The United Nations at 70

witness seminar 3

The UN and international peace and security: navigating a divided world? ~British perspectives and experiences~ Wednesday 13 January 2016, Hoare Memorial Hall, Church House, Westminster

INTRODUCTION TO SEMINAR SERIES

To mark the UN’s 70th anniversary this year, the British Association of Former UN Civil Servants (BAFUNCS) and United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK) are organising three witness seminars to draw on the experience of British citizens who have worked for the UN over the past seven decades.

The purpose of the seminar series is to provide recommendations for UK action to increase the effectiveness of the UN, at a time when the need for the UN is more urgent but the international system is under increasing strain. Our partners for the seminar series are: All Souls College, Oxford; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; Institute of Development Studies, Sussex; King’s College London; and the Overseas Development Institute. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DFID) have generously provided funding for the series.

The events take the form of ‘witness seminars’ that will capture the experiences of senior individuals, in particular British citizens, who have worked for or with the UN system at the headquarters and country level. They will serve as a record of testimony, providing a long-term perspective on UN issues and contributing to knowledge and understanding of the UK’s evolving role within the Organisation. UN scholars, practitioners, policy-makers, civil servants and students will be invited to attend and contribute.

The first two seminars have already taken place:

 Witness seminar 1; The UK and the UN in development cooperation, held at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex on 13-14th May 2015;  Witness seminar 2; The UK and the UN in humanitarian action, held at the Weston (Bodleian) Library, University of Oxford, on 16 October 2015. The seminars are designed to serve as a record of testimony, providing a long-term perspective on UN issues and contributing to knowledge and understanding of the UK’s evolving role within the organisation. They also provide an opportunity to draw out lessons of experience as well as policy implications, which are then shared with the British Government, particularly DFID and the FCO, as well as relevant UN organisations.

WITNESS SEMINAR 3

This seminar will look at the maintenance of international peace and security over the last 70 years, illuminated by the perspectives and experiences of British diplomats, soldiers, and officials who have worked in and/or with the UN, whether in the Security Council, as diplomats and mediators in the Secretariat, or in peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding missions in the field. Through this prism, the seminar will highlight ways in which the institutional framework of the UN system, and the UK’s role in it, have changed or not changed over the decades. It will ask how the UK can adapt its role in order to make the most effective contribution, taking into account current geopolitical trends. Non-British participants have been invited to contribute to each session to offer an external perspective on the UK’s role.

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The seminar’s sessions will look at: the evolution of the role of the Security Council and its changing interpretation of threats to international peace and security; the role of staff at headquarters (HQ) in planning and supporting a growing number of increasingly complex operations in the field; and the experience of those who have taken part in mediation and negotation efforts , who have directed peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations in the field, and who represent countries where such operations have been deployed. The overall purpose of the seminar is to discuss the most important and difficult questions confronting the UN as it adapts its policies and structures to a changing world, and to prepare recommendations to the UK Government on its UN strategy. APPROACH In keeping with the format of ‘witness seminars’, each of the sessions will be introduced by two panellists invited to address the session topic from their direct personal experience. Afterwards, two respondents will comment on the presentations to provide an external perspective. During the discussion, participants will be invited to identify lessons from their own experience, which could contribute to UK policy at the UN and help improve the UN’s overall performance in maintaining international peace and security in the future. Panellists will be asked for short written ‘witness briefs’ in advance of the session that can be shared with other participants and included in the outcome documents.

PROGRAMME

0930-1000 – Arrival of participants

1000-1015 – Welcome and introduction

 Mr Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (TBC)  Mr Edward Mortimer, Chair of BAFUNCS

1015-1130 – Session 1: The UK on the Security Council: assessing the record after 70 Years

 Chair: Ambassador Karen Pierce, British Ambassador to Afghanistan, former Ambassador and permanent representative to the UK Mission to the UN and Other International Organisations, Geneva  Panellist 1: Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Representative to the UK Mission to the UN  Panellist 2: Mr Andrew Whitley, Policy and Advocacy Director, The Elders, former Director of the New York Representative Office for UNWRA  Respondent 1: Mr Sam Daws, Director, Project on UN Governance and Reform, Centre for International Studies, Oxford University  Respondent 2: Mr Yves Doutriaux, former Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the UN

This session will assess the UK’s performance on the UN Security Council in terms of how it has addressed challenges to international peace and security, and how its role has evolved.

