Headlines

Investing in Peace

May 29 2017 - The United Nations Charter was a visionary document, calling on all nations “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. Though we speak often of this enduring commitment to building peaceful and stable societies, it is the world’s peacekeepers who understand this dedication best. It is by their perseverance, their commitment, and at times, their sacrifice, that we can help turn chaos into stability, and stability into prosperity. This year, as we celebrate International Peacekeepers Day, let us take a moment to remember the invaluable contribution peacekeepers have made to peace around the globe, and the many lives that have been made better by their service. This is an opportunity to reflect on peacekeepers’ successes, their strengths, but also to consider the ways in which peacekeeping can improve and evolve. The nature of war is always changing, and so our approach to peace and to peacekeeping must change along with it.

Bangladesh has long been a lead contributor to peacekeeping. Today, more than 96,000 uniformed personnel from 124 countries serve under the blue flag, alongside more than 15,000 international and national civilian staff and nearly 1,600 United Nations Volunteers. Among them are 6,918 men and women from Bangladesh, which currently contributes the fourth most peacekeepers of any country in the world. The United Nations is grateful to the people of Bangladesh for such an impressive contribution. Bangladeshis are now serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, South Sudan, Darfur, Western Sahara, Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR), Haiti, Somalia, Cyprus and Liberia. It is in countries like these that peacekeepers continue to have a transformative impact well beyond their numbers.

We only need look to the past to see what this transformation looks like. Sierra Leone is a country where the legacy of a successful peacekeeping mission can still be felt and experienced. Bangladesh contributed the largest number of peacekeepers to the Sierra Leone mission, whose members served with competence and dignity. UN peacekeepers were responsible for supervising the disarmament of more than 75,000 combatants in Sierra Leone, of which at least 7,000 were child soldiers. Sierra Leone’s decision to declare Bangla an honourary second language was an unprecedented act of gratitude which cemented a unique bond between peoples. Wherever they went, Bangladeshi peacekeepers brought with them a sense of stability and normalcy, and when they left, Bangladeshi peacekeepers were sorely missed. They left the communities they entered better off than when they found them, and even left little tokens of Bangladesh behind, as demonstrated by Sierra Leone’s enduring fondness for Bangladeshi mishti.

But let us think, for a moment, of the mindset of the average peacekeeper, and of the courage they possess in choosing to serve. It is the courage to leave the safety of their families or their communities, often for the first time, and be ready to risk their lives to promote a more peaceful world. It is the courage to venture to an unknown and potentially dangerous region, where they may not speak the language or share a common culture, to help protect people they may never meet. Whether they hail from Rajshahi or Sylhet, Chittagong or Barisal, the choice to don the blue helmet is never easy.

Research has shown that countries in conflict that come to host a UN peacekeeping mission reduce their chances of relapsing into conflict by over 50 percent. And yet, despite this notable rate of success, today’s global peacekeeping budget is still less than one half of one percent of the world’s total military spending. The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, acknowledges that there is a growing, urgent need to increase funding for peacekeeping internationally, to ensure peacekeepers have the resources they need to be effective and safe. But the commitment must go beyond the financial. In meeting the UN Secretary General’s call to invest in peacekeeping, we must also consider a wider approach, one which aims not only to resolve conflicts when they start, but to strengthen political institutions and prevent new conflicts from emerging. Human rights and community-focused initiatives build peace at the grassroots level, making the most of the over 15,000 civilian peacekeepers who serve without a uniform. Bangladesh can contribute more female peacekeepers to this effort, as women in peacekeeping roles bring necessary skills and an important perspective to missions.

But while many of these improvements are applicable in the field, others start at home. Improvements to military mental health services, for instance, greatly improve conditions for Bangladeshi peacekeepers. Training programmes to improve the skills and capacity of Bangladeshi peacekeepers could increase their effectiveness once abroad. Finally, we must remember that peacekeepers are most effective when their government and military command uphold the same respect for transparency, human rights and the rule of law at home that they are expected to promote abroad.

In closing, over one million men and women have served under the UN flag with pride, distinction and courage since the first United Nations deployment in 1948. We pay tribute to over 3,500 peacekeepers who have lost their lives in the service of peace over the past 69 years, to the 211 Bangladeshis who were injured in the line of duty, and to the 132 Bangladeshis who made the ultimate sacrifice. This past year, Bangladesh lost a further two dedicated peacekeepers, and eight more were injured in the service of a more peaceful future. These fallen peacekeepers are:

Snk. Md Abul Bashar, EME, who died in a vehicular accident while serving in Mali.

Snk. Md Abdur Rahim, BIR, who was killed by unidentified assailants while serving in the Central African Republic.

The United Nations thanks these peacekeepers for their sacrifice, and sends its deepest condolences to their families.

The memories of these fallen peacekeepers are best preserved by redoubling our efforts to ensure peacekeeping meets the highest ethical and professional standards. We have done this before in countries like Sierra Leone – we shall do so again. This is done by recognising that high standards are not to be adhered to temporarily, or selectively, but internalised. It is through an active commitment to protecting human rights and ending all forms of persecution, both at home and abroad, that we step closer to the ideal set by the United Nations Charter 72 years ago.

The writer is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh