Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Ban announces appointment of new UN police chief

Yesterday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed an experienced female Swedish police officer as the top United Nations police official.

“The UN’s top cop is a woman,” Mr. Ban told reporters in New York, noting that today’s announcement of Ann-Marie Orler as UN Police Adviser coincides with International Women’s Day.

Ms. Orler, who first came to the UN to serve as Deputy Police Adviser in 2008, has been Acting Police Adviser since last year.

In her native Sweden, she served as the Secretary General of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Amnesty International and was also the Police Commissioner in the town of Västmanland.

On the international stage, she has worked as the Programme Manager for Police and Human Rights with the Council of Europe, where she took part in fact-finding missions and trained police officers in Turkey and several Balkan nations, among others.

The Secretary-General today hailed her work in leading “the global effort to recruit more female police officers for UN peace operations.”

At present, there are nearly 13,000 UN Police (UNPOL) – more than 6 per cent of whom are women – from some 100 countries who working in 17 different field missions.

One of her top priorities in her new role as the UN’s top police official will be to enhance the participation of female police officers so that the comprise 20 per cent of all UNPOL in peacekeeping by 2014, Ms. Orler said at a press conference today at UN Headquarters.

She pointed to the role played by the all-female Formed Police Units (FPUs) – comprising police officers trained in dealing with high-risk operations – in Liberia who have helped to “improve the status” of Liberian women police officers.

“As the world has become a global village, there is no doubt that the concept of policing must reflect the same universal values and principles,” Ms. Orler underscored.

Most of the conflicts around the world are a result of challenges to the fundamental social, economic and political rights of all people, she said, stressing that upholding these rights is a top priority.

To adapt to the shifting nature of conflict, “our engagement has also gone through a major evolution,” Ms. Orler noted. “From a passive monitoring role in the early days, we have proactively undertaken executive policing, supported national police in their law and order functions, and help reform, rebuild and restructure the host national police services.”

Each mission has its own unique challenges, said the new Police Adviser, who recently visited Haiti and saw first-hand the efforts of UNPOL to help the impoverished Caribbean nation recover after being struck by a devastating earthquake in January.

The challenges facing the country, she said, are three-fold: dealing with the immediate aftermath of the earthquake; helping the Haitian National Police (HNP) back on its feet to resume providing security; and to boost the country’s justice system.

Ms. Orler also detailed the efforts of UNPOL in other areas, such as the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Timor-Leste.

She said that she looks forward to taking on the role of Police Adviser in a time of numerous challenges, “but also a time of action, opportunities and change,” highlighting the importance in partnerships to use resources most effectively and improve justice systems.

UN News Centre

Friday, March 5, 2010

Peacekeepers to Withdraw From Parts of Congo

UN Photo/Marie Frechon


New York Times
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and JOSH KRON

NAIROBI, Kenya — The United Nations will begin withdrawing peacekeeping troops from Congo by June to hand control of the country’s security back to the Congolese, officials with the United Nations mission to Congo said Thursday.

The officials said they would still keep thousands of troops in Congo’s troubled east, where a toxic mix of armed groups continue to brutalize the population. But the peacekeepers will soon pull out of the more stable areas in the central part of the country.

Pressure has been building for months for the United Nations to find an exit strategy, with President Joseph Kabila eager to solidify his control before elections next year.

Read the full article

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Peace Operations Monitor (POM) has been updated and revamped


The POM has a new look and updated information on all three missions (Haiti, Sudan, Afghanistan).   The Peace Operations Monitor is a source of information about the mandates, multifaceted composition, structures, performance and challenges of UN and other peace operations.

Go to the site

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

New Research Paper: Whatever Happened to Peacekeeping? The Future of a Tradition

This ground-breaking report by the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs (CDFAI) Institute urges Canada to reconsider and rejoin UN peace operations. The authors Jocelyn Coulon and Michel Liégeois, PhD argue that peace operations in the twenty-first century are different from those in the period between 1950 and 2000 and that with clearly understood terms of reference, Canada should return its Forces to UN operations when such missions are judged to be in our national interests.

