UN / LADSOUS FAREWELL PRESSER

Upon his return from South Sudan, outgoing peacekeeping chief, Hervé Ladsous, said that given the current level of violence and fatalities among civilians, “it is not right that neither the government nor the various factions and armed groups, should be allowed to procure weapons.” Ladsous will be replaced by Jean-Pierre Lacroix as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at the beginning of April. UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:06
• Production Date: 24 March 2017
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: HERVÉ LADSOUS
• Corporate Name: DEPARTMENT OF PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS - DPKO
• Subject Topical: PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
• Geographic Subject: COTE D'IVOIRE; HAITI; LIBERIA; SOUTH SUDAN
• MAMS Id: 1855741
• Parent Id: 1855741
• Alternate Title: unifeed170324b

Description

STORY: UN / LADSOUS FAREWELL
TRT: 03:06
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 24 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

24 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO):
“At a time when so much fighting is going on throughout the country, and so many collateral fatalities among the civilians, I think it is not right that neither the government nor the various factions and armed groups should be allowed to procure weapons.”
4. Med shot, press
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO):
“Three missions being in the process of closing down; Côte d'Ivoire right now, Liberia within a year, Haiti, subject to a soon-to-come decision by the Security Council, but most probably MINUSTAH will close down in October, the present mission. We have made policy of constant reviews so that so that we are as attuned to the needs and do not add strata on strata and actually adapt to the newer circumstances.”
6. Med shot, press
SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO):
“It’s been one of my priorities to bring peacekeeping into the 21st century technology, and now so many of our missions have surveillance drones, have sophisticated detection equipment, balloons, cameras, things like radars also. And I think it has changed very much from the times of not so long ago when people had just a pair of binoculars and old fashioned radio. It has gone ahead.”
7. Wide shot, press
SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO):
“The heart of our mandate in peacekeeping these days is about protection of civilians. And it is an incredibly difficult issue. We’ve done a lot to train the people, to think about new ways, new methods, yet, we cannot have a peacekeeper behind every single citizen in the theatres. So, yes, I have to acknowledge sometimes there have been failures, and every failure is a failure too many.”
8. Med shot, press
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO):
“Maybe 25 years ago, you know, everybody respected peacekeepers. They were in a way almost sacralised, you know, and the reality nowadays is not that. We are kidnapped, we are shot at, we are bombed, you know, IED’d. That I think is of serious concern. But it’s also got to do, in part, in part, with the fact that we are facing nowadays so many non-state actors who don’t feel at all bound by international law.”
10. Zoom out, end of presser

Storyline

Upon his return from South Sudan, outgoing peacekeeping chief, Hervé Ladsous, said that given the current level of violence and fatalities among civilians, “it is not right that neither the government nor the various factions and armed groups, should be allowed to procure weapons.”

Efforts to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan have so far failed at the Security Council.

In his final press encounter as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Ladsous noted that the current missions in Côte d'Ivoire right, Liberia Haiti, are expected to close down within a year.

He said “we have made policy of constant reviews so that so that we are as attuned to the needs and do not add strata on strata and actually adapt to the newer circumstances.”

Ladsous said one of his priorities had been “to bring peacekeeping into the 21st century.”

Listing technological advances that have been adopted in UN peacekeeping operations, he said “many of our missions have surveillance drones, have sophisticated detection equipment, balloons, cameras, things like radars also. And I think it has changed very much from the times of not so long ago when people had just a pair of binoculars and old fashioned radio. It has gone ahead.”

The outgoing official acknowledged that “sometimes there have been failures” in the protection of civilians, and said “every failure is a failure too many.”

He noted that 25 years ago “everybody respected peacekeepers” but nowadays “we are kidnapped, we are shot at, we are bombed.”

This, he said, is due “in part, with the fact that we are facing nowadays so many non-state actors who don’t feel at all bound by international law.”

Ladsous will be replaced by Jean-Pierre Lacroix as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at the beginning of April.