European Peace Institute / News

On Wednesday, February 20th, IPI is hosting a Distinguished Author Series event featuring Richard Haass, author of A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order, with a new afterward to account for a new president with strikingly different ideas of America’s role in the world. The conversation will be moderated by IPI Senior Adviser for External Relations Warren Hoge.

Remarks will begin at 3:15pm PST / 6:15pm EST

In A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order, one of America’s best known and most respected foreign policy experts, Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, offers a profound examination of a world increasingly defined by disorder. He explains why the fundamental elements of a world order that has served the West well since World War II have largely run their course. Haass makes the case that the world needs a new operating system—call it World Order 2.0—that reflects the reality that power is widely distributed and that borders count for less. He argues for a new approach to sovereignty, one that embraces its obligations and responsibilities as well as its rights and protections, and he asserts that the US needs to define national security in broader terms than it has. A new afterward addresses what he considers the US’s unilateral abdication of world leadership over the past two years and issues the stark warning that the alternative to a US-led international order is less international order.

On Thursday, February 21st, IPI together with the United Kingdom Mission to the UN are cohosting a policy forum event, entitled “A Legacy of Peacemaking: Celebrating the Centennial of Sir Brian Urquhart.”

Remarks will begin 3:15pm PST / 6:15pm EST

The event will mark the 100th birthday of Sir Brian Urquhart (born February 28. 1919), a lifelong supporter of the United Nations and former IPI Board Member.

The discussion will reflect on Sir Brian’s extraordinary career as a peacemaker, which began when he was a member of the British diplomatic staff working to help establish the United Nations in 1945. The conversation will highlight, in particular, the important role Sir Brian played in the founding and development of UN peace operations. It will be framed by the history of peacekeeping at the UN, where we are today, and where we are headed.

Opening remarks:
Dr. Adam Lupel, Vice President, International Peace Institute

Speakers:
Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations
H.E. Amb. Karen Pierce DCMG, Permanent Representative, the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations

Moderator:
Mr. Jake Sherman, Director of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations, International Peace Institute

Due to their unique and complex nature, UN peacekeeping missions depend on effective leadership. Because few, if any, mission leaders have the requisite skills, knowledge, political judgment, and physical and mental stamina upon being selected, they require continuous, institutionalized, and sustained training and learning support. While the Secretariat has undertaken a number of training and learning initiatives, critical gaps remain.

This paper identifies these gaps and analyzes obstacles that impede progress in addressing them. It looks at gaps in three broad areas: knowledge of peacekeeping doctrine, policy, and practice specific to UN peacekeeping; knowledge of UN policies and procedures on financial and human resources management; and leadership and team-building skills. To address these gaps, it recommends that the Secretariat prioritize action in several areas:

• Centralize responsibility for mission leadership training in a single unit;
• Integrate training into planning and recruitment processes;
• Provide more sustained support to training; and
• Employ new tools such as scenario-based exercises for in-mission training.

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Due to ongoing conflict and insecurity in northern Mali, 1.8 million people require humanitarian health assistance, and 2.5 million are considered food insecure. Given the level of need, Mali’s healthcare system is ill-equipped to respond, and humanitarian health actors play an important role filling the gaps.

This issue brief maps the challenges these health actors face and assesses their response. It accompanies a policy paper published in 2018 entitled “Hard to Reach: Providing Healthcare in Armed Conflict,” as well as another case study on provision of healthcare in Nigeria. These papers aim to assist UN agencies, NGOs, member states, and donor agencies in providing and supporting the provision of adequate health services to conflict-affected populations.

This issue brief concludes with recommendations for how health actors can improve delivery of health services in Mali:

• UN agencies, international NGOs, and donors should continue to focus on strengthening and supporting Mali’s community healthcare structures.
• Military, political, and humanitarian actors need to preserve the humanitarian space in Mali.
• Relevant UN agencies, local and international health NGOs, donors, and the Ministry of Health should place greater emphasis on noncommunicable diseases, particularly mental health.
• Humanitarian health actors and donors, as well as development actors and global health actors, should improve coordination with each other on the health response.
• Humanitarian health actors should better ensure that they are accountable for the health services they provide, in particular to affected populations.

