As international security contends with new and emerging threats, civilians continue to bear the brunt of conflict across the globe. According to the UN there was a 72% increase in civilian deaths in 2023, compared to 2022. The number of women killed doubled from the previous year and children’s deaths tripled. In settings such as Gaza and Ukraine, populated areas and civilian infrastructure continue to be targeted by explosive weapons with devastating levels of death and displacement. Civilians in Sudan are facing dire levels of food insecurity, with ongoing flows of weapons and arms continuing to fuel the hostilities and killing and torture of civilians. In South Sudan, longer-term peace remains elusive with elections postponed again, and civilians face the ongoing risk of displacement due to insecurity and flooding. And in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed groups continue to prosecute a regional conflict in the east, with civilians subject to ongoing atrocities including conflict-related sexual violence.
Amidst these ongoing challenges to human security, world leaders will meet in New York in the coming days to adopt the Pact for the Future. After a year-long intergovernmental negotiation process, the Pact is an outcome document intended to coalesce multilateral action to address the challenges of the future. Chapter 2 of the Pact focuses on international peace and security, outlining an array of action items to address challenges from transnational organized crime to the protection of civilians in armed conflict to the use of digital technologies. The chapter also includes an action item “to adapt peace operations to better respond to existing challenges and new realities”. These commitments are informed in part by the Secretary-General’s vision for international peace and security, as laid out in his A New Agenda for Peace.
Peace operations are undergoing a series of crises and strategic shocks. In June 2023, the Malian transitional authorities requested the abrupt departure of the UN peacekeeping mission from its territory, effectively withdrawing consent to the deployment of the mission. The peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been drawing down and transitioning amidst protests against it while operating in parallel alongside regional forces deployed by the East African Community, and now the Southern African Development Community. In the context of Somalia, discussions continue about the follow-on presence to the AU-led peace support operation, which continues to undertake offensive operations against a terrorist threat while supporting efforts to build the capacity of the local security forces, in cooperation with a UN political presence and logistical support package.
These events point to some broader strategic challenges for the future of peace operations. Tensions continue to exist around relationships with host authorities and consent to the deployment of peacekeeping missions, with a preference by host governments for more securitized solutions informing their choice of security partners, and somewhat less scrutiny on human rights and protection. At the same time, the nature of conflict and types of threats to civilians continue to rapidly evolve, with efforts to mobilize effective responses hampered by geopolitical tensions and divisions within the UN Security Council. Such developments have prompted consideration about the comparative advantages of UN peacekeeping and the future role of the African Union when it comes to deploying peace support operations.
At the operational level, missions similarly continue to grapple with the evolving nature of armed conflict, the climate crisis, technology-based warfare, terrorism, mis- and disinformation, and transnational organized crime, among many others. In response to the acknowledgment of new challenges to peace and security, the Secretary-General has pushed for the peacekeeping tool to adopt “more nimble, adaptable and effective mission models.” The current draft of the Pact (rev.4) includes a call for the Secretary-General “to undertake a review on the future of all forms of United Nations’ peace operations”, with a request for recommendations on how the UN toolbox can meet future needs (Action 22). This call builds on efforts already underway within the UN system to consider how UN peacekeeping can adapt to the future. However, while it is understandable the carefully negotiated text in the Pact is unable to cover the breadth of challenges facing peacekeeping, it is notable that it includes no reference to the centrality of protection of civilians to UN peace operations, particularly given this has been a core priority of many of these missions for the last 25 years.
As member states consider how to make peacekeeping fit for the future, the inherent tension between the consent of the parties to deploy a peace operation, and the imperative to meet the needs and expectations of civilians when it comes to their protection, will need to be addressed. This has been an emerging theme from a dialogue series on ‘Protection of Civilians at 25’ co-hosted by the Stimson Center and partners over the course of 2024. Participants at dialogues in Nairobi and Geneva have reaffirmed the centrality of the protection of civilians to the work of peace operations, as well as the importance of prioritizing the concerns, needs, and expectations of civilians to inform the design and planning of such missions.
Just last week the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan called for “the deployment of an independent and impartial force with a mandate to protect civilians in Sudan”. Putting aside the logistical, political, and operational challenges of such a call, it nonetheless highlighted the ongoing relevance and importance of peace operations as a vital tool to intervene in situations where civilians require protection.
The Pact for the Future sets out a foundation to build on in addressing the challenges to the maintenance of international peace and security. In the case of peace operations, the recommendations are expected to inform future reform processes including the next Peacekeeping Ministerial which will take place in Berlin in 2025. Yet as the UN Head of Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix has acknowledged “peacekeeping operations can only ever be as strong as the support of UN member states.” Ensuring ongoing political support and resourcing for peace operations, and centering the protection of civilians in those conversations, will remain essential.
This commentary draws in part on remarks provided by Lisa Sharland at the Stimson Center’s recent dialogue on Protection of Civilians at 25 in Geneva, Switzerland held on September 9, 2024.
