The past, present and future of Peacekeeping
MINUSMA: Senegalese peacekeepers belonging to The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. The MINUSMA operation left Mali in December 2023 after ten years in the country.
2023 marked 75 years of peacekeeping missions in the UN. In 1948, the Security Council authorized the deployment of UN military observers to the Middle East.
This was the first ever peacekeeping mission. Since then, more than 70 peacekeeping operations have been deployed by the UN. Over the years, hundreds and thousands of military personnel, UN police, and other civilians from more than 120 countries have participated in UN peacekeeping operations.
So, looking only at the numbers, surely peacekeeping operations must have been a success? Recently, however, several countries have asked the UN to leave, including Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo. So, what is this a symptom of? Where are we, 75 years after the first UN peacekeepers set their foot on foreign ground? Is this still functional? Has it worked so far? And if so, will it continue to do so in the future? What is the future for peacekeeping?
In this episode of the NUPI podcast The World Stage, we take a closer look at what UN Peacekeeping mission are and whether they have been successful.
Here, you’ll hear from David Haeri, (Director, Policy, Evaluation and Training Division, UN Peacekeeping) Annika Hilding Norberg (Head of Peace Operations and Peacebuilding, Geneva Centre for Security Policy), Tor Henrik Andersen (Minister Counsellor Peace and Security, Africa, Norwegian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York) and NUPI Research Professor Cedric de Coning.
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