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The humanitarian situation in Nigeria’s northeast is deteriorating, with more than 5 million people in need of healthcare and over 800,000 out of the reach of humanitarian actors. Given this level of need and the poor state of the healthcare system in northeastern Nigeria, humanitarian and other nongovernmental health actors play an important role.

This issue brief maps the challenges these health actors face and assesses their response. It accompanies a policy paper published in 2018 entitled “Hard to Reach: Providing Healthcare in Armed Conflict,” as well as another case study on provision of healthcare in Mali. These papers aim to assist UN agencies, NGOs, member states, and donor agencies in providing and supporting the provision of adequate health services to conflict-affected populations.

This issue brief concludes with recommendations for how health actors can improve delivery of health services in northeastern Nigeria:

• Humanitarian health actors should improve coordination both with each other and with global health actors working in northeastern Nigeria.
• Relevant UN agencies, local and international health NGOs, donors, and the Ministry of Health should scale up the response to under-prioritized health services.
• Humanitarian and development NGOs, donors, and the Ministry of Health should focus efforts to implement the humanitarian-development nexus for health services on areas where it is relevant and feasible.
• Humanitarian health actors should improve their accountability for the health services they provide.
• Humanitarian donors need to ensure that counterterrorism clauses in their funding contracts are not overbroad and do not impede neutral, independent, and impartial aid.

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The Middle East and North Africa region could benefit from additional efforts to promote the Culture of Peace, according to IPI MENA Director Nejib Friji, President of Bahrain’s Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa, and BACA Adviser Mounir Bouchenaki.

This was the subject of a January 30th meeting during which the three parties pledged to further promote the Culture of Peace and the protection of world heritage. In order to do so, they asserted that it would be necessary to initiate dialogue among cultures, maintain the protection and conservation of world cultural heritage during conflict, and enact more preventive measures to do so in peace contexts as well.

At the meeting, Mr. Friji and Shaikha Mai Al-Khalifa discussed the substance and objectives of the forthcoming conference “World Forum for Culture of Peace” to be held at the Peace Palace in the Hague on June 13, 2019, in cooperation with the Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation, UNESCO, Leiden University, and IPI, and highlighted the forum’s focus on Iraq and Yemen.

Shaikha Mai Al-Khalifa confirmed her attendance and participation to the international conference, which is set to bring together heads of states, ministers, and high-level officials to advocate education of the culture of peace as a tool to protect world cultural heritage, with a focus on Iraq and Yemen in efforts to consolidate peace, transition, and reconstruction.

IPI MENA Director Nejib Friji met with Ahdeya Ahmed, the newly elected President of the Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA). Mr. Friji emphasized that the cooperation between IPI and BJA promotes the Culture of Peace and Sustainable Development involving print, audiovisual, digital, and social media.

The IPI MENA Director congratulated the BJA for electing a woman at their helm, stressing the need for women’s participation in leadership.

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How can we build on the achievements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)? This was the topic of this January 29th forum entitled “The UDHR: A Legacy Continued for Development and Human Rights Protection.” The event marked the 70th Anniversary of the Declaration, which was December 2018.

The forum was held at the Royal University of Women (RUW) in collaboration with the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR); the Ombudsman’s Office, United Nations Bahrain; the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Kingdom of Bahrain; and IPI MENA.

Dr. Pasquale Borea, Dean of the College of Law at RUW, stressed the educational value of the declaration as a seminal international legal instrument whose influence can be seen in  regional conventions, national legislations, and instruments of soft law.

“Spreading knowledge and awareness of the UDHR among the youth can be an antidote to extremism, radicalism, and intolerance,” Dr. Borea stated. “It represents a fundamental step to inculcate values such as dialogue, respect, and tolerance in the next generation.”

Focusing on Article 7 within the Declaration, United Nations Resident Coordinator Amin El Sharkawi underlined its connection to the fifth Sustainable Development Goal, gender equality, and the role women played in conceptualizing the UDHR.

Mr. Sharkawi highlighted the roles of Hansa Mehta of India, Minerva Bernardino of the Dominican Republic, and Begum Shaista Ikramullah of Pakistan who fundamentally transformed the UDHR by including women.

German Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain Kai Boeckmann offered examples of how his government urged companies to implement human rights. He also highlighted the private sector’s responsibility in upholding and promoting human rights.

