Will The World’s High Risk Investment In Sudan Protect Civilians?
From January 9-11, southern Sudan will vote whether to secede and become Africa’s newest country. The international community has made extraordinary investments to prevent a reigniting of civil war between the north and south, but the question remains whether that investment can prevent additional violence against civilians. This is the first of two Stimson spotlights […]
Liberia: The Forgotten Experiment in Nation-Building
After nearly a decade and a half of civil war, Liberia prepares to have its second post-conflict presidential election in 2011. With billions in foreign investment, Africa’s first female President running for re-election, and the UN looking to dramatically reduce its peacekeeping operations, Liberia’s fragile security will once again be tested. By Benjamin Flowers […]
Protecting Civilians: Proposed Principles for Military Operations
Whether as the primary goal or a key operational objective, protecting civilians from systematic violence and mass atrocity creates unique considerations for military operations. This document is the culmination of several years of research by the Stimson Center’s Future of Peace Operations program on those considerations, and what such operations require to succeed. It is […]
Protecting Civilians in the Context of UN Peacekeeping Operations
By Victoria Holt and Glyn Taylor with Max Kelly In December 2009, the United Nations released a much-anticipated independent study, Protecting Civilians in the Context of UN Peacekeeping Operations: Successes, Setbacks and Remaining Challenges. One and a half years in the making, the independent study was commissioned by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and […]
Protecting Civilians In The Context Of UN Peacekeeping Operations
In December 2009, the United Nations released a much-anticipated independent study, Protecting Civilians in the Context of UN Peacekeeping Operations: Successes, Setbacks and Remaining Challenges. One and a half years in the making, the independent study was commissioned by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The […]
Halting Widespread or Systematic Attacks Against Civilians
This report is based on a workshop, “Halting Widespread or Systematic Attacks on Civilians: Military Strategies and Operations Concepts,” held at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center in Ghana in 2007. The meeting brought together former force commanders and mission leaders who served in international peace operations that faced the threat or reality of […]
The Impossible Mandate?
Is the world prepared to use military force to protect civilians from mass violence? In 2001, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty argued that when nations failed to protect their citizens from large-scale violence and genocide, the international community should take on that “responsibility to protect.” As policymakers embrace the idea of such […]
The Military and Civilian Protection: Developing Roles and Capacities
(Chapter 4 in Resetting the Rules of Engagement: Trends and Issues in Military-Humanitarian Relations, Victoria Wheeler and Adele Harmer (eds.), Humanitarian Policy Group Research Report 21, March 2006) Soldiers are increasingly being asked to perform roles in protecting the civilians of other states. While it is assumed that the political ends of peace operations should […]