The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, has appointed Prof Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) as a member of a 14- member High Level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations.
The Panel is to make a comprehensive assessment of the state of UN peace operations today, and the emerging needs of the future.
A statement by the Secretary General in New York said it would also consider a broad range of issues facing peace operations, including the changing nature of conflict, evolving mandates, good offices and peace building challenges, managerial and administrative arrangements, planning, partnerships, human rights and protection of civilians, uniformed capabilities for peacekeeping operations and performance.
Chaired by Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate, journalist and former Head of State of Timor-Leste, the panel made up of people with a wide range of experience and expertise will examine both peacekeeping operations and special political missions.
The last major external review of UN peace operations was undertaken in 2000 and led by Mr. Lahkdar Brahimi.
According to the UN Secretary General, today’s peace keepers are increasingly called upon to “confront politically complex and challenging conflicts, often in volatile security environments where operations are directly targeted confronted” hence, the need to look again at the 15year old Brahimi report.
“We must take stock of evolving expectations and consider how the Organization can most effectively advance peace, assist countries caught in conflict and ensure that our peacekeeping operations and special political missions remain strong and effective in a changing global context”, he stated.
Mr Ban Ki-Moon explained further that, the world was changing and UN peace operations must change with it if they were to remain an indispensable and effective tool in promoting international peace and security.
The Panel will work closely with the main UN Departments concerned, as well as with Member States and the UN system as a whole.
Other members of the panel are from France, India, Bangladesh, Australia, Russia and Norway. The rest are from Canada, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil and China.
Source: ISD (R. Harry Reynolds, NY)
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