Chinese envoy calls on UN Police to improve capacity building

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called on the UN Police to get its positioning right in peace operations and to improve capacity building.

Over the past decades, the role of the UN Police in peace operations has gained more prominence and its role in the UN peace and security architecture has become increasingly important. At present, the international security situation is more complex, and security threats are much more diverse, necessitating the better use of police components, said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

It is important for the police component to get its positioning right in a peace operation, he said in a Security Council dialogue with peacekeeping police commissioners.

The Action for Peace initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres makes the political solution of hot-spot issues a top priority. This should be taken into consideration in designing the police mandate of a peacekeeping operation and be reflected throughout actual work, he said.

It is essential to strengthen capacity building. The UN Secretariat, the host country, and police and financial contributors should effectively honor their commitments, shoulder respective responsibilities, provide full-fledged training, and secure sufficient resources to ensure that each and every member of the UN Police has the skills and equipment needed for mandate implementation and self-protection, said Geng.

When it comes to protecting vulnerable groups, promoting women's participation and strengthening community engagement, female police peacekeepers have a unique advantage. Peacekeeping operations should provide equal opportunities for women in terms of training, recruitment and promotion. In logistics and security, women-focused arrangements should be made so as to gradually increase the number of female police officers, he said.

It is imperative to ensure the safety and security of personnel. The security risks faced by the UN Police have increased significantly in recent years. China calls for the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 2518 to enhance safety and security support for peacekeepers in a comprehensive way, he said.

Since the initial deployment in peacekeeping operations in 2000, Chinese peacekeeping police officers have accomplished various mission tasks under difficult circumstances. They set the record of zero rule violation, zero repatriation, zero combat casualty. Since 2015, China has also helped other police-contributing countries train thousands of peacekeeping police officers. China stands ready to continue to support, promote and participate in UN peacekeeping operations and work together with all peace-loving countries to contribute to international peace and security, he said.