VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0359/01 0971847
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071847Z APR 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6280
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE 1992
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 2259
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO IMMEDIATE 0203
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 2538
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA IMMEDIATE 1153
RUEHPG/AMEMBASSY PRAGUE IMMEDIATE 0414
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA IMMEDIATE 0865
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT IMMEDIATE 1446
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON IMMEDIATE 2884

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000359 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: UN SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON PEACEKEEPING CONCLUDES 
ANNUAL SESSION 
 
REF: USUN 200 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The United Nations Special 
Committee for Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) concluded 
its annual session on March 20 by adopting a consensus 
report on schedule for the first time since 2006.  The 
report contains specific language regarding the 
protection of civilians and broadly asks the 
Secretary-General to provide an assessment of related 
efforts to date.  The report includes language 
generally supportive of recommendations to strengthen 
the capacity of the UN Police Division and the 
Standing Police Capacity, but proposed language 
suggesting that the UN Police Adviser be elevated to 
the Assistant Secretary General level was fiercely 
opposed by the Russian delegation.  U.S. negotiators 
successfully countered attempts by the Non-Aligned 
Movement (NAM) to include language that would have 
strengthened the role of the General Assembly at the 
expense of Security Council authority.  END SUMMARY 
 
BACKGROUND 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The UN Special Committee for Peacekeeping 
(C-34) reports to the UN General Assembly through the 
Special Political and Decolonization Committee (4th 
Committee).   It operates by consensus.  The C-34's 
annual substantive session produces a negotiated 
report which lays out overall principles for 
peacekeeping, gives the UN Secretariat guidance, and 
requests specific reports and actions over the course 
of the upcoming year.  The Secretariat provides 
briefings on operational issues as needed during the 
year.   In 2007 and 2008, the C-34 failed to reach 
consensus during the scheduled session, and 
negotiations lingered for over two months on both 
occasions over proposed report language on "consent of 
the parties" to peacekeeping operations and 
"protection of civilians" as a potential peacekeeping 
mandated task, respectively.  This year's C-34 session 
opened with a general debate on February 23-24 
(reftel) and concluded on March 20 with the adoption 
of the 2009 report of the working group. 
 
 
UN POLICE 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The U.S., European Union (EU), and 
Canada/Australia/New Zealand (CANZ) pushed hard for 
strong language calling for increased staffing for the 
UN Police Division and the Standing Policy Capacity, 
and strengthening the DPKO's ability to support UN 
policing in general.  The NAM would only agree to 
weaker language that "acknowledges" rather than 
"welcomes" recommendations for strengthening police 
capacity.  The NAM, knowing the issue was important to 
Western member states, primarily used the issue as a 
bargaining tool for other sections.  Proposed language 
suggesting that the UN Police Adviser be elevated to 
the Assistant Secretary General (ASG) level, with a 
direct reporting channel to the Under Secretary 
General for Peacekeeping, was strongly opposed by the 
Russian delegation.  The Russians viewed the language 
as an attempt to weaken the role of Rule of Law 
Assistant Secretary-General  Dimitri Titov (the most 
senior Russian national in the Secretariat), who 
currently supervises the UN Police Division.  The 
Fifth Committee (Budget) will consider specific 
proposals for additional positions and assets for the 
Police Division and Standing Police Capacity this 
spring, probably in May; the agreed C-34 text was 
strong enough not to have a negative impact on those 
discussions.   (NOTE. The report states in paragraph 
75, "The Committee acknowledges the gaps in the 
capacities of the Police Division, and stresses the 
importance of addressing them..." and in paragraph 78, 
"The Special Committee recognizes the need to recruit 
qualified personnel for police components of 
(UNPKOs)."  END NOTE.) 
 
PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS/DOCTRINE 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The 2009 report contains language asking 
the Secretariat to develop operational guidance for 
implementation of protection of civilians and other 
mandated tasks.   In 2008, NAM concerns about 
"imposition of external values" and "infringement of 
sovereignty" manifested themselves in resistance to 
the inclusion of language calling for the Secretariat 
to develop guidance for the implementation of Security 
Council mandates of any kind but in particular with 
reference to the protection of civilians.  As a 
result, consensus on the 2008 report was delayed for 
several months after the end of the substantive 
session, and in the end the report contained no 
reference at all to protection of civilians. 
Australia led efforts to revisit the question this 
year, strongly supported by Costa Rica, Uruguay and 
the EU.  The U.S. played a supportive but low-key 
role, in order to avoid serving as a magnet for NAM 
objections.   The U.S. intervened at one point in the 
negotiations to insist on elimination of a phrase that 
would have weakened the concept of protection of 
civilians.  This year, the NAM ultimately proposed its 
own language, which was used as the basis for 
concluding negotiations.  While the final language was 
not as strong as that originally proposed by the EU 
and CANZ, the report now has a separate section on the 
protection of civilians.   (NOTE.  the report states 
in paragraph 111, "The Special Committee requests the 
Secretary-General to provide for its consideration 
detailed information, based on lessons-learned, on the 
provision of resources, training, and concepts of 
operations in existing peacekeeping missions regarding 
the mandate of protection of civilians, and requests 
an assessment of their adequacy in effectively 
achieving all mandated tasks."  END NOTE.) 
 
PERSONNEL/CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The NAM pushed for language in the 
personnel section that The U.S> and others judged 
would have gone beyond current UN rules governing the 
appointment of staff by giving preference to 
candidates from troop-contributing countries (TCCs). 
Regarding sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), USDel 
succeeded in the inclusion of language that gives a 
balanced analysis of SEA allegations, noting that 
while the overall number of allegations has continued 
to decline, the number of egregious allegations has 
not.  The report also has strong language directing 
the UN to provide disaggregated data for all SEA 
offenses according to the type of serious misconduct 
alleged.  Additionally, the report maintains language 
holding managers and commanders ultimately responsible 
for the conduct of subordinates. 
 
STREAMLINING THE REPORT 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Delegations from the EU and CANZ made 
repeated, strong attempts to streamline the report and 
delete paragraphs carried over from previous years. 
As part of that effort, the EU recommended the 
deletion of the Guiding Principles section.  Noting 
how the 2007 negotiations stalled for several months 
regarding a reference in the section to the "consent 
of parties" as a principle of peacekeeping operations, 
U.S. negotiators were able to convince the committee 
to leave the language untouched rather than risk 
opening this section and possibly much of the rest of 
the report to whole-scale redrafting by the NAM. 
However, several in the committee expressed a desire 
to delete the section in negotiations next year. 
Rice