Backgrounder  Full Article

Consulter l’étude en français

Friday, February 19, 2010

Haiti Earthquake: UN expects a new deployment of 380 troops to be on the ground by mid-March

The Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Major General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto, updated reporters yesterday (18 February) on the security situation in the earthquake-devastated country.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Update Report on Haiti

 UN Photo/Marco Dormino

On Friday, 19 February the UN Security Council is expecting a public briefing from Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes and the head of the Peacekeeping Department, Alain Le Roy, on the humanitarian situation in Haiti and the work of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The meeting is expected to be followed by informal consultations. While no immediate changes to MINUSTAH's mandate are expected to result, it is possible that members of the Council will agree on a press statement.

Read the Update Report on Haiti published by Security Council Report

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Darfur peacekeepers get helicopters after long wait


KHARTOUM (Reuters) - International peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region received their first five military helicopters on Tuesday, ending a more than two-year wait for air support in a strife-torn territory the size of Spain.

Military commanders and activists have repeatedly called on Western powers to provide tactical helicopters for the joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force since it arrived in Sudan's rebellious West in January 2008.

Senior U.N. officials said they struggled to find any of the vital aircraft because so many helicopters had already gone to other conflict zones, including Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, Sudan's neighbour Ethiopia became the first country to respond to the call by sending five tactical helicopters to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, said UNAMID.
Read the full article

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Extra UN troops and police pledged for Haiti


He said 900 Brazilian soldiers would be arriving on Thursday and Friday.
The advance party of a 190-member Japanese military engineering company has already arrived, and the advance party of a 240-member South Korean engineering company will be in Haiti by Saturday, he said. Some 150 troops from the neighboring Dominican Republic are in the process of deploying along the border, and troops from Argentina, Peru and Uruguay will be arriving soon, he said.
Le Roy said about 500 police from Spain, the Netherlands, France, Bangladesh and Italy will be there in within two weeks. U.N. officials said a 100-strong French police unit that came in after the quake will become part of the U.N. contingent.
The remaining 1,000 police — from Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Pakistan and Rwanda — will arrive in April or May, Le Roy said.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Canada, Netherlands supply vehicles for Darfur peacekeeping

The governments of Canada and the Netherlands have handed over equipment valued at more than 12 million U.S. dollars to the Uganda Police Force towards peacekeeping efforts in Darfur.

A statement from the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi said on Wednesday the in-kind contribution consists of armored and non- armored vehicles, tents, and engineering, logistical, medical, dental and protective equipment.

"We are pleased to support vital peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, in a partnership with African peacekeeping nations like Uganda. Together, we can make a difference in advancing our common goal of stability, security and a just and lasting peace in Sudan," said Canadian High Commissioner to Uganda Ross Hynes.

"Uganda's important contribution to peacekeeping efforts in Sudan is very much appreciated," Hynes said in the statement.

The equipment is for use by the Uganda contingent in the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) Formed Police Units which will be the first large-scale peacekeeping deployment for the Uganda Police Force.

In addition, a six-month supply of critical spare parts along with equipment-related operator and basic equipment training has been provided.

"We are also pleased that six new armored personnel carriers have arrived in Kampala as part of our important contribution to the police units provided to UNAMID by African countries," Hynes said.

"Along with these vehicles, we are also providing equipment and basic operator and maintenance training as part of a 40 million dollar package to three African Countries including Uganda."

Currently, Uganda has 135 personnel deployed in Darfur with UNAMID and 17 with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

In the spring of 2010, for a period of six months, a 150-person Formed Police Unit (FPU) will be deployed to Darfur after which the Ugandan government will have the choice of using the vehicles and equipment received yesterday to extend the deployment or take part in other peacekeeping missions around the world.

Canada is part of a concerted international effort to support a just and lasting peace in all of Sudan.

Canadian contributions focus primarily on resolving the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Darfur, and supporting the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended the southern civil war in January 2005.

Source: Xinhua