UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- UN peacekeeping operations should be entrusted with the appropriate mandate to respond to the context-specific environment in which they are deployed, a South African envoy said Tuesday.
UN peacekeeping operations should be fully resourced and adequately equipped with troops that are able to protect themselves in the process of carrying out their mandates, Xolisa Mabhongo, deputy permanent representative of South Africa to the UN, told the Security Council open debate on "Investing in Peace: Delivering Quality Training and Capacity Building to Improve Safety and Security and Performance of UN Peacekeepers."
"The safety and security of the peacekeepers should also be strengthened by adopting the use of modern technology in peacekeeping operations," Mabhongo said, adding that the UN should adopt the use of smart technology and heightened key capabilities to enable peacekeepers to counter any attack by armed groups and other forms of asymmetrical threats increasingly prevalent in peacekeeping.
South Africa recognizes and reaffirms the importance of peacekeeping as one of the most effective tools available to the UN in the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security, as well as in the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, he said.
South Africa acknowledges the increased and vital role regional organizations play in peace-making and peacekeeping efforts, the envoy noted.
Partnerships with regional organizations, as envisaged in the UN Charter, will address some of the constraints faced by the UN in the implementation of successful peace operations, he added.
Mabhongo proposes that the UN consider establishing technical training teams that will provide workshops to peacekeeping training institutions, so as to assist them in translating UN Doctrine to improve field training as well as to identify and correct capacity gaps during the preparation of forces prior to deployment.
He suggested that the UN Secretariat further need to expand the reach and the number of UN peacekeeping training centers on the African continent as well as in other regions.
In addition, the envoy said, consideration should be given to the standardization of peacekeeping doctrine between UN and regional peacekeeping training institutions with a view to developing a common doctrine on peacekeeping.
