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Τhe Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cyprus to the United Nations, Ambassador Kornelios Korneliou, made a statement on March 28, 2018 at the open debate “Collective action to improve United Nations peacekeeping operations” of the Security Council, which was presided by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr Mark Rutte.

In his remarks, Ambassador Korneliou expressed Cyprus’s full support to the UN Secretary-General for his efforts to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of UN peacekeeping. He also highlighted that a discussion on this specific topic at the Security Council is a reminder of Cyprus’s obligation to reiterate the utmost appreciation and to pay tribute to the United Nations, the Security Council and the countries that have contributed troops and resources to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).

He also emphasized that the peacekeeping operations must have sound, realistic and robust mandates. “Where a peacekeeping operation has been deployed after the Security Council has established the existence of a threat to international peace and security, this peacekeeping operation ought to have support required so as to be able to respond to this challenge, for as long as the abnormality continuous. This is the essence of UN peacekeeping”, Ambassador said.

Ambassador Korneliou highlighted that the peacekeeping operations should continuously undergo modernization and renewal in order to adjust to contemporary needs and challenges. “While acknowledging the wider need to undertake reviews of the peacekeeping operations, we have to take into consideration the different context and particularities faced by each operation. It is of paramount importance that the strategic reviews are rigorous, evidence-based and conducted in close consultation with the host country – as it was the case with UNFICYP”, he added.   

Concluding, he reminded that peacekeeping operations are in place to contribute to the creation of conditions that are conducive to political processes, with a prospect of leading to viable solutions that will be essentially addressing the root causes of the conflict, by restoring law and order, based on international law.

(ML)