UN General Assembly
1994

There must be a particular focus on early warning and early action in conflict resolution. Preventive diplomacy should be further strengthened. Thousands of lives can be saved and costly relief efforts avoided if action is taken in time. The new Swedish Government is ready to establish a United Nations peace-keeping brigade. We do this in response to the Secretary-General’s proposal for stand-by forces set up by Member States, ready to be deployed in crisis areas without delay. The need for better and more uniform training of peace-keepers is urgent. Particular attention should be paid to improved coordination between the military aspects of peace-keeping and civilian and humanitarian efforts. With this in mind, Sweden is prepared to contribute to improved training of peace-keepers. Sweden would like to see closer interaction between humanitarian programmes and peace-keeping operations. There is great potential for humanitarian action as a tool of preventive diplomacy, as well as for promoting a political climate that can facilitate the peaceful settlement of disputes at an early stage. The reluctance of Member States to pay their dues