Chapter 2: The Peace and Security Toolbox — Centering the Protection of Civilians in Peace Operations
By Juliet Weis • Lisa Sharland
Peacekeeping
As international security contends with new and emerging threats, civilians continue to bear the brunt of conflict across the globe. According to the UN there was a 72% increase in civilian deaths in 2023, compared to 2022. The number of women killed doubled from the previous year and children’s deaths tripled. In settings such as Gaza and Ukraine, populated areas and civilian infrastructure continue to be targeted by explosive weapons with devastating levels of death and displacement. Civilians in Sudan are facing dire levels of food insecurity, with ongoing flows of weapons and arms continuing to fuel the hostilities and killing and torture of civilians. In South Sudan, longer-term peace remains elusive with elections postponed again, and civilians face the ongoing risk of displacement due to insecurity and flooding. And in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed groups continue to prosecute a regional conflict in the east, with civilians subject to ongoing atrocities including conflict-related sexual violence.
Amidst these ongoing challenges to human security, world leaders will meet in New York in the coming days to adopt the Pact for the Future. After a year-long intergovernmental negotiation process, the Pact is an outcome document intended to coalesce multilateral action to address the challenges of the future. Chapter 2 of the Pact focuses on international peace and security, outlining an array of action items to address challenges from transnational organized crime to the protection of civilians in armed conflict to the use of digital technologies. The chapter also includes an action item “to adapt peace operations to better respond to existing challenges and new realities”. These commitments are informed in part by the Secretary-General’s vision for international peace and security, as laid out in his A New Agenda for Peace.
Peace operations are undergoing a series of crises and strategic shocks. In June 2023, the Malian transitional authorities requested the abrupt departure of the UN peacekeeping mission from its territory, effectively withdrawing consent to the deployment of the mission. The peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been drawing down and transitioning amidst protests against it while operating in parallel alongside regional forces deployed by the East African Community, and now the Southern African Development Community. In the context of Somalia, discussions continue about the follow-on presence to the AU-led peace support operation, which continues to undertake offensive operations against a terrorist threat while supporting efforts to build the capacity of the local security forces, in cooperation with a UN political presence and logistical support package.
These events point to some broader strategic challenges for the future of peace operations. Tensions continue to exist around relationships with host authorities and consent to the deployment of peacekeeping missions, with a preference by host governments for more securitized solutions informing their choice of security partners, and somewhat less scrutiny on human rights and protection. At the same time, the nature of conflict and types of threats to civilians continue to rapidly evolve, with efforts to mobilize effective responses hampered by geopolitical tensions and divisions within the UN Security Council. Such developments have prompted consideration about the comparative advantages of UN peacekeeping and the future role of the African Union when it comes to deploying peace support operations.
At the operational level, missions similarly continue to grapple with the evolving nature of armed conflict, the climate crisis, technology-based warfare, terrorism, mis- and disinformation, and transnational organized crime, among many others. In response to the acknowledgment of new challenges to peace and security, the Secretary-General has pushed for the peacekeeping tool to adopt “more nimble, adaptable and effective mission models.” The current draft of the Pact (rev.4) includes a call for the Secretary-General “to undertake a review on the future of all forms of United Nations’ peace operations”, with a request for recommendations on how the UN toolbox can meet future needs (Action 22). This call builds on efforts already underway within the UN system to consider how UN peacekeeping can adapt to the future. However, while it is understandable the carefully negotiated text in the Pact is unable to cover the breadth of challenges facing peacekeeping, it is notable that it includes no reference to the centrality of protection of civilians to UN peace operations, particularly given this has been a core priority of many of these missions for the last 25 years.
As member states consider how to make peacekeeping fit for the future, the inherent tension between the consent of the parties to deploy a peace operation, and the imperative to meet the needs and expectations of civilians when it comes to their protection, will need to be addressed. This has been an emerging theme from a dialogue series on ‘Protection of Civilians at 25’ co-hosted by the Stimson Center and partners over the course of 2024. Participants at dialogues in Nairobi and Geneva have reaffirmed the centrality of the protection of civilians to the work of peace operations, as well as the importance of prioritizing the concerns, needs, and expectations of civilians to inform the design and planning of such missions.
Just last week the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan called for “the deployment of an independent and impartial force with a mandate to protect civilians in Sudan”. Putting aside the logistical, political, and operational challenges of such a call, it nonetheless highlighted the ongoing relevance and importance of peace operations as a vital tool to intervene in situations where civilians require protection.
The Pact for the Future sets out a foundation to build on in addressing the challenges to the maintenance of international peace and security. In the case of peace operations, the recommendations are expected to inform future reform processes including the next Peacekeeping Ministerial which will take place in Berlin in 2025. Yet as the UN Head of Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix has acknowledged “peacekeeping operations can only ever be as strong as the support of UN member states.” Ensuring ongoing political support and resourcing for peace operations, and centering the protection of civilians in those conversations, will remain essential.
This commentary draws in part on remarks provided by Lisa Sharland at the Stimson Center’s recent dialogue on Protection of Civilians at 25 in Geneva, Switzerland held on September 9, 2024.
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