As a major troop-contributing country, Nigeria is aware of the acute resource...

As a major troop-contributing country, Nigeria is aware of the acute resource constraints that United Nations peacekeepers face in the field daily. Such constraints limit their ability to effectively protect civilians, guarantee safe passage for IDPs, facilitate the movement of humanitarian actors and, crucially, establish assessment and early-warning mechanisms to prevent a crisis. Indeed, better resourcing would make the exercise of benchmarking the outcomes of peacekeeping missions more accurate and effective. As caretakers of international peace and security, our efforts should be directed at addressing those and other constraints that militate against the effective protection of civilians. We therefore echo the Secretary-General's call for a comprehensive, consistent and accountable approach to protecting civilians in hostilities. In our view, the three additional actions suggested by the Secretary-General in his report will fundamentally enhance the protection of civilians.