UNITED NATIONS - The mandate of peacekeeping operations should be practical and feasible, said a Chinese envoy here on Wednesday, adding that the operations cannot and should not aim to solve every problem.
Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, made the remarks at a Security Council meeting on UN peacekeeping operations.
Wang said in deploying peacekeeping operations as well as formulating and reviewing peacekeeping mandate, the Security Council should strengthen the political guidance, ensure that the mandate will correspond to the actual needs of host countries, and clarify the priority missions and targets as well as setting focuses for various stages.
"At the same time, we should review the results of peacekeeping operations in a phased manner, and we should in keeping with the changing environment, make adjustment to the mandate of the missions as well as deployment of forces," he added.
"The international situation has undergone profound changes as well as threats from terrorist organizations. We are also faced with new changes in terms of the enlarging size of peacekeeping operations," noted Wang. "All these new situations demand that the peacekeeping operations should adapt themselves to the changing times and increase innovation."
Wang highlighted that the basic principles of peacekeeping operations, namely consent of parties to the conflict, impartiality, non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate, should stay steady to guarantee the operations as well as ensuring their fairness and impartiality.
He also said peacekeeping operations should respect the sovereignty of the host countries and should conform with the council's mandates as well as relevant international laws.
A UN peackeeping operation works to create the conditions for lasting peace in a country torn by conflict.
At Wednesday's meeting, commanders from three UN peacekeeping missions told the council about the challenges of operating in environments from Mali, South Sudan to the Middle East and beyond, where local forces violated the laws of war, and attacked civilians and peacekeepers.
Coping with such challenges, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonhas appointed a high-level panel of experts to review the UN peacekeeping operations. A review report has been handed to Ban on Tuesday. It is not yet known how many of the report's recommendations the secretary-general will support for implementation.
