UN chief to appoint high-level panel to review UN peacekeeping

UNITED NATIONS (Xinhua) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Friday that he has decided to appoint a high- level panel to review UN peace operations to make them more relevant to the fast-changing global security landscape.

"The world is changing and our support to peacekeeping, and indeed all peace operations, must keep pace," Ban said at a high- level Summit on Strengthening International Peace Operations during the UN General Assembly.

Noting that fifteen years have passed since the last comprehensive review of UN peace operations, Ban said time has come to take stock of the great strides that have been made, the lessons that have been learned, and the new contexts in which UN missions are deployed.

Ban said he would appoint a high-level panel to review UN peace operations - peacekeeping and political missions - as the security landscape worldwide remains grim.

"Throughout this week, we have heard countless voices sounding the alarm over flaring tensions and violence in different parts of the world," he said.

"The global security landscape is shifting dramatically," he said, emphasizing that civil conflicts coupled with terrorism, organized crime, and health crises such as Ebola are threatening millions of people.

Warning that missions are increasingly being deployed where there is no peace to keep, and no peace agreement to defend, where grave abuses are being committed against civilians, Ban called on the international community to fortify the spirit of collective responsibility that lies at the heart of UN peacekeeping.

"Each nation must consider what it can bring to the peacekeeping endeavor," the UN chief said.

Ban also welcomed the announcement made by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday that his country would take part in the UN peacekeeping missions.