Training is strategic investment in peacekeeping, says UN chief

United Nations Security Council open debate on "Investing in Peace: Delivering Quality Training and Capacity Building to Improve Safety and Security and Performance of UN Peacekeepers" is held at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 7, 2019. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that training is a necessary and strategic investment in peacekeeping. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that training is a necessary and strategic investment in peacekeeping.

"Training is a necessary and strategic investment in peacekeeping, and is a shared responsibility between member states and the Secretariat," the UN chief told the Security Council open debate on "Investing in Peace: Delivering Quality Training and Capacity Building to Improve Safety and Security and Performance of UN Peacekeepers."

"Training saves lives," the secretary-general noted.

"Our peacekeepers are deployed to increasingly complex and often hostile environments," he said, adding that "training prepares them for their vital peacekeeping tasks and improves their performance."

"Improved performance reduces fatalities," Guterres said.

Talking about the Secretariat's progress in fulfilling its commitment to training and capacity building, Guterres said that "on safety and security, we continue to take forward the Action Plan to Improve the Security of UN Peacekeepers."

"In the five high-risk missions -- MONUSCO, UNAMID, UNMISS, MINUSCA and MINUSMA -- we have conducted training support and assessment visits," he said, adding that "we are also instituting casualty evacuation training, stress testing and crisis management exercises in these five missions."

The September 2018 Declaration of Shared Commitments on UN Peacekeeping Operations, endorsed by 151 member states and four regional organizations, recognized the importance of training for performance and for safety and security. The declaration included a commitment by member states to provide well-trained and well-equipped uniformed personnel and to support the effective development and delivery of peacekeeping training, including pre-deployment preparation of personnel and capabilities, and the existing human rights screening policy.