Noting that International Holocaust Remembrance Day was on January 27th, Mr. Boeckmann pointed to the achievements of the international community in working together following the mass violations of human rights. “We need to resolutely defend all that we have achieved,” he stated.

After noting the gender imbalance on the panel, moderator and IPI MENA Director Nejib Friji gave the floor to IPI MENA Program Assistant Dalya Al Alawi to deliver IPI MENA’s statement and reiterated the importance of including women and youth to build on the legacy of the UDHR.

Ms. Al Alawi emphasized the connection between respect for human rights, peacefulness, and “positive peace,” and she advocated for the participation of women and youth in leadership to whom the 2030 Agenda’s pledge to “leave no one behind” applies.

Mr. Abdulla Ahmed Alderazi, Vice Chairperson of the NIHR’s Council of Commissioners reminded citizens and civil society of their duties to uphold human rights and in particular the importance of Article 29 of the UDHR.

Mashael Al Qutami, Specialist Investigator at the Ombudsman Office, pointed to the timeliness of the UDHR and drew on the example of how the 1970s international feminist movement gave way to the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against All Women (CEDAW), a significant treaty born from the UDHR.

In attendance were parliament representatives, private sector representatives, diplomatic corps, students, media, and the first female judge in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Mona Al Kawari.

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12-year old Adam Jade Kadia called on his peers, fellow students, and youth, as the leaders of future generations, to work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the launch of his new book 17 SDGs held at IPI-MENA in collaboration with the Gulf Petrochemicals Industries Company (GPIC), Supreme Council for Women (SCW) and Representatives of the Shura Council (Senate) of the Kingdom of Bahrain on January 24th.

IPI-MENA Director Nejib Friji opened the book launch that coincided with the International Day of Education, and strongly reaffirmed the key role of education in IPI’s strategy to promote the Culture and Education for Peace.

“Students, children, and youth are the custodians of peace and culture,” he stressed, highlighting the fundamental need to nurture them and build on their existing knowledge and practices.

He called on educators, nurtures, and parents to support children and youth, emphasizing the importance of building a peace culture from within communities and homes, and educational institutional efforts.

“I urge the educational institutions to streamline the Culture of Peace throughout different curricula, from primary and secondary to postgraduate endeavors,” he stated.

Reiterating the importance of youth in a culture of peace, Adam Kadia stressed, “we are the future generations, and if we do nothing, the world will not change.”

Underlining the importance of each Sustainable Development Goal, Adam explained the inspiration behind his book entitled 17 SDGs as wanting to share the message of peace, respect, tolerance and understanding with his peers.

“These Sustainable Development Goals are like a roadmap, we can use these goals to get to the place we want be,” he stated, adding that they apply to all members of the international community.

Calling on local, regional, and international organizations in the Middle East to undertake more youth-related programs, Dr. Abdulrahman Jawahery, President of the Gulf Petrochemicals Industries Company (GPIC), highlighted the refreshing creativity and innovation young children can bring in sustaining peace and development.

He stressed the key role private and public sectors can play by providing a rich and positive environment that will unlock the untapped potential of youth to explore fields of talent for the service of peace and sustainable development.

Dr. Fatima Al Kooheji, Chairperson of the Shura Council’s Women and Child Affairs Committee, underlined the importance of national legislation in providing opportunities to encourage the youth and the responsibility governments have in supporting future generations through education.

Concluding the book launch, Supreme Council for Women Representative Sheikha Dina bint Rashid Al Khalifa, Director General for Policies and Development, stressed the ability of children to think outside the box and how that can build on the efforts and contributions of past generations in addressing the interconnected complexities of the SDGs.

“The main question we will all walk away from is what we can do, how can every one of us in our own lives work towards implementing the SDGs, and how can we inspire others, how can we make a difference in our communities and societies,” she stated.

Following the launch, a debate took place where all the children, representing nine different schools, interacted actively, mainly on their roles to advocate and implement the SDGs.

