UN General Assembly president stresses importance of conflict prevention

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- President of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak on Monday stressed the importance of conflict prevention with regard to peacekeeping.

"The United Nations was created to save people from the horrors of war, not to react once those horrors are in motion," Lajcak told the opening session of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations of the General Assembly.

"We can never lose sight of this. And we need to do more to translate it into everything the United Nations does -- from the work of UN country teams in the field to discussions between delegates in New York."

But he said that more conflict prevention does not necessarily mean less peacekeeping. "Yes, earlier action for prevention could in some cases avoid the deployment of military missions. However, in others it could mean sending our blue helmets to less hostile environments. It could give them a chance to keep peace while it is still there, rather than to respond to its loss."

Prevention and peacekeeping do not have to be distinct activities, said Lajcak. "When it comes to conflict prevention, our focus is often on special political missions, mediation teams, or the UN's good offices. But, prevention must be a UN-wide activity."

Peacekeepers often work in support of political, or mediation, processes. They have key relationships with national actors. They can help to flag early warning signs of conflict. "The fact is: prevention is already part of our peacekeeping."

He called for a stronger prevention focus throughout all peacekeeping missions. "This will mean ensuring that they can rapidly deploy and adapt in response to warning signs of conflict. It will mean developing tools for conflict mapping and analysis, including at the local level. And it will mean strengthening capacity for prevention and mediation, across the board." Enditem