Protecting Civilians in the Context of UN Peacekeeping Operations: Successes, Setbacks and Remaining Challenges
This study examines the creation, interpretation, and implementation of mandates for United Nations peacekeeping missions to protect civilians. Commissioned jointly by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as an independent study, its overarching objective is to produce analysis and recommendations to enhance the ability of UN peacekeeping missions to protect civilians.
The study examines the steps taken to transform the Security Council mandates to protect civilians into effective efforts on the ground—following the ‘chain’ of actions that support that process. As such, the study looks at the elaboration of mandates in the Security Council; explores the planning and preparations for missions, primarily within the UN Secretariat; and then considers UN peacekeeping missions themselves, including their interactions with host states and humanitarian actors. Four current peacekeeping missions are examined in greater depth to illustrate the challenges confronting them: MONUC, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); UNOCI, in Côte d’Ivoire; and UNMIS and UNAMID in Sudan. At each link in the ‘chain,’ the report attempts to identify impediments to transforming ambitions to protect civilians into realities on the ground, and to provide recommendations for how to overcome them.
The security of civilians in post-conflict environments is critical to the legitimacy and credibility of UN peacekeeping missions, the peace agreements they are deployed to help implement, and the institution of the United Nations itself. Likewise, the role of peacekeeping missions in protection of civilians requires the political support of the Security Council and the main parties to the conflict. This lesson is not new, but needs emphasis, especially given the challenges facing modern peacekeeping missions.