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IPI MENA and the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) noted the necessity of women’s participation to achieve sustainable development and social peace in Manama on January 13th. In a meeting with representatives of SCW and John Hopkins University Graduates, IPI MENA Director Nejib Friji stressed the importance of the achievements of Bahraini women and called for additional efforts to realize the aspirations of Bahraini women and the objectives of the Supreme Council for Women to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dalya Al Alawi, IPI MENA Program Assistant, emphasized IPI’s research on women’s inclusivity, stating that women’s participation and involvement across all levels of constitution and policy-making is a clear indicator of effective, durable and lasting peace.

Highlighting women’s progress in the region through their expanding participation across political, economic and social sectors of society, she stressed the receptiveness and willingness demonstrated by governments in the region towards upholding women’s rights, such as through initiatives like Bahrain’s National Plan for the Advancement of Bahraini Women, and the active dynamism demonstrated by Bahraini women. She underlined the rapidly increasing percentage of female graduates and the subsequent growth of women working in the public sector as a prime example.

The question and answer session took place between IPI; SCW Representatives Ranya Ahmed Aljurf, Director of Gender Balance Center and Amina Al-Haddad, Head of Equal Opportunities from the Legislature and Civil Society Department; and John Hopkins University Graduates Ben Nussbaumer, Devan Kerley, Ao Yin, and Dania Abdalla. Participants discussed the importance of gender equality as a factor for regional integration, the key role religious education can play in mainstreaming women’s participation, and the role women played during the Arab Spring.

“There is no regional integration without social integration,” stated Nejib Friji, stressing that integration is the work of society at the grassroots level and cannot take place without the involvement of 50% of society.

He reiterated the necessity of incorporating women throughout all sectors of society, and compared countries that invested in women with those that did not, and how they fared better during the instability.

Pointing to Tunisia and Yemen as prime examples, he compared the crucial role Tunisian women played in steering the country away from the brink of collapse to Yemen’s lack of investment in women and the tragic result of the civil war. “Where women were not involved, it was a disaster,” he stated.

Nejib Frji concluded the meeting by reiterating IPI’s strong commitment and readiness to cooperate and engage in further exchanges with the Supreme Council of Women, civil society, and Parliament on women issues and empowerment.

Number of UN troops and police authorized by the Security Council in Haiti (Click for full graphic)

The process of reconfiguring, closing, and handing over responsibilities to a UN country team or host-state institutions is a crucial—and challenging—part of the life cycle of a UN peacekeeping mission. Transitions have been a central feature of UN peacekeeping in Haiti, in particular, which has gone through numerous transitions since the 1990s. This paper focuses on the two most recent peacekeeping transitions in Haiti: one from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH), or from a multidimensional peacekeeping operation involving a substantial military component to a small peace operation focused on police and rule of law; and the ongoing transition toward the closure of MINUJUSTH and preparations for the eventual handover to other actors.

For both missions, the paper focuses on three issues: (1) transition planning, including the political dynamics that influenced decision making, gaps between plans and the reality on the ground, and the limited role of the host state, UN country team, civil society, and donors; (2) management, logistical, and administrative challenges; and (3) issues related to business continuity and changes in substantive areas of work. It concludes by offering lessons learned from the past and current transitions that can inform the next drawdown and exit of peacekeepers from Haiti.

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International humanitarian actors face challenges to providing medical care in armed conflict. What does the legal framework for medical care in armed conflict look like? And what are the challenges it faces?

On December 21, 2018, International Peace Institute (IPI) Policy Analyst Alice Debarre briefed the United Nations Security Council Open Arria Meeting on “Protecting Medical Care in Armed Conflict—from Policy to Practice.” Ms. Debarre outlined some of the key international humanitarian law norms relating to medical care in armed conflict, and explained the significance of Security Council resolution 2286, which reaffirmed the relevance of international humanitarian law. She then provided thoughts on how these challenges in provision of services can be overcome.

One of the foundational principles of international humanitarian law, codified in the First Geneva Convention of 1864, is that all wounded and sick—including combatants—are entitled to medical care, she explained.  From this principle, a series of obligations have been delineated in subsequent treaties. Key among these are that parties to armed conflict must protect the wounded and sick from ill treatment and that killing or causing suffering or injury to those wounded and sick is strictly prohibited. Another obligation is that parties to armed conflict are required to protect and respect medical personnel, transport and facilities, and that the wounded and sick must be treated without distinction on any basis other than their medical condition. Also, medical personnel cannot be punished for providing such impartial care.

