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STORY: UN / PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
TRT: 04:16
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 07 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior, UN Headquarters
07 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Wide shot, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix addressing Council
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“Today’s operating environment is increasingly dynamic and often characterized by hybrid threats that blur the boundaries among domains. In this context, ceasefire monitoring can no longer be just about being present; it is about rapidly understanding and acting on what is happening on the ground. Advances in technology, now offer us the ability to extend and increase our impact and efficient use of resources by deploying monitoring capabilities far beyond the traditional demilitarized zones.”
5. Wide shot, Lacroix addressing Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“Our Digital Transformation Strategy, under the Action for Peacekeeping+ framework, is firmly placed within our strategies and is designed to enhance our missions by providing better tools to detect violations swiftly, coordinate responses effectively, and maintain the trust of the communities they serve. Integrated platforms enable the tracking of ceasefire violations in near-real time, while mobile tools facilitate the rapid reporting and verification of incidents.”
7. Wide shot, Council
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“In Lebanon, for example, and in a context that has drastically changed since the cessation of hostilities agreement of the 27th of November, UNIFIL has adopted a new posture to be fully responsive to the new reality, and is instrumental in supporting the parties to uphold the cessation of hostilities and this through the five objectives of its Adaptation Plan.”
9. Med shot, Council President
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“While peacekeeping can be an integral part of the ceasefire monitoring regime, the success of any ceasefire remains the sole responsibility of the parties. Indeed, that applies to every element of the mandate. And we wish to emphasise that as we proceed, the support of Member States, the support of host government and host parties, and more importantly, the support of this Council to our peacekeeping operations will continue to be absolutely essential if we are to succeed in the implementation of our mandate.”
11. Wide shot, Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Aroldo Lázaro, Head of Mission and Force Commander, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL):
“The monitoring of the cessation of hostilities is a key task in UNIFIL mandate as described in the Security Council Resolution 1701. This mission is of even bigger importance after the hostilities of October 2023 - November 2024.”
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Aroldo Lázaro, Head of Mission and Force Commander, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL):
“A political process towards a permanent ceasefire should be of the highest priority. The US and French involvement helps to de-escalate hostilities in November 2024. A monitoring mechanism has been established, but this is still a fragile process and so far, only military to military contact have taken place. A political layer will be required to get the parties on track to a full implementation of 1701and facilitate open discussions on a potentially contentious border delineation process.”
14. Various shots, Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Lieutenant General Ulisses de Mesquita Gomes, Force Commander, United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO):
“MONUSCO possesses certain surveillance technologies, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for aerial reconnaissance and ground-based radar systems for perimeter security, which have significantly enhanced our situational awareness and operational efficiency, reducing risks to our personnel and improving mandate delivery. These tools could equally be deployed towards ceasefire monitoring. However, to ensure the full potential of these technologies, we need to ensure that they are fully integrated into our data platforms.”
16. Various shots, Council
Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix today (7 Apr) highlighted the role of UN peacekeeping in ceasefire monitoring and said advances in technology “offer us the ability to extend and increase our impact and efficient use of resources by deploying monitoring capabilities far beyond the traditional demilitarized zones.”
Lacroix told the Security Council that “today’s operating environment is increasingly dynamic and often characterized by hybrid threats that blur the boundaries among domains,” and in this context, “ceasefire monitoring can no longer be just about being present; it is about rapidly understanding and acting on what is happening on the ground.”
He said the UN’s Digital Transformation Strategy’s integrated platforms “enable the tracking of ceasefire violations in near-real time, while mobile tools facilitate the rapid reporting and verification of incidents.
In Lebanon, Lacroix said, the un peacekeeping mission in the country (UNIFIL) “has adopted a new posture to be fully responsive to the new reality and is instrumental in supporting the parties to uphold the cessation of hostilities and this through the five objectives of its Adaptation Plan.”
He stressed that “while peacekeeping can be an integral part of the ceasefire monitoring regime, the success of any ceasefire remains the sole responsibility of the parties,” and emphasised that “the support of Member States, the support of host government and host parties, and more importantly, the support of this Council to our peacekeeping operations will continue to be absolutely essential if we are to succeed in the implementation of our mandate.”
For his part, UNIFIL’s Force Commander, Major General Aroldo Lázaro told the Council that “the monitoring of the cessation of hostilities is a key task in UNIFIL mandate as described in the Security Council Resolution 1701,” and noted that this was “of even bigger importance after the hostilities of October 2023 - November 2024.”
Lázaro said, “a political process towards a permanent ceasefire should be of the highest priority. The US and French involvement helps to de-escalate hostilities in November 2024. A monitoring mechanism has been established, but this is still a fragile process and so far, only military to military contact have taken place. A political layer will be required to get the parties on track to a full implementation of 1701and facilitate open discussions on a potentially contentious border delineation process.”
Briefing remotely from Kinshasa, the Head of the UN’s Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO), Lieutenant General Ulisses de Mesquita Gomes, said the Mission “possesses certain surveillance technologies, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for aerial reconnaissance and ground-based radar systems for perimeter security,” which have significantly enhanced its “situational awareness and operational efficiency, reducing risks to our personnel and improving mandate delivery.”
These tools, de Mesquita Gomes said, “could equally be deployed towards ceasefire monitoring.” However, he added, “to ensure the full potential of these technologies, we need to ensure that they are fully integrated into our data platforms.”
The Heads of Military Components Conference, (HMCC) is currently taking place in New York.
