UN peacekeeping official calls to reform global security ‘our work is not done’

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau

UNITED NATIONS, 17th March. UN Assistant-Secretary-General in the Department of Peace Operations Aleksander Zouev on Thursday briefed the members of the Security Council told that the world’s new security sector reform plan can achieve further progress by developing the global study on women in defence, trimming reporting periods, and galvanizing Member States’ support, the UN’s top Rule of Law and Security Institutions.

“Our work is not done,” said Aleksander Zouev, told the Security Council.

He cited gains made on implementing the UN Secretary-General’s bold vision for security sector reform outlined in his inaugural report on the issue, published in 2022, as he presented a progress report.

Mr. Zouev said successes include establishing the first system-wide action plan to implement the UN chief’s recommendations and further strengthening strategic partnerships in line with Action for Peace Plus and Our Common Agenda.

The inter-agency Security Sector Reform Task Force also established a standing capacity operation in Brindisi, Italy, known by its acronym (SSuRGe), he said.

Mr. Zouev said “In a very short time, this nimble team has become indispensable for flexible, timely, high-quality support to peace operations, country teams, and national institutions, particularly in contexts of crisis and mission downsizing,”.

SSuRGe experts helped the UN mission in DRC to mobilize resources and capacities for the transition and facilitated consultations with the World Bank on the need for a public expenditure review of the security sector.

He said that achievements are certainly worth noticing but challenges persist in implementing the Council’s far-reaching resolution 2553, which was adopted in 2021 and requests the Secretary-General to submit a security sector reform report once every decade.

Major obstacles include situations where inclusive national ownership and leadership of security sector reform is lacking, he added.

He said “Without highest-level buy-in, the UN is lacking the very foundation for its support and for sustainable peace more broadly,”

Top official stressed that other concerns include barriers to women’s participation, a reluctance to integrate reform efforts into early stages of mediation and peace processes, and financing such efforts.

“Too often, critical progress in reforms cannot be financially sustained after the drawdown of peace operations, risking conflict relapse,” he said.

He said “Addressing these challenges requires strong UN leadership and predictable mandates by the Security Council for our peace operations to assist security institutions in building democratically governed, accountable, inclusive, and people-centred services,”.

This will require more strategic and impactful interventions and prioritizing reform provisions in peace processes.

He said that the Security Council could more systematically integrate key tenets of resolution 2553 in its instructions: national ownership, the primacy of political solutions, and the need for governance-focused and gender-sensitive approaches at all stages of security sector reform.

He reiterated António Guterres’s suggestion to develop the first-ever global report on women in defence.

Zoueve added that a fixed cycle of the Secretary-General’s thematic reports, for instance every five years, would strengthen the Council’s consideration of the topic and collective support to national efforts, he said.

He concluded that “Each aspect of strengthening UN engagement on security sector reform will continue to rely on all of us working together.”