In the years preceding the May 2016 adoption of Resolution 2286, the world was shocked by a spike in brutal violence against healthcare personnel and facilities in countries affected by armed conflict. The adoption of the resolution was evidence that the council heeded the urgent call from medical and humanitarian organizations on the ground to address this concern.

The adoption of resolution 2286 also represented a strong political commitment to protect the sanctity of healthcare delivery in armed conflict. It created momentum for positive efforts to tackle this issue. As requested by the resolution, the Secretary-General published a list of ambitious and concrete recommendations for its implementation in August 2016. Last year, France led the signing of a political declaration on the protection of humanitarian and health workers. Some countries—notably Sweden—engaged in internal reviews of their laws and military doctrine. The World Health Organization (WHO) developed a surveillance system of attacks on healthcare.

“Resolution 2286 is also a strong tool because of its broad scope. We often talk about ‘attacks on healthcare,’ and people have in mind the bombing of hospitals, or violence against medical personnel. But resolution 2286 also addresses challenges such as the obstruction of medical care, the criminalization of healthcare workers or the removal of healthcare supplies from a convoy,” said Ms. Debarre. “They all constitute attacks on healthcare – and all need to be prevented.”

On the ground, there is an unabated flow of attacks on healthcare. Three key types of challenges in armed conflict contexts are:

• Outright attacks on medical facilities, transport and personnel. These attacks are often violations of international humanitarian law, they are insufficiently investigated, and those responsible are rarely held accountable – legally or politically.
• Legal, administrative and other barriers that health workers and patients face. Overbroad counterterrorism laws and policies, for example, have adversely impacted the provision of medical care. Health actors may also face complex and burdensome bureaucratic procedures to be able to operate, or to access certain areas.
• Politicization of healthcare. Parties to conflict have instrumentalized health services by denying access to or imposing conditions on healthcare providers as a political or military strategy.

Ms. Debarre then recommended ways to overcome these challenges. First, she said, we can insure we make more systematic use of existing international and other mechanisms to investigate attacks against healthcare—not just for the purpose of ensuring accountability, but also in some cases to understand what happened, and whether systems can be put in place to prevent future attacks.

Second, we can also include clear exemptions for the provision of medical care in counterterrorism measures, to protect health workers’ ability to do their job and provide impartial care. Finally, she concluded, it is important we better understand what it means to be a health worker in the country contexts in which the issues we are talking about play out, and to hear what changes these health workers think are necessary.

“We have a robust, longstanding normative framework and clear principles,” she said. We have knowledgeable actors willing to guide and support in their implementation, some coming all the way from Afghanistan and South Sudan. We need states to take concrete action to uphold the fundamental norm that those who are wounded and sick have access to the medical care they need.”

Other participants were Ambassador Olof Skoog, Permanent Representative of Sweden, who gave introductory remarks, and Farhad Jawid, Country Director, Marie Stopes International, Afghanistan; and  Dr. Evan Atar Adaha, Medical Director, Bunj hospital, in South Sudan, both of whom shared experiences from medical practitioners in the field.

UNOCI Peacekeeping Contributions (Click for full graphic).

In April 2016, after four years of progressive downsizing, the Security Council decided to close the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) within a year. This decision reflected a consensus that it was time for UNOCI to leave and hand over to the UN country team with no follow-on mission. However, the transition was abrupt, without sustained dialogue, capacity transfer, or financial fluidity, leaving the UN country team unprepared to take on the mission’s responsibilities.

This policy paper examines the political dynamics in Côte d’Ivoire and in the Security Council that led to the decision to withdraw UNOCI, as well as the stages of the withdrawal and handover. It also analyzes the gaps and shortcomings that left the country team ill-prepared to take over, highlighting two main challenges. First, the Security Council viewed the transition as a political process. Its objective of withdrawing the mission superseded all others, leading it to underestimate, if not overlook, the continued peacebuilding needs of the country. Second, the transition was accompanied by waning donor interest, undercutting programming by the country team in priority areas like reconciliation, security sector reform, human rights, and land tenure.

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During an event in Tunis on December 13, 2018, IPI-MENA Director Nejib Friji warned against perils to world heritage and called on the international community to provide all conditions of protection and preservation.

