国連総会第4委員会における鯰大使ステートメント
平成30年11月1日
(As delivered)
Mr. Chairman,
I would like to begin by expressing our gratitude to Under-Secretary-General Lacroix and Under-Secretary-General Khare for their briefings.
Since last year, we have observed several significant developments in the area of peacekeeping. Most notable are Secretary-General Guterres’ Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative and his efforts toward reforms of the UN’s peace and security pillar as well as of its management.
Japan supports the A4P initiative and endorsed the Declaration of Shared Commitments. Now Japan is ready to cooperate with Member States and the UN Secretariat to implement the A4P Declaration. As a bureau member of C34, Japan is willing to lead the discussions on A4P implementation in C34 meetings in the coming year.
Today I would like to speak briefly on two topics: first, the importance of “Performance” and “Partnership” among the five pillars of A4P[1], and second, the role of women in peacekeeping.
Our conviction is that “Performance” and “Partnership” are closely intertwined; strong “Partnership” is essential to improve “Performance.”
To see this in practice, let us consider the effect of triangular partnerships on engineering and medical capacity. Ensuring the safety and security of peacekeepers is a prerequisite for high performance of peacekeeping missions. In particular, as the Cruz Report highlighted, medical capacity is a key enabler to ensure the security of the troop in the field. Engineering capabilities are also vital for mission success.
Triangular partnerships help fill these gaps by building capacity among the Troop Contributing Countries in cooperation with Member States which support capacity building and with the UN, as called for in the A4P Declaration and highlighted in Security Council Resolution 2436 adopted this September.
Japan highly values the innovative idea of the triangular partnerships, and welcomes the launch of UN triangular partnership project in medical training. To meet engineering needs, Japan has offered training through the Triangular Partnership Project for the past three years in conjunction with the effort to promulgate the United Nations Peacekeeping Engineer Unit Manual, which Japan chaired to draft in 2014. More than 200 personnel from African countries worked with Japan and many of them have been deployed to UN and AU peacekeeping missions. In addition, some of them have themselves become instructors in their home countries, providing training and passing their knowledge on to a new generation of future peacekeepers.
We also welcome the geographical expansion of the engineering training from Africa to Asia and the surrounding regions. Japan will continue to support this type of training and has just sent instructors to conduct a pilot training of heavy engineering equipment in Vietnam, the country of my previous speaker. The training will start next week.
In sum, the triangular partnerships present an excellent template for how to improve “Performance” through strong “Partnership.” Japan is prepared to further act jointly with the UN and its Member States to improve the medical and engineering capabilities of troop contributing countries by dispatching trainers and sharing knowledge. In addition, Japan will contribute by chairing the revision of UN Peacekeeping Engineer Unit Manual and cooperating to draft the medical manuals for the training in medical field through triangular partnership.
Mr. Chairman,
As a second point, I would like to highlight the role of women in peacekeeping. Increasing the participation of women in peacekeeping missions is critical to improve the missions’ performance on such key issues as the protection of women and children, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, and support for the victims.
I am delighted to inform you that we have been dispatching female instructors to the engineering trainings since the first training of this year. This dispatch will provide an opportunity for the instructors to serve as a role model, highlighting for future peacekeepers as to importance of female participation in peacekeeping.
Japan intends to continue to appoint talented female officers to peacekeeping missions in the future as well.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[1] Politics, Performance, Partnership, People, Peacebuilding