Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the United Nations has been side-lined in the various conflicts in the Middle East and Africa; if provision is needed to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12376/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Since its inception over seventy years ago the United Nations has played a critical role in the resolution of conflicts and the maintenance of international peace and security. It does this primarily through the UN Security Council which has, under the UN Charter, ‘primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security’. The Council’s ability and political will to fulfil this responsibility is dependent on the degree of common approach to conflict situations displayed by its fifteen members. The Security Council has a variety of tools at its disposal to address threats to international peace and to contribute towards the settlement of disputes and conflicts. It has the power to authorise military action, deploy peacekeeping and political missions, and to impose sanctions against non-compliant States.

The most tangible expression of UN’s role in addressing conflict is the deployment of peacekeeping operations. Peacekeeping operations receive their mandate directly from the UN Security Council and there are currently sixteen peacekeeping missions deployed worldwide. The UN also invests significant resources in conflict prevention and mediation. The UN Department of Political Affairs’ Mediation Support Unit (MSU) is an instrument which works across the spectrum of conflict-affected countries, with local and national governments, as well as with other organisations to plan and support mediation efforts in the field. The Unit works to identify key mediation challenges in a particular country setting and to ensure that the right expertise is provided at the right time.

In recent years however it is true to say that the United National Security Council has been divided over responses to various conflicts, ranging from Syria and Israel/Palestine in the Middle East, to Burundi and South Sudan in Africa. Even when the Council has agreed to authorise intervention, for example in Libya in 2011, the results have not always been positive. While the UN undoubtedly has a central role to play in addressing conflict, ongoing crises in the Middle East and Africa serve to underscore the need for the UN to be much more effective. UN structures and systems are in need of reform and Ireland has been a strong supporter of efforts to improve them.

In 2015, the UN Secretary General initiated three major review exercises which were aimed at improving the overall effectiveness of the UN’s response to conflict. The findings from the high level policy reviews on (1) UN Peace Operations, (2) Peacebuilding Architecture and (3) Women, Peace and Security were published and are in the process of being implemented. Each of the reviews offered recommendations on how the UN can improve and reform its functions and structures particularly in relation to the global challenge presented by conflict and war. Ireland engaged fully with all three reviews, calling for the recommendations to be discussed and implemented as part of our broader calls for UN reform.

Ireland has also called for UN Security Council reform and has consistently stated that the Council needs to become more representative, more transparent and more efficient. In New York, Ireland has called for an expansion of Security Council membership and for the veto of the five permanent members of the Council to only be used in very extreme situations. Ireland is a member of ACT, the ‘Accountability, Coherence and Transparency’ group in the UN, that calls for a more accountable and transparent UN system. We are a strong supporter of the ACT Code of Conduct which calls on all member states, including the permanent members, to support timely and decisive action by the Security Council aimed at preventing or ending genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Ireland will continue to advocate for reform of the UN to ensure that it is equipped to respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century and fulfil its critical role in the maintenance of international peace and security.