United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix has highly valued Vietnam’s cooperation with the UN in peacekeeping activities since the country joined the operations in 2014 as well as the country’s efforts throughout 2021.
In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in New York, Lacroix hailed Vietnam’s provision of level-2 field hospitals to South Sudan, stressing that this is the kind of capacity that the UN needs its member countries to contribute, as in the more dangerous environment that peacekeepers are working, better protection and medical support is required.
The UN Under-Secretary-General said that UN is working to with Vietnam to deploy an engineering company to the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). He added that this is an area of critical importance, stressing the significance of good engineering to peacekeeping operations.
“I believe that Vietnam understands well what the priorities of peacekeeping are, and will do its best to respond to these priorities. That is why we really appreciate what Vietnam has been doing with us since started to contributing to peacekeeping operations in 2014”.
Lacroix said that the UN expects to work more with Vietnam as the UN can see the country’s capacity through the deployment of level-2 field hospitals and the upcoming engineering unit.
He hailed Vietnam’s efforts to improve the proportion of women peacekeepers (15 percent currently), adding that he believes that with the participation of more women, peacekeeping operations will be more effective.
The UN needs more specific capacity to better protect peacekeepers, particularly against attacks, along with officers who can collect and analyse information, react quickly and move more quickly to effectively support civilians in conflicts. These are areas of critical need to international peacekeeping operations, which are also potential areas that the UN can work with Vietnam.
Regarding major challenges facing peacekeeping operations currently, he pointed to a lack of unity among the international community to actively support political efforts and the seeking of political solutions. He also mentioned the challenge from the worsening conflicts as well as security and political situation and the more dangerous environment in areas where UN peacekeeping missions are working.
In the recent minister-level meeting on peacekeeping, the majority of countries supported peacekeeping operations, and some countries proved their capacity to make more contributions to the operations, including Vietnam, he noted.
Lacroix held that next year, one of the priorities of the UN is to continue the efforts that the UN has implemented with UN member states, including Vietnam, in order to improve the effectiveness, the impacts and the level of protection of peacekeeping operations. He said he believes that in this effort, the UN can count on the cooperation of Vietnam./.
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