Panellists will be invited to identify key changes to the UK's approach to its permanent membership, including in regard to: how the Council (and wider UN) has interpreted its mandate; changing dynamics in the Council (e.g. with the end of the Cold War, the rise of China, and the recent souring of big power relations); and important changes in Council working methods. The session will also explore how the panellists themselves navigated the divisions within the Council over particular conflicts, and their views on the desirability, and likelihood, of Security Council reform.

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1130-1245 – Session 2: Prevention and early action – the UK’s contribution

 Chair: Professor Dominik Zaum, University of Reading  Panellist 1: Sir Kieran Prendergast, former UN Under-Secretary-General  Panellist 2: TBC  Respondent 1: Dr Jennifer Welsh, UN Special Adviser for the Responsibility to Protect  Respondent 2: Dr Francesc Vendrell, former UN Mediator at the Department of Political Affairs

This session will look at the UK’s contribution to UN conflict prevention and related activities, at Headquarters and in the field, including: horizon scanning, policy planning and crisis management, human rights protection, mass atrocity prevention, mediation and political missions.

Panellists will consider trends, such as the increase in special political missions and their expanding mandates, as well as the introduction of Arria formula meetings, more frequent briefings from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other ways in which the links between New York and Geneva have been strengthened; developments, such as the creation of the Policy Committee, the Human Rights Up Front initiative and increased coordination with regional and sub-regional organisations; and reform proposals that could improve the UN’s capacity to prevent conflict, e.g. on the use of the veto in mass atrocity situations.

1245-1400 – Lunch

1400-1515 – Session 3: Response: peacekeeping and peacebuilding – the UK’s performance

 Chair: Professor Mats Berdal, King's College London  Panellist 1: TBC  Panellist 2: Mr Douglas Brand, former UK Chief Police Adviser to the Ministry of the Interior, Iraq  Respondent 1: Mr Quentin Teisseire, Political Counsellor, Embassy of France in the UK  Respondent 2: Mr Tihomir Loza, Executive Director, South East European Network for Professionalisation of Media

This session will look at the UK’s contribution to peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities. At the Headquarters level, this will include: the mandating, planning and resourcing of missions, efforts to find troop and police contributors and improve force generation, managing operations, and the transition to follow-on arrangements, including the track record of the Peacebuilding Commission.

At the field level, this will include: the downward trend in UK troop contributions and possibilities for future engagement; the way in which the UK has dealt with/improved/hindered the relationships between field and HQ and between mission and Troop/Police Contributing Country capitals; and how mandates are interpreted and implemented and the effect of national caveats on mission effectiveness. The important role of regional and sub-regional organisations, the recent reviews of the UN’s peace operations and Peacebuilding Commission, and initiatives such as the current US peacekeeping drive will also be considered.

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1515-1545 – Refreshment break

1545-1700 – Session 4: Lessons and recommendations from seven decades

 Chair: Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Chair, UNA-UK  Panellist 1: Sir Mark Lyall Grant, National Security Adviser, Cabinet Office  Respondent 1: Professor Sir Adam Roberts, University of Oxford  Respondent 2: Mr Paul Williams, Director, Multilateral Policy Directorate, FCO, TBC

This session will identify key findings from the seminar and suggest conclusions, with particular focus on making recommendations for the UK’s priorities at the UN, as well as recommending changes to the UK’s own policies and practices.

1715-1900 – Reception

 Reception remarks: Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, former UN Deputy Secretary-General

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