Peacekeeping
The UN’s capacity to implement peacekeeping operations has been a central strand of its work to maintain international peace and security since 1948. Since 2000, UN peacekeeping has undergone significant reform, in large part owing to the publication and implementation of the Brahimi Panel Report (2000) (pdf 244kb), which was commissioned by the UN Secretary-General after failures in UN peacekeeping during the 1990’s. This process of reform is ongoing. The UN has set out its Peacekeeping 2010 agenda (pdf 401kb) to build on the Brahimi reforms and enable it to meet the challenges of managing complex peacekeeping operations in the 21st century.
The UN currently directs and supports seventeen peacekeeping operations in different parts of the world, comprising 102,118 military peacekeepers, civilian police and civilian personnel. “Traditional” peacekeeping missions, for instance where the UN has monitored a ceasefire between two states, are now the exception. A typical modern peacekeeping mission is likely to be mandated to maintain a fragile peace within a country, establishing security, monitoring incidents and working with a transitional government and the international community to train police, restore justice and the rule of law, carry out disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes, monitor human rights and initiate elections. Never before have UN peacekeeping missions been faced with such a broad and challenging agenda.
UN Peacekeepers