Ministerial Dinner on Peacekeeping

Statement by H.E. Mr. Timo Soini, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
UN General Assembly 71, New York, 21 September 2016.

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It is my great honor to welcome you to this evening´s important discussion on the future of peacekeeping. I'm happy that Uruguay, Indonesia and Ruanda are co-hosting this event together with Finland this year again.  Since last year, we have seen a lot of progress in implementing the peace operations review. But the work is not completed yet – and we hope that the reform agenda will remain also on the next Secretary General’s table.

Peace operations are among the primary tools the international community has to prevent conflicts and uphold peace. Demand for peacekeeping operations continues to be high. The United Nations today has more peacekeepers in the field than ever before. Quantity continues to be important, and member states' commitment to contribute troops must be strengthened.  Finland is right now planning to increase its participation in the UNIFIL operation. At the same time we need to increase the quality of our peacekeeping work, in order to meet the new types of challenges. Our operations must be timely, flexible and effective.

To achieve more timely peace operations, we must firstly develop better strategic analysis and planning. Only when we have the right understanding of the situation can we make sure that our efforts are made at the right time. A carefully planned mission has better chances to achieve the objectives. It is also vital to remember that conflict prevention and mediation efforts need to precede any actual peacekeeping mission. The primacy of politics is the key.

The UN peace operations also need to be more flexible. We need regional reserves that can be deployed rapidly and we need better inter-mission cooperation. More use of innovations and modern technologies are other means to increase flexibility, as is – very importantly – transferring more decision making responsibility to the field.

Increasing the number of women participating in the missions is vital. We should not speak about women, peace and security as a separate subject, but to truly integrate women, as well as gender perspective, in what we do. I am pleased to inform that Finland will support this autumn UN Women’s course that trains female military officers in Kenya. 

An effective peacekeeping operation includes a strong responsibility to protect civilians. Emphasis must be on preventive action, but the UN peacekeepers must also be ready and able to robust action. In this spirit, Finland has signed the Kigali principles last May.  This spring the Finnish Defense Forces International Centre, FINCENT, received as the first training center in the world the UN certification for an operational level United Nations’ Protection of Civilians Course (UNPOC). In this course students are trained to understand the roles and responsibilities of military, police and civilian actors involved in protection work.

In addition, no mission can be effective if we continue to see cases of sexual exploitation and abuse. Zero tolerance must become zero-case reality. It is unacceptable that UN peacekeepers abuse the very people they are sent to protect.

A challenge for peace operations is the complexity of the situations we face. There was a time when United Nations peacekeeping work could be compared to the work of a referee. Today, the role has evolved towards that of a coach, as our men and women engage with local communities. Unfortunately we also see conflicts where UN peacekeepers are driven towards a situation where they become players – and this is dangerous. These situations are usually connected to a lack of trust and support from host governments.

I believe it's important to continuously remind ourselves of what peace operations are ultimately for. They are for people. United Nations peacekeepers must deliver on their mandate to the highest possible standard.  We as an international community strive to protect, to relieve suffering and to bring hope to people trapped in conflict.

This year Finland celebrates 60 years of participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions. We continue to be fully committed to UN peacekeeping and I wish to thank you for your contribution to this shared endeavor.