Effects of peace operations

Typically, the underlying objective of a peace operation is reducing the conflict dynamics in the area of operation, including by preventing violent conflict, increasing stability and protecting civilians, and building and fostering sustainable peace. The following is a non-exhaustive list of possible contributions a peace operation can make to promote these objectives, many of which can be among the mandated tasks of a peace operation. Not all peace operations attempt to make all these contributions; the list is simply intended to suggest contributions that a researcher might look for in each case in order to help answer the question: what effects did the peace operation produce?

• Preventing Conflict: Prevention can take different shapes, comprise a wide range of actions and address conflict at different stages:
  • Preventing/averting imminent escalation or outbreak of violence (direct prevention) means preventing disputes from escalating into conflict, including mediation and local conflict management e.g. leading or supporting national and local cease-fire or peace agreements, supporting local peace agreements and local peace committees.
  • Preventing the recurrence of conflict entails taking deterrent action to support a cease-fire or truce implementation mechanisms and other forms of deterrence to prevent recurrence of conflict.
  • Indirect or structural prevention, i.e. actions, steps or initiatives the peace operation has taken to influence the underlying structural causes that generate risks to the civilian population.
• Building confidence: Most activities of peace operations serve the underlying purpose of building confidence, i.e. to contribute to an environment that is conducive to fostering and increasing mutual confidence between the conflict parties or even within parties. Following a conflict, mistrust among communities and conflict parties may need to be dismantled before confidence can be developed. Confidence building is a key mechanism for repairing societal bonds after conflict and can be pursued through dialogue processes, capacity building or advocacy.
• Stabilisation: Enhancing stability is a core function of any peace operation, and includes how the presence and actions of a peace operation contribute to creating and maintaining a more secure environment at local, national and regional levels. Ensuring a secure environment is particularly relevant in areas where there may be residual conflict-related violence. In some cases, this may involve actions to counter, disrupt or neutralise armed groups.
• Protecting civilians: Since 1999, many peace operations have focused on the protection of civilians (PoC). PoC is a whole-of-mission endeavour where all components – military, police, and civilian – contribute to the implementation of the PoC mandate. PoC goes beyond protecting civilians from immediate physical harm through deterrence, intervention or offensive operations and includes protection through dialogue and engagement, e.g. supporting of political processes or conflict management and reconciliation, as well as creating protective environments by maintaining law and order or strengthening host-state security services that respect human rights and the rule of law.
• Strengthening public safety: Beyond the mere protection from crime, as this also refers to the welfare of the general public, including a range of issues such as traffic safety, harassment or natural disasters. Safeguarding public safety and a secure environment has been a core mandated task from the early days of peacekeeping and is based on the rationale that people will be more willing to engage in a peace process if there is some guarantee of their safety. For people living in (post)conflict areas, feeling safe is linked to the provision of public safety either through national security providers or the presence of an international peace operation. Through which activities and engagements does the peace operation aim to strengthen public safety? How have these affected the perception of public safety?
• Promoting human rights: Conflicts are often accompanied by serious human rights violations and impunity for the perpetrators. Peace operations engage in a host of activities, ranging from protecting and promoting human rights through long-term measures, such as strengthening human rights laws and associated legal practices, to reduce impunity and address associated grievances. As part of their shorter-term protection and stabilisation remit, tasks include monitoring human rights, empowering populations to demand respect for their rights, and enabling government institutions to fulfil their human rights commitments.
• Preventing CRSV and SGBV: The protection of women and men from sexual and gender- based/conflict-related sexual violence (SGBV/CRSV) during and after armed conflict is an essential part of the UN’s protection agenda. Preventing and addressing SGBV/CRSV is an integrated and prioritised element in a peace operation’s protection strategy.
• Promoting national reconciliation: National reconciliation creates a foundation for the lasting settlement of conflicts and is often a key element of the political process. While peace operations can provide the space (political or security) for a reconciliation process to take place, the process is unlikely to succeed unless national counterparts carry it forward and it is structured to address concerns, fears, and grievances of the population (see also ‘people-centred approaches’).
• Contributing to peace dividends: Peace dividends are the benefits accrued by the population from a peace process or peace operation. More immediate peace dividends can contribute to confidence in the political process and in the ability of communities to co-exist, as well as delivering tangible improvements for the population.
• Extension of State Authority (ESA): Extending or restoring state authority means strengthening the state presence in more remote areas where the state has not been present or has been unable to deliver basic public goods. In the context of protection and stabilisation, the extension of state authority is often related to public safety and access to justice. Peace operations’ efforts on ESA often consist of building host-state institutions, particularly in the security and justice sectors, strengthening the rule of law and supporting community policing.
• Supporting institution building and development: Weak institutions and poor service delivery are both causes and consequences of conflict. Conflict aggravates the fragility of institutions, which are no longer able to function properly or take care of the day-to-day governing of the country. Institutions may also be bloated, lack capacity or be poorly managed or structured. Peace operations have increasingly taken on institution building in the areas of rule of law, in the security sector or as part of the extension of state authority. The aim is to empower host-state authorities to be effective national owners and drivers of a peace process. Institution building also forms part of an operation’s protection strategy, as institutions capable of protecting their own citizens are part of establishing a protective environment. Sustainable institution building requires resources (both financial and human) but also time.
• Reforming/developing the security sector: Ultimately, sustainable peace requires a security sector that is effective and is based on the rule of law. The security sector not only comprises uniformed personnel, but multiple structures and institutions that are responsible for their recruitment, management and oversight. And yet security-sector reform (SSR) goes beyond institutional development to also assist in the formulation of national security strategies and other policy and planning documents, as well as in fostering effective cooperative structures across the sector. SSR often takes a comprehensive approach, also engaging with parliamentary oversight committees, civil society, and, at times, informal or non-state security providers.
• Promoting the rule of law: One element of promoting the rule of law addresses local institutions in the areas of justice, police, and corrections. But it also entails supporting the development, adoption and promulgation of legislation as well as in some cases drafting constitutions. For the population, access to justice is the fundamental concern and is often linked to the extension of state authority. A number of rule of law issues fuel conflict, such as disputed property and land rights or crime related to natural resources.
• Supporting community policing: Strengthening the relationship between host-state police and the communities they serve is central to fostering a protective environment that can ensure public safety in the long run. In addition to longer-term capacity and institution building support, community policing seeks involvement of communities in discussions on priorities and making policing more responsive to the needs of the community by, for example, establishing police-public bodies, such as public safety councils, to promote community safety. Policing approaches and operational priorities that are developed with the community are likely to serve the public safety needs of the local population better and, in turn, foster communities’ trust in police services.
• Supporting transitional justice: Both judicial and non-judicial mechanisms are used to address grievances, human rights violations, abuses, and mass atrocities committed during a conflict, with the aim of ending impunity and dealing with associated trauma. Transitional justice mechanisms are used when established judicial mechanisms are lacking in either capacity, knowledge or ability, or when they become necessary for reconciliation and for safeguarding a perception of independence and impartiality. Typical mechanisms of transitional justice include truth commissions, criminal prosecutions in national courts or e.g. the International Court of Justice, institutional development, mediation, support for dialogue or programmes of reparations.