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UN secretary-general confirmed for two Indonesia-driven UNSC sessions

Indonesia – serving its turn as the meeting chair of the United Nations Security Council for the most of May –  plans to conduct open debates about the training and development programs of UN peacekeeping operations on May 7 and the protection of civilians in armed conflicts on May 23.

Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post)
New York, United States
Tue, May 7, 2019

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UN secretary-general confirmed for two Indonesia-driven UNSC sessions Global appeal: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres makes remarks at the opening meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women’s 63rd session on Sunday, when a moment of silence was observed for those who lost their lives in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302. (AFP/UN/Evan Schneider)

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s president at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the whole month of May, Indonesia is to host, among other things, two open debate sessions to which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has confirmed attendance, an official has said.

"Insya Allah [God willing], he [Guterres] will be present at the sessions," Indonesian Permanent Representative to the UN Dian Triansyah Djani told Indonesian reporters in New York on Monday, local time.

Triansyah explained that Guetteres confirmed he would be present because Indonesia’s main theme during its presidency, “Investing in Peace: Improving Safety and Performance of United Nations Peacekeeping”, was in line with his own focus during his tenure at the UN Secretariat.

Indonesia plans to conduct open debates about the training and development programs of UN peacekeeping operations on May 7 and the protection of civilians in armed conflicts on May 23.

Dian said the secretary-general would be a so-called briefer or speaker at the two sessions.

Guetteres has been voicing his desire in particular to increase the role of female peacekeepers in the UN peace missions. In addition, he recently also underlined the need to make UN peacekeeping operations “stronger and safer”. That is a key element of his Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative, which he initiated to strengthen peacekeeping by pushing ahead with collective action by all peacekeeping stakeholders.

Because of its strong portfolio of peacekeeping operations, Indonesia – the eighth largest peacekeeper contributor in the world out of 124 countries – was chosen among the countries that formulated the A4P initiative, Dian said.

Indonesia, aiming to deploy a total of 4,000 peacekeeping troops by the end of this year, has so far deployed 3,080 soldiers. Of those, 100 are female troops who were deployed earlier this year as part of Indonesia's efforts to enhance the role of female peacekeepers.

Dian said the strong portfolio was what made Indonesia confident about choosing the peacekeeping theme for its presidency.

Earlier in the day, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi hosted a visual presentation of Indonesia’s contributions to the peace missions at the UN headquarters in New York.

The presentation, screened on a large wall banner, consists of descriptions and pictures of what Indonesians peacekeepers have been doing in the UN missions. The presentation is to go on until May 17.

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