United Nations peace operations are increasingly recognizing strategic communications as essential to implementing their mandates and managing expectations about what they can and cannot achieve. This has led them to ramp up their communications capabilities and shift their approach away from the traditional top-down, one-way model of communication. Nonetheless, missions continue to face obstacles in […]
Read morePeace Operations & Sustaining Peace
IPI’s Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations (CPO) strives to be a center of expertise for independent research, analysis, and debate on multilateral peace operations. CPO provides timely analysis and actionable recommendations for member states, the UN system, and external partners to help missions better implement their mandates and build the foundation for sustainable peace. While the work of CPO is anchored in UN-led peace operations, it also examines broader critical trends in international peace and security.
- Action for Peacekeeping +In 2018, the UN Secretary-General launched his Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative to strengthen peacekeeping by promoting collective action by all peacekeeping stakeholders. This was accompanied by the Declaration of Shared Commitments, endorsed by more than 150 member states. In 2021, to accelerate progress on implementation of the Shared Commitments, the Secretary-General launched Action for Peacekeeping + (A4P+), which consists of seven priority areas and two cross-cutting themes. Read more
- Prioritization and Sequencing of Security Council MandatesIPI’s “Prioritization and Sequencing of Security Council Mandates” project aims to make UN peace operations more effective by strengthening the linkages between independent conflict analyses and the UN’s political strategies for countries where a peace operation is present. It also supports engagement by member states in the negotiation of realistic, effective, and achievable peace operations mandates. This initiative aims to help member states, UN actors, and independent experts, including from the field, analyze how country-specific peace operations mandates can be adapted to prioritize tasks based on evolving political and security developments. Read more
- Protection of CiviliansIPI’s protection of civilians (POC) program, launched in December 2017, focuses on issues related to the protection of civilians in the context of UN peace operations. Through this program, IPI supports the UN Secretariat in analyzing the challenges facing peace operations mandated to protect civilians and adapting policy and practice to improve the delivery of POC mandates. Since 2021, IPI has been examining protection efforts beyond the Department for Peace Operations (DPO), including the role of special political missions in protection and priorities for the UN Agenda for Protection. Read more
- Peacekeeping ObservatoryThe Peacekeeping Observatory is a multi-year project that has been supported by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces’ Department for International Relations and Strategy (DGRIS) since 2014. Under this project, IPI has produced a series of research papers and convened roundtable meetings examining emerging issues and challenges in peace operations. The observatory has focused on new technologies for peacekeeping (2015); the challenges of peace operations operating in violent and asymmetric threat environments (2016); field support for peace operations (2017); contemporary challenges to peace operations (2018); non-UN peacekeeping operations (2019); the prevalence of—and UN responses to— post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma, and mental health issues affecting the personnel of UN peace operations (2020); independent strategic reviews of UN peace operations (2021); the role of UN peacekeeping operations in addressing issues related to climate and security (2022); and new technologies in peace operations (2023). Read more
- Support to C-34 Committee Annual Field VisitThe UN General Assembly’s Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) comprises 155 member states representing all major stakeholders that support UN peacekeeping operations. To help familiarize member-state delegates with the issues and challenges facing contemporary peacekeeping operations, Canada, in its role as vice-chair of C-34 and chair of the committee’s Working Group of the Whole, has in recent years organized an annual field visit. This visit enables participating delegates to see missions firsthand and to directly engage with peacekeeping leadership, personnel, and other stakeholders. The costs of participating in the annual field visit are borne by participants’ respective governments. IPI is currently working with the Government of Canada to establish a travel fund to increase the participation of delegates from all parts of the world in the field visit. IPI has assisted by selecting delegates for the financial award, managing the travel fund, participating in the annual field visit, and preparing a summary report following its conclusion. As part of this project, IPI will follow the work of the C-34 Committee during its annual substantive session. Read more
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News, Events, Publications
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UN special political missions (SPMs) regularly operate in conflict and post-conflict settings in which local civilian populations face the ongoing threat of violence from armed actors—a trend that is likely to continue if an apparent increased preference for SPMs over peacekeeping operations persists. Despite this trend, understandings of the roles of SPMs in protection have […]
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Since seizing power in a coup on February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military has launched a violent crackdown against anti-coup protesters—a campaign of terror that may amount to crimes against humanity. With violence spreading, there are fears that the country is slipping toward full-scale civil war and state collapse. The international community has appeared almost powerless […]
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On June 24th, IPI and the Permanent Mission of Germany, with the co-sponsorship of the Missions of Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland to the UN, cohosted a virtual event entitled “Safeguarding Humanitarian Action in Counterterrorism Contexts: Addressing the Challenges of the Next Decade.”This virtual policy forum was convened as an official side-event on the […]
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The UN Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in June 2021. This comes in the midst of a challenging political context and deteriorating security environment in Mali.In this context, the International Peace Institute (IPI), the Stimson Center, and Security Council Report organized […]
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In June 2021, the UN Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) for the first time. This comes at a pivotal moment in Sudan’s transition, with the Sudanese transitional government facing high expectations from the Sudanese public amid a rapidly changing environment.In this […]
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Most countries that host UN peacekeeping operations face an impunity gap. Their national courts often lack the capacity to prosecute international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and grave violations of human rights. As a result, special or hybrid courts and international courts, like the International Criminal Court (ICC), often have to […]
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Nearly one year after the creation of a transitional government in February 2020, the main pillars of the June 2018 permanent cease-fire and September 2018 peace agreement in South Sudan continue to hold, but their implementation has progressed at a worryingly slow pace.In this context, the International Peace Institute (IPI), the Stimson Center, and Security […]
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The intersection between the protection of civilians (POC) and gender has been addressed in Security Council resolutions on POC and on women, peace, and security (WPS) since the late 1990s. Nonetheless, understanding how POC and gender converge, and translating this convergence into implementable action plans, are challenging tasks for peacekeeping missions.This paper examines how peacekeeping […]
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In contrast to recent transitions, the next wave of UN peacekeeping transitions is set to occur in contexts where civilians continue to face threats of physical violence. These transitions are likely to have major implications for the protection of civilians (POC), which should be a key consideration for the UN when planning these missions’ exit […]
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