In the evolution of peacekeeping and peacebuilding interventions it has become quite evident that there is a direct relationship and inter-dependence between peace, security and development. The 2004 report of the Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change entitled “A more secure world: our shared responsibility” already clearly states that without peace and security there can be no sustainable development.
Putting this idea into practice is of paramount importance to 21st century conflict resolution and prevention. The nature of peace-keeping has changed. Today’s peace-keeping operations involve a combination of military and civilian tasks which are often carried out in areas and environments where there is only fragile peace to keep. With the emerging multi-dimensional mandates issued by the UN Security Council since the early 1990s a debate has taken ground on the conceptual underpinnings and operational requisites of connecting and mutually reinforcing the elements of effective peacekeeping, long-term peacebuilding and development assistance that matters.
However, there are divides and frictions that run across military, police and civilian components, between planners and implementers, between leadership and operational staff. There are also inconsistencies in member states interests, policies, donor priorities and commitments as well as within the UN itself. There, different agencies and departments have been set up to address the factors from different angles rather than in an integrated manner.
The new UN peacekeeping capstone doctrine entitled “UN Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines” is a strong advocate of looking at the “core business of multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping operations” in a comprehensive way, coordinating efforts in stabilization, consolidation and long-term recovery and development.
A more integrated approach to peacekeeping, development assistance and humanitarian intervention has been recognized as the emerging paradigm. Only, that a number of political, conceptual, institutional and operational lessons have neither been fully learned nor translated into action.
The last decade has seen an exponential increase in spending on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian contributions around the world while resources allocated to development assistance seem to grow slowly at best, despite global commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Not only should the dwindling resources for development assistance be of concern; the fact that many peacekeeping and stabilizing operations appear to carry a focus on military intervention to generate security and even emergency relief, risks leaving the development side on the margins. However, all evidence from recent debates and research shows that if development assistance was able to play a bigger role in conflict recovery, chances of providing a legitimate exit strategy and producing durable peace solutions are higher.
There is a need to re-think how to better link development efforts with modern peacekeeping. The call is up to the UN, but also other, regional and multilateral bodies involved in conflict resolution, to revisit its institutional set-up and operational approach if the integration of development and peacekeeping is truly to be sustainable.
In order to contribute to this debate, UNSSC and ZIF decided to work together on the design and implementation of a “Dialogue Series” project that provides a space for facilitated dialogue resulting in tangible output for those actors facing responsibilities as planners, leaders, advisors and implementers in international and national institutions.
Nowadays, the majority of UN peacekeeping operations are in Africa, with most of the funding, personnel and equipment being invested there, particularly in huge missions such as in Sudan, DR Congo and Liberia. Fore this reason, the “Dialogue Series” have a particular focus on the varied lessons to be learned involving experts serving in Africa as well as African experts. To ensure this debate addresses the real issues, non-UN participants will be selected from African governmental institutions, NGOs, and research groups in this field, especially from areas in which peacekeeping operations are most prevalent. From the UN side, the Political/Peacekeeping Departments such as DPKO, DFS and DPA whilst entities such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Development Group Office (DGO) and the humanitarian agencies (e.g. OCHA) all have contributions to make.