Global Public Policy Institute
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04 August 2009
GPPi publishes article on civilian protection in UN peace operations
GPPi Associate Director Thorsten Benner and GPPi fellow Philipp Rotmann published an article entitled “Heillos überfordert. UN-Friedensmissionen und der Schutz von Zivilisten in Konfliktzonen”, which appears in the forthcoming issue of “Vereinte Nationen”, the journal of the German UN association.
The article uses the tenth anniversary of the UN Security Council’s commitment “to respond, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, to situations in which civilians, as such, have been targeted or humanitarian assistance has been deliberately obstructed” as a starting point for reviewing the status of implementation.
The record thus far is sobering: the promise of protecting civilians has often gone unfulfilled – as was the case during the 2008 Congo crisis. As the Chinese UN ambassador acknowledged in 2009, the “grim reality tells us that the international community has a long way to go in fulfilling its duty of civilian protection” – also in the context of UN peace operations. Member states need to act to address “disconnect between mandates, intentions, expectations, interpretations and real implementation capacity” that the UN Secretary General pointed to in his most recent report to the Council.
Benner and Rotmann argue that in particular, investments in prevention and mediation as well as the capacity of missions on the ground (in terms of availability, equipment, training, doctrine and rules of engagement) are urgently needed.
The article builds on GPPi’s ongoing project on “Learning to Build Peace? UN Peace Operations and Organizational Learning” that is supported by the German Foundation for Peace Research.
To read the article, please click here.
For more information, contact Thorsten Benner