UN / PEACEKEEPING SUMMIT

US Vice President Joseph Biden, told a high level meeting on peacekeeping that “demand for international peacekeeping has never been greater" and as it has evolved to include "sophisticated non-state actors as well as traditional armies, the instruments of peacekeeping have evolved as well.” He expressed confidence that the system can be strengthened  to "meet the challenges ahead.” UNIFEED - UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:59
• Production Date: 26 September 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: DEPARTMENT OF PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS - DPKO
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; DISARMAMENT; CONFERENCES
• Geographic Subject: UNITED STATES
• MAMS Id: 1185303

Description

STORY: UN / PEACEKEEPING SUMMIT
TRT: 1.59
SOURCE: UNIFEED - UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGAUGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 26 SEPTEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Pan right, from East River to exterior United Nations headquarters

26 SEPTEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, dais
3. Med shot, delegate
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Biden, Vice President,United States:
“Demand for international peacekeeping has never been greater. In one generation, UN peacekeeping has grown tenfold, to about 120,000 men and women deployed around the world. And as the nature of conflict and combatants has evolved to include sophisticated non-state actors as well as traditional armies, the instruments of peacekeeping have evolved as well.”
5. Wide shot, audience
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Biden, Vice President, United States:
“The very fact that peacekeeping exists, that men and women sometimes from halfway around the world risk their lives protecting peace in the fault lines of conflict is one of the great achievements of this international system. Working together I am confident we can strengthen that system and meet the challenges ahead.”
7. Wide shot, dais
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon,Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Without wide-ranging and tangible support from Member States, peacekeeping missions cannot deploy quickly, operate safely and nimbly, or protect civilians across massive spaces and difficult terrain.”
9. Wide shot, dais
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon,Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Increasingly, missions are being deployed where there is no peace to keep, and no peace agreement to defend, where grave abuses are being committed against civilians. With so much at stake, divisions among the Security Council and wider UN membership can carry a high price.”
11. Wide shot, audience applause

Storyline

Addressing a summit on United Nations (UN) peacekeeping today (26 Sept) United States Vice-President, Joseph Biden, said that the demand for international peacekeeping has “never been greater” and peacekeeping troops are being confronted by a wide variety of challenges, from protecting civilians from sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to combatting extremism in Mali.

In his capacity as chairperson, Biden noted that in one generation, UN peacekeeping “has grown tenfold, to about 120,000 men and women deployed around the world.”

He said that “as the nature of conflict and combatants has evolved to include sophisticated non-state actors as well as traditional armies, the instruments of peacekeeping have evolved as well.”

Biden acknowledged that Member States had gathered at the Summit to offer resources, troops and police to the peacekeeping cause and emphasized the need to implement a rapid deployment system in order to save lives.

He said “the very fact that peacekeeping exists, that men and women sometimes from halfway around the world risk their lives protecting peace in the fault lines of conflict is one of the great achievements of this international system.”

The vice-president expressed confidence the system can be strengthened to “meet the challenges ahead.”

Also addressing the meeting, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that “without wide-ranging and tangible support from Member States, peacekeeping missions cannot deploy quickly, operate safely and nimbly, or protect civilians across massive spaces and difficult terrain.”

Ban underscored six critical necessities that would define the future of UN peacekeeping, including a streamlined rapid response system comprising troops and the ability to transport them; greater mobility particularly via helicopter; strengthened medical support; better protection for peacekeepers against improvised explosive devices; improved information and analysis, including expertise on organized crime; and the creation of strong partnerships with regional organizations, especially in Africa, where many UN operations are deployed alongside African Union forces.

He said “increasingly, missions are being deployed where there is no peace to keep, and no peace agreement to defend, where grave abuses are being committed against civilians.”

With so much at stake, he added “divisions among the Security Council and wider UN membership can carry a high price.”

In order to prepare for the new scenarios facing the UN’s peacekeeping forces, Ban announced the formation of a high-level panel to undertake a review of both peacekeeping and political missions to better hone their adaptability.

The Organization added yet another mission to its extensive roster of operations with the creation of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, or UNMEER, to support prevention efforts against the virulent disease throughout West Africa.