United Nations peacekeeping may appear poised for a major shift in the near future. Over the past five years, there has been a steady decline in the number of peacekeepers deployed worldwide, while tw…

After twenty years of protection of civilians (POC) mandates, peace operations are entering a new period. The United Nations Security Council appears poised to draw down or close missions such as the …

The use of force by United Nations peacekeepers has always been contentious. As far back as 1956, the then-Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld warned that resorting to force in situations other than se…

On this day in 1999, the United Nations Security Council passed its first thematic resolution on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and expressed its willingness to consider how peacekeepin…

Recent events in the border region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan have brought long-running anxiety about the potential for conflict back into sharp focus. Almost twenty years ago, then-United …

Today, February 28, 2019, is the 100th birthday of Sir Brian Urquhart, whose distinguished career at the United Nations began at its creation and lasted until the final years of the Cold War. As an ad…

Today is the International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day. The United Nations General Assembly declared it a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both withi…

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the “Action for Peacekeeping” (A4P) initiative during the open debate on peacekeeping reform on March 28, 2018, at which he called for a “quantum leap in co…

United Nations peacekeeping has survived many crises throughout its history, but none has provoked such distinctive disgrace as peacekeepers committing sexual violence against those they are meant to …

Adama Barrow was sworn in as the new president of The Gambia on January 19 this year. The ceremony was held in the Gambian embassy in Dakar, the capital of neighboring Senegal. Soon afterwards, the Un…