In a statement delivered at the opening plenary session of the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization’s (ALECSO) Fourth Meeting of the Liaison Officers of the Architectural and Urban Heritage Observatory in the Arab States, Mr. Friji reiterated the importance of the protection and conservation of world heritage as crucial criteria to achieve sustainable development and social peace.

Likening cultural and world heritage to a running thread that ties and weaves civilizations together, Mr. Friji highlighted the contribution of world heritage to the development of relations between countries and regions. “It thus becomes a work of cooperation and coordination, paving the environment for peaceful relations of stability and development beyond the borders and members of one community.”

Referring to the major damage incurred by radical religious groups to sites such as the old city of Mosul in Iraq or Sana’a in Yemen, he stated that “the destruction of cultural and world heritage strikes at the very foundation of a society, deliberately erasing common roots and destroying social fabric, creating a breeding ground for conflict, instability and social unrest.”

The IPI-MENA Director emphasized how the ruination of “oral traditions, museums, artifacts, temples, and statues” is detrimental to regional stability and social peace. He stated, “the destruction of cultural heritage ultimately amounts to a violation of human rights, and subsequently humanitarian law—both of which are core requirements to achieve sustainable development and peace.”

At a time when extremist groups are distorting religion and using the message of Islam as a political tool to erase cultural heritage, Mr. Friji drew attention to the significant role of religious leaders in the Islamic world. He mentioned the example of the religious representatives who convened at IPI-MENA office in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain in 2016, who called for religious leaders to unite in their condemnation of the destruction of world heritage by religious extremist groups.

Underlying the importance of involving youth, Mr. Friji stressed that “the value of our cultural heritage must become part of a national curriculum from primary schools up to universities”, and that education is a powerful tool that must be incorporated to instill a sense of common responsibility and duty within citizens.

In order to achieve sustainable development and peace, “a holistic approach that engages all relevant stakeholders: civil society, nations at the grassroots level, governments, regions, and the multilateral system” is required.

He concluded his statement during the opening plenary session by calling on all relevant stakeholders and key players locally, regionally, and internationally “to uphold, maintain and protect world heritage, to respect past generations, educate present ones, but most of all, to pass down to future generations their cultural history.” He emphasized that the collective responsibility of prevention is a mechanism to safeguard long-lasting peace.

The meeting focusing on the creation of the Observatory of Urban Architectural Heritage in Arab Countries, it was chaired by Hayat Guermazi, Director of the Cultural Department of ALESCO, and featured participants Mounir Bouchenaki, Adviser to UNESCO Director General, Consultant on the protection and conservation of world heritage, Karim Hendili, Coordinator at the World Heritage Center, UNESCO, Bilel Chebbi, ISESCO Representative and IPI MENA-Director Nejib Friji.

Mr. Friji highly commended the creation of an Observatory for Urban Architectural Heritage, highlighting the platform it creates that can allow the development of international legal frameworks that will protect civilians and the state of conflict, as well as the archeological and cultural sites.

Describing the way forward, he concluded that these recommendations “may be used to form the basis for a package of laws that may be brought up by ministers to international forums to become elements of binding international laws.”

Actual and authorized number of uniformed UN personnel in Liberia, September 2003-March 2018 (Click for full graphic)

From 2003 to 2018, the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was ever-present throughout the country. The peacekeeping mission’s work, and its transition out of the country, are considered positive examples of how the UN can support countries through conflict and post-conflict phases. Nevertheless, UNMIL’s transition offers many lessons that member states, UN officials, and international partners can learn in order to strengthen future UN peacekeeping transitions.

This paper examines the process of Liberia’s transition from a peacekeeping mission to a UN country team configuration, focusing on the period from July 2016 to July 2018. It identifies the political and operational dynamics that drove the transition, examines the policy processes and context within which the transition was executed, and assesses the ability of the UN’s post-mission configuration to sustain peace in Liberia.

The paper underscores that member states and the UN Secretariat should change their approach to transitions from racing against deadlines to instead viewing them as processes that begin well before a peacekeeping mission closes and continue for several years after the mission ends. By viewing transitions as long-term, multi-stakeholder activities, member states have the opportunity to ensure that future transitions adopt integrated approaches with adequate political, operational, and financial support.

