Protecting Civilians in the Context of UN Peacekeeping Operations

This study examines the creation, interpretation, and implementation of mandates for United Nations peacekeeping missions to protect civilians. Commissioned jointly by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as an independent study, its overarching objective is to produce analysis and recommendations to enhance the ability of UN peacekeeping missions to protect civilians.

The study examines the steps taken to transform the Security Council mandates to protect civilians into effective efforts on the ground—following the ‘chain’ of actions that support that process. As such, the study looks at the elaboration of mandates in the Security Council; explores the planning and preparations for missions, primarily within the UN Secretariat; and then considers UN peacekeeping missions themselves, including their interactions with host states and humanitarian actors. Four current peace-keeping missions are examined in greater depth to illustrate the challenges confronting them: MONUC, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); UNOCI, in Côte d’Ivoire; and UNMIS and UNAMID in Sudan.