Press Release: Cuba highlights the role and responsibility of the UN in the maintenance of international peace and security.

New York, October 26, 2017.In her statement at the General Debate of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee on Item 55: "Comprehensive review of the whole question of Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) in all their aspects” of the Fourth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, Attaché  Yailin Castro Loredo, representative of Cuba to the United Nations, pointed out that in Cuba’s opinion, the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security falls on the United Nations, in strict compliance with the purposes and principles enshrined in its Charter, including sovereign equality, political independence and the territorial integrity of all States.

She added that the basic principles that have been established for the development of the PKO, such as impartiality, consent of the parties and non-use of force, should be strictly respected and preserved, except in cases of self-defense; while noting that the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations is the only UN forum with a mandate to comprehensively review the whole question of PKO in all their aspects.

The Cuban diplomat stated that, in recent years, peacekeeping operations have become multidimensional operations, with increasingly wider and complex mandates that have sometimes brought about contradictions regarding the fundamental principles of peacekeeping. She added that the establishment of new and more complex peacekeeping operations cannot be a substitute for addressing and solving the root causes of conflicts, nor it is acceptable to use issues related to the protection of civilians and human rights in general, to achieve political objectives and interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign States.

Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations