peacekeeping force. Mobilizing the political will to act in those cases can be incredibly difficult,
and UN peacekeeping as it is carried out today remains ill-equipped to provide the type of
protection vulnerable communities require. We must collectively work to improve our
understand of how and array of non-coercive and coercive tools can be used in a creative and
targeted way to protect communities. If I might just end by highlighting one point made by a
speaker yesterday, one avenue that must be explored more is the role of policing both by local
and international actors. In many of the situations I’ve worked in international police or
gendarmes would often be far better placed to respond to the crises than soldiers or
peacekeepers. They understand crowd control and how to respond to mobs, their physical
presence monitoring situations can serve as a deterrent and help to build confidence and trust in
local communities. The challenge ahead will be to understand how policing and other responses
can be better used to tackle protection challenges – especially at a time where mobilizing the
political will to prevent and protect remains hard to do.
Thank you.