J. Nealin Parker
Center on International Cooperation
Introduction
Robust peacekeeping and, in particular, protection of civilians garnered significant attention in 2009. In January, the Australian and Uruguayan governments hosted a conference on civilian protection designed to convince wary member states. In November, the Security Council's open debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict considered the findings of an independent panel on implementing protection mandates. Looking ahead, the Council's mandate renewal for the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), scheduled for December 2009, is expected to strengthen the mission's protection capacity. Furthermore, in April 2010, the International Forum for the Challenges of Peace Operations in Australia will also focus on protection issues. These discussions have taken place against the backdrop of a number of reform efforts, including the Department of Peacekeeping/Department of Field Support "New Horizon" project and the French/UK initiative in the Security Council - itself motivated by the siege of Goma in 2008.
As this activity suggests, major questions remain concerning the conceptual underpinnings of robust peacekeeping, its outer limits, its relationship to broader - and evolving - political dynamics at the United Nations, and its operational implications for the field. Over the past several years, the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) has produced a body of work on robust peacekeeping that addresses dimensions of these critical gaps. CIC's work has explored UN and non-UN peacekeeping operations, military and police dimensions of robust peacekeeping, and incorporated headquarters and field perspectives. This publication presents new material by former UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guéhenno and CIC Director Dr. Bruce Jones, with previous contributions from Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi and Salman Ahmed, William Durch, Madeline England, Ian Johnstone, and CIC staff.
This introduction draws together this research around four themes: (i) concept: what robust peacekeeping is, and why it is important ; (ii) headquarters: what approach at the United Nations headquarters level will contribute to the effective use of robust peacekeeping as a tool; (iii) field: how robust peacekeeping fits effectively in the broader context of a peacekeeping field operation; and (iv) alternatives: what alternatives are available and how they might be used to decrease the burden on an already overstretched UN Secretariat.