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IPI-MENA received 12-year old Adam Jade Kadia, who presented the first edition of his second book entitled 17 SDGs to IPI-MENA Director Nejib Friji.

Mr. Kadia stated that the reason behind authoring his new book on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to urge youth and the global community to cooperate, as “everybody is in it together, we do not have multiple earths, we only have this one.”

He emphasized that the SDGs are tools to help “make the world a better place for us, the future generations.”

Elaborating on the original narrative of the book, Adam highlighted core principles touched upon by his characters in the book, such as gender equity and education. He cited Malala Yousafazi as an inspiration and example.

In 2016, Mr. Kadia presented his first book, Hakeem, the Adventurer at IPI-MENA to an audience comprising of his peers and students across schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain. His latest book cemented his devotion to peace and sustainable development. 17 SDGS will top bookshelves in early 2019.

On Thursday, December 13th, IPI together with Carnegie Corporation of New York are cohosting policy forum event to discuss the need for a participatory approach to measuring peace.

Remarks will begin at 1:15pm EST / 10:15am PST

We know that local communities—those most directly impacted and living the realities of violent conflict—are the experts on the problems they face, and that they know best what solutions are needed to make peace possible for their communities. They are the ones who notice the small changes that make up peace, and they should be the ones who define what peace means in their context, what signs in daily life determine whether the community is at peace, and what changes are needed to achieve this. The inclusion of local perspectives in building and sustaining peace is a central tenant of the UN’s approach to Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace. In order to operationalize this line of thinking there is a need for greater understanding among international peacebuilding practitioners and policymakers of the work of local peacebuilders in building and sustaining peace.

The event will focus on the Everyday Peace Indicators (EPI) project and the upcoming book, drawing from the EPI project, by Pamina Firchow—Reclaiming Everyday Peace: Local Voices in Measurement and Evaluation after War. The findings of this work suggest that current international peacebuilding efforts are not very effective at achieving peace by local standards because disproportionate attention is paid to reconstruction, governance and development assistance while little attention is paid to community ties and healing. As an alternative, the EPI project advocates for an approach which seeks to assist communities, practitioners and policymakers to question the assumptions that lie behind the existing peacebuilding measurement system that may promote an over-dependence on external interveners, and allows us to better understanding changes in difficult-to-measure concepts like reconciliation and peace.

Opening remarks:
Dr. Stephen Del Rosso, Program Director, International Peace & Security, Carnegie Corporation of New York

Speakers:
Prof. Pamina Firchow, Assistant Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
Prof. Séverine Autesserre, Professor of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
Mr. Graeme Simpson, Director, Interpeace USA
Ms. Michelle Breslauer, Program Director, Americas, Institute for Economics & Peace

Moderator:
Ms. Lesley Connolly, Senior Policy Analyst, International Peace Institute

On Tuesday, December 11th, IPI together with the Permanent Mission of Sweden are cohosting the policy forum event, “Delivery amid Complexity: Examining the Dynamics and Tradeoffs for Delivering on UN Mandates in High-Risk Contexts.”

Remarks will begin at 1:15pm EST / 10:15am PST

The reach and impact of the United Nations’ development, humanitarian, human rights, and peace and security work depends on its over 500 field presences across more than 130 countries. Whether providing life-saving assistance in Syria, conducting peacekeeping patrols in South Sudan, or enabling a government presence in Somalia, the UN’s field presences require multiple enabling functions to facilitate its substantive work. Providing these enabling functions—including risk management, physical security, staff welfare, logistics and transportation, medical response, communications, coordination and HQ backstopping, and access to civilian populations —is an underappreciated, under-explained and often daunting task in particular in crisis and conflict affected settings. Delivering in crisis- and conflict-affected settings always involve difficult choices between risky options and tradeoffs. Yet, awareness and understanding of these tradeoffs and their associated operational and financial costs need to be improved.

This policy forum will provide an overview of the dynamics and tradeoffs that the UN confronts when delivering on mandates in complex environments. Discussion will examine the functions that are common across various mandates, why they are needed, and the costs and trade-offs they entail. It will consider these issues at the policy level and illustrate them through concrete examples drawn from panelists’ experiences with UN field operations.

