What are the shortcomings of the existing system of United Nations (UN) peace operations? This report assesses past UN experiences and provides recommendations to address strategic direction, decision making, rapid deployment, operational planning and the use of information technology (IT). It argues that without renewed commitment from Member States, significant institutional change and increased financial support, the UN will not be capable of executing critical peacekeeping and peace-building tasks.
In complex peace operations, peacekeepers work to maintain a secure local environment while peacebuilders work to make that environment self-sustaining. Strengthening UN capacity to develop and implement peace-building strategies is fundamentally important. The UN needs to establish more effective strategies for conflict prevention, in both the long and short term, including using fact-finding missions in support of short-term crisis-preventive action.
The consent of local parties, impartiality and the use of force only in self-defence should remain the bedrock principles of peacekeeping. However, in some contexts consent can be manipulated:
- Impartiality for the UN must mean adherence to its Charter. Where one party to a peace agreement violates its terms, continued equal treatment of all parties by the UN can result in ineffectiveness or potential complicity with evil.
- Once deployed, UN peacekeepers must be able to carry out their mandate professionally and successfully. This requires specifying an operation’s authority to use force, including in the defence of civilians, along with bigger and better equipped forces.
- A new information-gathering and analysis entity is proposed. This would: create integrated databases on peace and security issues; distribute knowledge and generate policy analyses; formulate long-term strategies; and highlight budding crises.
- It is essential to assemble the leadership of a new mission as early as possible to participate in shaping a concept of operations, support plan, budget, staffing and guidance.
The initial weeks following a ceasefire or peace accord are critical to establishing both stable peace and the credibility of a new operation. The UN’s rapid and effective deployment capacity needs to be further developed:
- The UN standby arrangements system (UNSAS) should be further developed to include the necessary forces to enable robust peacekeeping. Only troops meeting UN training and equipment requirements should be deployed.
- On-call lists of experienced and qualified military officers, civilian police, judicial experts, penal experts and human rights specialists should be created.
- A new and distinct body of streamlined procurement procedures and policies should be created and procurement authority increasingly delegated to the field. A global logistics support strategy should also be formulated.
- Integrated Mission Task Forces (IMTF) should be created, with staff from throughout the UN system seconded to them. They would plan new missions and help them reach full deployment.
- Headquarters support for peacekeeping should be treated as a core UN activity and funded mainly through the regular budget.
- Existing gaps in strategy, policy and practice impede the effective use of IT to support peace operations.
