The Brahimi Report and the Future of UN Peace Operations

Three years ago, the Panel on UN Peace Operations challenged the international community to strengthen and revitalize UN peace operations. The landmark “Brahimi Report” recommended sweeping changes in the way that UN peacekeeping and associated post-conflict peacebuilding are conceived, planned, and executed. The Report identified serious shortcomings in the UN’s ability to “confront the lingering forces of war and violence,” and helped launch an ongoing effort for institutional change within the United Nations that continues today.

Tackling such change and solving operational problems—from planning new missions to recruiting capable forces, deploying them rapidly and sustaining them in the field—are vital for the successful conduct of peace operations, a tool of international security policy that is likely to see heavy use for the indefinite future. Tracking and publicizing such change are also important if interested user communities are to keep abreast of the tools that they have at their disposal. In The Brahimi Report and the Future of UN Peace Operations, the Future of Peace Operations program tracked the recommendations of the Brahimi Report, identified which have been implemented so far and how well, assessed what that means for UN peace operations capacity, and recommended next steps.

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