UN Peacekeeping

An Independent Report on Sexual Abuse Cases by UN Peacekeepers Surfaces

• March 16, 2015

A report commissioned by the United Nations but never made public — which studied sexual exploitation and abuse committed by UN peacekeepers — has been released online by AIDS-Free World, a nonprofit organization founded by two former UN officials, Stephen Lewis and Paula Donovan. The report, written by an independent three-person team, was based …

Peace and Security, UN Peacekeeping, Women

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Mostly, Sahrawi Women Just Want to Go Home

Johanna Higgs

• March 5, 2015

NEAR TINDOUF, Algeria — Our goal was to understand the dynamics of women who live in the refugee camps here in the Sahara Desert, where tens of thousands of Sahrawi people reside in tents and mud-brick buildings, having fled their homeland up to decades ago. The camps originated in 1975-1976, when the Sahrawis first …

Africa, Refugees, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, Women

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Colombia Takes a First Step to Participate in UN Peacekeeping Operations

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 1, 2015

As Colombia’s long civil war appears to be headed toward a hard-sought peaceful settlement, the government may be ready to send soldiers from its huge, well-financed military to participate in peacekeeping missions of the United Nations. Colombian forces’ work in fighting terrorism was presented as a selling point by its defense ministry, but the military’s …

Caribbean, Child Soldiers, UN Peacekeeping

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UN Peacekeepers Who Turned Predatory in Haiti

Kathie Klarreich

• January 20, 2015

On Jan. 23, the members of the United Nations Security Council will head to Haiti. It’s safe to assume that they will focus on the political crisis: because parliamentary elections were not held by Haiti’s legislative deadline, the current government, headed by President Michel Martelly, is now ruling by decree. It’s also safe …

Caribbean, Gender Violence, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping

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The UN’s Mission in Mali: A Deadly Fight Against Terrorists

Dulcie Leimbach

• January 18, 2015

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, the most demanding and bloodiest operation in the organization’s global portfolio, is moving its major functions from its base in Bamako, the capital, to Gao, a remote city also on the Niger River, and other camps in the north. The goal is to keep a vigilant eye …

Africa, Libya, Peace and Security, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations

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Ameerah Haq: ‘I’ve Had a Great Run — 40 Years’

Barbara Crossette

• December 15, 2014

Ameerah Haq, who will serve as vice chair of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s newly appointed high-level panel reviewing United Nations peace operations, has strong views on putting torn countries back together. Haq, a UN official about to retire after nearly four decades in the organization, began her career in the farming fields and villages of …

Peace and Security, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, Women

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UN Peacekeeping Upgrades Its Reactions to Conflicts and Adds Surveillance Tools

Barbara Crossette

• November 11, 2014

By the time United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named a panel in October to review peacekeeping comprehensively for the first time in more than 14 years, innovations in technology and intelligence-gathering to make UN missions more effective had already been introduced by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The strategic and tactical changes, some …

Africa, Peace and Security, UN Agencies, UN Peacekeeping

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Is Bert Koenders Leaving the Mali Peacekeeping Mission?

Dulcie Leimbach

• October 1, 2014

Albert Gerard Koenders, the United Nations special envoy for the Mali peacekeeping mission, may be leaving that post in Bamako, the capital, to return to his native Netherlands as the new foreign minister. Neither the UN nor the Dutch government has announced the possibility yet, but some media accounts in Europe and in Mali …

Africa, UN Peacekeeping

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10 Snapshots of Smarter Peacekeeping

Steven Edwards

• September 29, 2014

It may seem that major current triumphs are hard to find when it comes to the work of United Nations Peacekeeping Department and its blue-helmeted military, police and civilian units, which have hit a record high number of 130,000 personnel worldwide. Led by Hervé Ladsous, a Frenchman, the department faces daunting challenges as it …

Caribbean, Gender Violence, General Assembly, Peace and Security, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations, Women

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Saving Timbuktu’s Manuscripts, One Ancient Page at a Time

Dulcie Leimbach

• August 25, 2014

BAMAKO, Mali — The deliberate burning of thousands of ancient manuscripts by the Islamic jihadists who seized Timbuktu and other parts of northern Mali in 2012 dealt an emotional blow to the culture and scholars there and far beyond. To add insult to injury, some of the manuscripts, which were destroyed in the Ahmed …

Africa, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping

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The US-African Leaders Summit in Washington Leaves Malians Blasé

Dulcie Leimbach

• August 3, 2014

BAMAKO, Mali — As the first United States-African leaders summit opens this week in Washington, D.C, it is hard to hear Malians in their capital drum up enthusiasm for it. President Barack Obama has invited 50 African heads of state — excluding those from Central African Republic, Eritrea, Sudan and Zimbabwe — to meet …

Africa, Development, Governance, UN Peacekeeping, Women

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The Divided Life of Cyprus

Maria Luisa Gambale

• April 15, 2014

The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus marked its 50th anniversary in March. The mission, which supervises cease-fire lines and maintains a buffer zone, has involved 32 countries that have contributed troops and police, among whom 184 peacekeepers have died. About 850 troops and 60 police officers make up the mission now, operating …