of those operations. Peacekeepers too often lack the specialized knowledge, practical skills and time to effectively respond to human rights violations and abuses. Dedicated expertise is required to support all mission components in carrying out their human rights responsibilities. That is where human rights advisers come in.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  11. “We therefore call upon Council members to step up their efforts to negotiate clear, focused, sequenced, prioritized and achievable mandates, as we promised to do when endorsing the joint Declaration of Shared Commitments on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. As the Council is aware, the Declaration — endorsed by 153 countries — supports the Secretary-General’s Action for Peacekeeping initiative, which he kicked off at an event during the presidency of the Kingdom of the Netherlands of the Security Council in March 2018. Last week, the Fifth Committee adopted the peacekeeping budget for the year 2020-2021. Throughout the negotiations, there was a powerful pushback against human rights and gender components of peacekeeping missions. We do not view that as a matter of ideology. Rather, it is a matter of effectiveness.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  12. “In this statement, I would like to focus on three points, namely, achievable mandates and adequate resources, integrated approaches and partnerships, and training on human rights and related concepts. On mandates and resources, the Security Council is tasked with establishing the mandates of peace operations. Members of the Council have often highlighted the importance of human rights as a key component of peacekeeping operations. However, human rights are often a contentious issue in mandate negotiations. The conclusions from the Brahimi report (see S/2000/809), which called for properly equipped and resourced peacekeeping operations and clear, credible and achievable mandates remain as valid today as they were 20 years ago.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  13. “In addition, we must unite to protect vulnerable groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons, religious and ethnic minorities, and women and girls; and we must also engage with them when shaping those policies. Peace operations have a key role to play in the promotion and protection of human rights. The protection of civilians is mandated in most peacekeeping missions, and five out of 13 peacekeeping operations have been specifically tasked by the Security Council to assist host nations in delivering human rights to their citizens. Despite significant progress made since the establishment of the first human rights component in a field mission almost 30 ago today, many challenges persist.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  14. “Today’s debate is therefore very timely and relevant. Earlier this year, the Secretary-General issued The Highest Aspiration: A Call to Action for Human Rights, in which he emphasized that respect for human rights is essential in crises. Beyond being the most effective conflict prevention mechanism, human rights are at the core of rebuilding stable and peaceful societies. In essence, ensuring respect for human rights is the ultimate prevention agenda. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the measures taken to combat it are putting increased pressure on the enjoyment of human rights worldwide. While securing the right to health, we must stand together to defend other rights as well, such as the freedom of expression. We must maintain the space for civil society and human rights defenders to voice their opinions and concerns.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source

  15. “We are grateful to Germany for organizing today’s debate. The participation of the German Federal Minister of Defence and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights shows the importance of this topic. We are also grateful to Mr. David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, for sharing his experiences and lessons learned from the field. We align ourselves with the statement submitted by the observer of the European Union (see annex 25). The Charter of the United Nations, which celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary this year, shows us that promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is central to the mandate of the United Nations. Human rights are under pressure around the world.”

    2020-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/674 (2020) · source