EU Presidency Statement - Safety of UN and Associated Personnel

STATEMENT BY THE UNITED KINGDOM ON BEHALF OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON THE PROTOCOL ON SAFETY OF UN AND ASSOCIATED PERSONNEL AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SIXTH COMMITTEE, New York

Mr President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The following countries align themselves with this statement: the acceding countries Bulgaria and Romania; the candidate countries Croatia* and Turkey; the countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro; the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area; and other aligning countries Ukraine and Moldova.

In the light of explanations of position by other delegations during the adoption of the Protocol on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel in the Sixth Committee, the European Union wish to make clear their position on the following issues.

First, the European Union does not agree that the term "peacebuilding" in preambular paragraph 3 and Article II.1(a) of the Protocol is restricted to conflict or post-conflict situations. In our view, UN operations at any stage of the conflict cycle may be "peacebuilding" operations under the Protocol. We note that the statement by the President of the Security Council on 20 February 2001 (PRST/2001/5) took the same non-restrictive approach.

Second, the Protocol extends the application of the 1994 Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel to all such UN operations without reference to any "trigger" mechanism of risk or exceptional risk. Indeed, the central purpose of the Protocol is to eliminate the need for any such trigger as was contained in the 1994 Convention. That has been achieved by extending the scope of application to all Peacebuilding operations and operations for the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance.

And third, we are pleased that the Protocol applies equally to operations delivering emergency humanitarian assistance in natural disaster situations. UN and associated personnel require the protection of the Convention and the Protocol in such situations. We regret the fact that some delegations felt the need for an opt-out Declaration.

Mr President,

Concluding the Protocol is a very important step forward in the protection of UN and associated personnel. The annual reports of the Secretary General which list the deaths, injuries and harassment of UN and associated personnel in the field make alarming reading. The European Union wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute again to the courageous work of these personnel on behalf of the international community.

We emphasise the need for universal accession to the 1994 Convention and encourage States to consider rapidly becoming parties to this Protocol.

The European Union would like to thank again Ambassador Wenaweser of Liechtenstein for his skilful and tireless efforts in bringing this Protocol to a conclusion; the delegation of New Zealand for this initiative, and in particular Jenny McIver for her invaluable contribution to the negotiations; and all other delegations for the flexibility and determination which they showed to achieve this result.


* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Safety of UN and Associated Personnel (19/10/2005)
• Déclaration de la Présidence de l'Union européenne - Comité special des operations de maintien de la paix  (31/1/2005)