Fiji's Black Rock training earns UN praise

The United Nations has praised Fiji's Black Rock Camp as a high-quality peacekeeping training centre while urging member states to meet their financial obligations to support increasingly complex global missions.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix made the remarks during his visit to the Black Rock Camp in Votualevu, Nadi, on Saturday.

"I believe training is fundamental, so I'm very happy to see the quality of this training centre here in Fiji," he said.

Mr Lacroix acknowledged the financial pressures facing UN peacekeeping operations but said member states must honour their funding commitments.

"We are doing all this amid financial constraints," he said.

"On the one hand, we must seek greater cost-effectiveness, and technological advances can help us do that.

"On the other hand, we have more complex mandates, and these mandates are created by our member states. They approve our budgets, so we expect them to pay what they owe. That is an important message to our financial contributors. At the same time, we will continue working hard to become not only more effective but also more cost-effective."

Mr Lacroix also commended Fiji for its commitment to increasing the participation of women in peacekeeping operations.

"I am pleased to see Fiji's strong commitment to increasing the role and empowerment of women in peacekeeping," he said.

"UN peacekeeping is more effective when there are more women involved. We have seen this across all our operations.

"We want to see more women in leadership positions and across all functions in peacekeeping.

"We have made significant progress, with more women serving in uniformed units and command positions, but we want to do even more.

"For that, we need the continued support of Fiji, one of our most trusted troop- and police-contributing countries."