Protection of Civilians at 25 Years

This year marks twenty-five years since the UN Security Council adopted the first thematic resolution on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and authorized the deployment of the first UN peacekeeping mission with an explicit protection of civilians (POC) mandate. With a crisis of confidence in multidimensional UN peacekeeping, and the UN Security Council’s recent adoption of resolution 2719 on the use of UN assessed funding for AU-led peace support operations, there is a need for further consideration of the comparative advantages of different types of peace operations when it comes to POC.

Throughout 2024, the Stimson Center – in partnership with the Center for Civilians in Conflict, the Government of Switzerland, and other partners—will host a dialogue series on POC at 25 years. The series will undertake a contemporary assessment of protection challenges in UN and AU-led peace operation contexts, examine the comparative advantages and limitations of different peace operation footprints in advancing protection, and generate ideas for future mission models that could support protection aims, building on the UN Secretary-General’s call in the New Agenda for Peace for more ‘nimble, adaptable and effective’ peace operations.