Swiss call for efficient peacekeeping

Peacekeeping missions do not make sense unless there are credible peace processes behind them, Switzerland's ambassador to the United Nations has said.

Speaking before a UN committee in New York, Peter Maurer said the international community saw such peacekeepers as a way for healing to begin, but the gap between those high expectations and the means to achieve them was too wide if all parties weren’t part of the peace process as well.

Wednesday’s discussions were part of the UN’s efforts to make peacekeeping missions more efficient.

Switzerland gives money to the UN for such missions but its contribution has nearly doubled in the last three years to more than SFr90 million ($77.43 million).

Maurer welcomed efforts to streamline the efforts and praised a pilot programme that seeks to tighten coordination between various UN agencies on the ground.

The ambassador suggested another way to make missions more efficient would be to establish regional bases with soldiers and equipment that could serve as centres for many missions. As it is now, each mission requires its own base.