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. With generous support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, IPI has produced a series of publications focused on several of these priorities.
This series of research papers examines 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); climate, peace, and peace operations (2022); and new technologies in peace operations (2023). The topic for the 2024 cycle is The New Agenda for Peace and Peace Operations.
This series looks into what the UN can learn from recent drawdowns, closures, or transitions of UN peacekeeping missions. It analyzes the planning of the transitions, the role of various actors, and the capacity of governments and UN country teams to sustain peace after UN peacekeepers leave. These papers were produced with funding from the government of Germany.
These meeting notes analyze how UN policies and the recommendations of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) can be applied to peace operations in country-specific contexts. They emerged from a series of workshops bringing together UN member states, UN actors, and independent experts. This project is in partnership with the Stimson Center and Security Council Report and funded by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) with resources provided by the German Federal Foreign Office. Several of these papers are available in French.
This series of papers explores various challenges related to delivering healthcare in armed conflict, including how to ensure the international health response is coordinated, sustainable, and accountable, how to safeguard medical care and humanitarian action in the UN counterterrorism framework, and how to investigate attacks on healthcare. It is part of a multi-year program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
IPI’s series of publications from its Protection of Civilians (POC) Program focuses on issues related to the protection of civilians in the context of UN peace operations. The series aims to anchor POC in clear political strategies for tailored and impact-driven approaches, clarify POC roles and responsibilities for a better use of armed and unarmed strategies, and enhance the accountability system for POC.
These papers review and analyze mediation efforts around the world to extract lessons learned. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, they also make concrete recommendations to the UN on how to design and enhance its mediation capacities. The first set of papers (2014–2016) focuses on UN-led mediation processes. The second set of papers focuses on mediation processes where the UN did not play a lead role but supported specific aspects of negotiations or implementation of agreements. Several of these papers are available in French or Spanish.
This series of papers examines the participation and perceptions of women in peace operations. Included in this series is an in-depth research on the experiences, needs, and concerns of women who have participated in UN peacekeeping missions. The papers aim to increase understanding of the gendered assumptions and stereotypes that can negatively impact the work of women peacekeepers; the potential double burden placed on women police peacekeepers when it is assumed that they will undertake tasks such as engaging with women in host communities on top of their regular responsibilities; and challenges such as sexual abuse that may dissuade women peacekeepers from deploying or redeploying. This series was produced with funding from the government of Canada’s Elsie Initiative.
These case studies ask how countries are operationalizing the link between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and peace in practice. Based on fieldwork in these countries, they offer ideas on how they can best realize the 2030 Agenda’s holistic vision.
The Providing for Peacekeeping Project (PPP) is an independent research project which analyzes the factors that encourage or discourage states from contributing to UN peacekeeping operations. Its aim is to generate and disseminate current information and analysis to support efforts to “broaden the base” of troop- and police-contributing countries, improve the quality of troop and police contributions, and fill key capability gaps. This project is done in partnership with The Elliott School at George Washington University and the University of Queensland. Project outputs include:
These papers were published through the Independent Commission on Multilateralism, a multi-year IPI project that asked: How can the UN-based multilateral system be made more “fit for purpose”? They emerged from consultations with ambassadors and ministers of UN member states, civil society, experts, and the broader public from 2014 to 2016. The final report, published in September 2016, is available in French and English.
These papers aim to reframe prevention for the purpose of sustaining peace rather than averting conflict and to build a shared understanding of what sustaining peace and prevention look like in practice. Most of these papers emerged from a series of high-level conversations bringing together ambassadors from UN member states and other stakeholders. This project is funded by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) with resources provided by the German Federal Foreign Office. The papers are also available in French.
These blue papers were published through the Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity in 2007 and 2008. They aim to assist key stakeholders to prioritize and leverage the comparative advantages of the UN and other multilateral institutions in a range of thematic areas.
These papers aim to advance understanding of critical challenges to human and international security, assess capacities to cope with them, and offer a baseline for future research and policies. The first set of papers focuses on regions of the world, while the second focuses on particular topics.
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