On June 29, 2021, the UN General Assembly’s budget and administrative committee (the Fifth Committee) approved the annual budgets for peacekeeping operations. Despite the fact that a number of missions operating in complex settings proposed smaller or zero-growth budgets this year, Member States made additional cuts. This outcome calls into question whether the current budget…
The UN Secretary-General’s recent report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict (POC) highlighted the continuing high levels of harm to civilians during armed conflict. As outlined in the report, civilians continue to be killed, injured, exposed to psychological trauma, sexual violence, and the impacts from damage and destruction to critical infrastructure and essential…
The UN General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, the Member State body that negotiates administrative issues and budgets, is getting closer to the June 30th deadline to approve the 2021-2022 peacekeeping budgets. During the final stretch, Member States should recognize that missions continue to provide critical protection to civilians, approve responsible budgets that reflect the security situation…
CIVIC and 25 civil society organizations have issued a joint statement ahead of the May 25th UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. The joint statement calls for the UN Secretary General, UN Security Council, Member States, and armed actors to take urgent and ambitious action to shift mindsets…
On March 12, the UN Security Council unanimously approved resolution 2567, which renewed the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). The renewal comes on the heels of a year in which subnational violence with links to national political rivalries increased, parties to the revitalized peace agreement failed to implement many of…
United Nations (UN) Member States have increasingly highlighted the importance of UN peacekeeping engagement with conflict-affected communities.[1] The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated instability and exposed systemic inequalities in a number of UN peacekeeping contexts, emphasizing a new challenge of community engagement, while increasing the urgency of UN peacekeeping missions to engage vulnerable communities in safe…
On June 30th, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) approved the annual UN peacekeeping budgets.
UN Member States are now on their fifth week of the yearly UN peacekeeping budget negotiations. The budget negotiations at the UN General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (administrative and budgetary) are never easy, but this year negotiations are fraught with additional challenges caused by COVID-19. In this current environment riddled with uncertainty, Member States should demonstrate…
CIVIC and 21 civil society organizations have issued a joint statement calling on members of the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, and all governments to strengthen protection for civilians caught in armed conflict. The statement comes in advance of Protection of Civilians (POC) Week and the UN Security Council open debate on the protection…