Speakers:
Mr. Marc Jacquand, Advisor, UN Executive Office of the Secretary General
Ms. Nannette Ahmed, Director and Team Leader of the Central Africa Integrated Operational Team, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Aurelien Buffler, Chief of the Policy Advice and Planning Section, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Moderator:
Mr. Jake Sherman, Director, Center for Peace Operations, International Peace Institute

Closing Remarks:
H.E. Ms. Irina Schoulgin Nyoni, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations

On December 4th, IPI, One Earth Future, UN Office for Partnerships, UN Peacebuilding Support Office, UN Global Compact, and the Permanent Mission of Republic of Korea launched a workshop series designed to catalyze engagement across public and private sectors and build new kinds of partnerships. While the private sector knows how to engage with topics such as economic growth and climate change, there is less understanding on how it can contribute to sustaining peace and the 2030 Agenda and how it can work together with the UN, member states and civil society.

The workshop was also focused on countries that need to scale up investments, particularly those that the private sector regard as too high-risk to engage.

The aim of creating this space was to address the main issue that has hindered effective cross-sectoral collaboration: an understanding gap between UN communities, civil society organizations, and private sector actors. Each of these communities interact with issues of peace and conflict in a different way, and without shared understanding about different starting points, attempts at partnerships may flounder. This workshop encouraged small-group discussion with country representatives, private sector actors, and civil society at the same table to develop shared understanding of each other and how collective work could be effective.

Table themes included: Fisheries/Food Security; Migration; Blended Finance; Measuring Peace; and Mobile and Digital Technology.

Some key points made by participants included:

• Business need to align their activities with the SDGs, not only because it is a noble cause, but because it makes financial sense;
• In order to make a “business case for peace” there is a need for a system thinking approach that addresses not only short-term needs but looks at the entire value chain;
• Knowledge-sharing and data are essential to create the needed frameworks for investors to engage in conflict and post conflict settings;
• Government buy-in is an indispensable requirement for businesses to invest in new projects that will have win-win outcomes;
• The private sector tends to overestimate risk and there is a need to do more evidence-based research to highlight that the benefits outweigh the risks; and
• The role of the UN is essential as a body that provides norms and standards as well as has a convening power that can build trust and credibility between different actors.

The private and public sectors have different definitions of peace and the workshop promoted a greater understanding of how to work collaboratively to address the SDGS and sustaining peace and how to develop “win-win” language for partnerships between the private sector and peace promoters.

The pilot session lasted approximately three hours and included about 60 participants drawn from member states, businesses, civil society organizations, and UN entities involved in sustainable development and peacebuilding. The discussions were conducted under the Chatham House Rule of non-attribution.

A meeting note will follow.

Related Coverage:
“OEF Announces Innovation in Partnerships Workshop,” Press Release, December 4, 2018

Armed conflict is a global health issue. Long-lasting and protracted conflicts in particular have consequences not only for the war-wounded but also for the health of entire communities. Over the years, global health actors and humanitarian health actors have developed health policies, guidelines, frameworks, and structures to improve delivery of health services in emergencies or humanitarian crises. Despite these advancements, however, the international health response in conflict-affected settings still faces gaps and challenges. Some policies and frameworks need to be rethought or redesigned, while others need to be better implemented.

This paper explores challenges to healthcare provision in conflict-affected settings. These challenges are broadly broken down into three categories: constraints related to the health system and damaged health infrastructure, difficulty for health workers to access populations in need, and restrictions to healthcare provision intentionally or accidentally placed by donors or states engaged on humanitarian and health issues (e.g., through the securitization of healthcare).

Tackling these challenges will have a direct impact on the lives of people in conflict-affected settings. However, doing so requires a radical shift in mindsets and the incentives that guide the actions of international health actors. Even so, more incremental changes can also be beneficial. To that end, this report puts forth the following recommendations:

1. Improve coordination between and among humanitarian, development, and global health actors;
2. Respond to context-specific needs;
3. Hold health actors accountable to affected populations for their performance, and;
4. Make responses sustainable.

This work is based on a combination of desk research, interviews with more than seventy key informants, and an expert meeting bringing together key stakeholders and experts on global and humanitarian health.

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