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1. What Next for UN Peace Operations? Global crisis management in a post-COVID-19 world

Author:
Richard Gowan and Louise Riis Andersen
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
With a global recession looming due to COVID-19,the large blue-helmet UN missions will be harder to sustain, both financially and politically. So the UN is learning to “think small”. Recommendations ■ The Secretariat should work with member states to improve the UN’s mechanisms for deploying bespoke, case-specific peace operations and SPMs at short notice. ■ Member states should stand ready to deploy small numbers of military and police personnel to serve in more flexible forms of UN operations and to offer specialized expertise and training as requested. ■ Member states should pay their respective share of the UN peacekeeping budget on time and increase their voluntary contributions.
Topic:
United Nations, Peacekeeping, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Africa, Mali, and South Sudan

2. Peacekeeping in the shadow of Covid-19 era

Author:
Richard Gowan and Louise Riis Andersen
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
COVID-19 has had an immediate impact on UN peace operations. Troop rotations have been frozen, and interactions with local populations minimized. Yet the long-term economic and political consequences for peacekeeping look more severe. Recommendations UN leaders and member states should: ■ Sustain and where necessary boost funding for UN operations and other international actors to support host states’ efforts to manage the consequences of COVID-19. ■ Commit to maintaining current levels of UN deployments throughout 2020 and to ensuring that deployed personnel are not carrying COVID-19 in order to reduce uncertainty over the future of missions. ■ Offer specialists in public health management and related fields to strengthen planning within missions at UN headquarters and thus help manage the crisis.
Topic:
United Nations, Peacekeeping, UN Security Council, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. The challenges of supplying the frontline in Mali

Author:
Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, Peter Albrecht, and Rikke Haugegaard
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Peacekeepers in the UN stabilization mission in Mali (MINUSMA) operate under very difficult conditions, especially in the outskirts of the mission. The recent jihadist attack on a military base in Gao in northern Mali, killing 60 and wounding more than 100, is the latest example of how dangerous working in this part of the country is. This policy brief, based on fieldwork in Mali, analyses the challenges to the mission of supplying fuel, food and water to these areas. In doing so, it describes the inequality that exists between African and non-African soldiers.
Topic:
United Nations, International Security, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Mali

4. Inequality hampers intelligence gathering in Mali

Author:
Peter Albrecht, Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, and Rikke Haugegaard
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
n 2014, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) established an intelligence capability that is unprecedented for how peacekeeping operations are organized. An All Sources Information Fusion Unit (ASIFU) was set up to assist MINUSMA in countering asymmetric threats faced by mission personnel and the local population. This policy brief focuses on how inadequate collaboration and lack of trust between European and African forces in the mission impede sharing of intelligence. Insight is provided on why and how the intelligence capability could benefit from the cultural knowledge and language skills of African troops. The policy brief is one of the outputs of a project that has explored the plight of African peacekeepers in MINUSMA. The project is a collaborative effort between DIIS and the Royal Danish Defence College. It is funded by the Danish Ministry of Defence.
Topic:
United Nations, International Affairs, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Mali

5. When Peacekeepers Do Damage: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Democratic Republic Of Congo

Author:
Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde and Thomas Mandrup
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Despite that South Africa deploys the highest numbers of female soldiers in the United Nations Organisation Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), significant challenges to changing a military culture that tacitly accepts sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of local populations in the DRC remain. A new DIIS policy brief discusses the measures taken to adress SEA in MONUSCO. In the South African contigent in MONUSCO, 18% of the military personnel are women compared to the average of 3.8% for UN peacekeeping missions. The brief argues that strengthening in-mission gender training and investigtative capacities will be small, yet realistic, steps forward. Furthermore, the UN the should put more pressure on troop contributing countries to hold their defence leadership accountable for effective command and control enforcement. The policy brief is based on a collaborative research between DIIS and the Royal Danish Defence College, RDDC.
Topic:
United Nations, International Affairs, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Democratic Republic of the Congo

6. Female Peacekeepers Are Vital for the UN Mission In Mali

Author:
Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, Peter Albrecht, and Rikke Haugegaard
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Despite efforts to increase the deployment of female soldiers, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) remains dominated by men. A new DIIS policy brief discusses how to increase gender awareness in MINUSMA. In the MINUSMA force of 11,000 troops, only 1.8% of military personnel are women compared to the average of 3.8% for UN peacekeeping missions. The brief argues that a focus on the operational relevance of gender integration and on strengthening existing capacities in the mission will be small, yet realistic, steps forward. Furthermore, MINUSMA should use African nations with a solid focus on gender in their own armies as role models and mentors for all military staff across the mission. The policy brief is based on a collaborative research between DIIS and the Royal Danish Defence College, RDDC.
Topic:
Gender Issues, International Affairs, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Mali

7. A Viable Libyan Government Must Be Built From The Bottom Up

Author:
Rasmus Alenius Boserup, Hans Lucht, and Mohamed Eljarh
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Hampered by a combination of a historical absence of strong and centralized state institutions and a recent destruction of the institutional pillars underpinning the Gaddafi-regime, Libya’s transition government that took office on 17 December 2015, remains at a loss. Like previous transition governments, the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) has failed to re-establish central authority. In a new DIIS brief, Senior Researchers Rasmus Alenius Boserup and Hans Lucht and Non-resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Mohamed Eljarh, analyse the constraints for the current government. They propose a way forward based on an acknowledgement that power resides in the peripheries of Libya, not at the centre.
Topic:
Political Power Sharing, Peacekeeping, and Political and institutional effectiveness
Political Geography:
Libya

8. Nordic-Baltic Support to Military and Security Capacity Building?

Publication Date:
12-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Support to Military and Security Capacity Building is expanding as a way to strengthen the resilience of states and enhance their ability to manage conflict and insecurity constructively. It offers new openings for Nordic and Baltic engagements and partnerships.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, NATO, United Nations, Fragile/Failed State, and Peacekeeping

9. Blue Helmets and Grey Zones: Do UN Multidimensional Peace Operations Work?

Author:
Louise Riis Andersen and Peter Emil Engedal
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Multidimensional peace operations have emerged as one of the key instruments for addressing and managing the complex challenges related to violent conflict and state fragility in the Global South. Based on a reading of existing literature Louise Riis Andersen and Peter Emil Engedal provide an overview of what we know of the UN's ability to assist war-torn societies in laying the foundations for lasting peace. The basic message of the report is that peacekeeping works, but statebuilding fails: In general, multidimensional UN-led peace operations have been successful at preventing the resumption of war, yet they have not succeeded in establishing effective and legitimate institutions of governance. The report also concludes that while the system is far from perfect, the UN peacekeeping apparatus has been reformed and strengthen considerably in the past decade. Outstanding challenges relate to contextualising interventions and ensuring local ownership, as well as to maintaining the normative consensus on the role of UN peace operations.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, War, Peacekeeping, and Reform
Political Geography:
United Nations

10. Japanese and South Korean Environmental Aid: What are their life stories?

Author:
Aki Tonami and Anders Riel Müller
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Environmental aid has become a major component of foreign aid, as environmental degradation and climate change have arisen as global concerns. Japan contends it has committed itself to the protection of the global environment since the 90s, and environmental aid has been an important part of that effort. South Korea has recently become an emerging actor in the development aid community and has also started to market its green diplomacy through programs such as the Global Green Growth Institute. Meanwhile, both Japanese aid and Korean aid have been criticized for being driven by their economic interests rather than altruism and that they focus too strongly on infrastructure projects.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Peace Studies, United Nations, War, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Japan