Events

Victoria: New Challenges Facing UN Peacekeeping in the 21st Century, Feb 6, 2007

On Tuesday, February 6th, 2007, the UNA-Canada and held a forum in Victoria on New Challenges Facing UN Peacekeeping in the 21st Century at the University of Victoria. This event was funded by DFAIT and CIDA. This was the seventh public dialogue in a series organized to mark the 50th Anniversary of UN Peacekeeping.

The event consisted of two components. The afternoon session was closed to policy-makers, academics, experts, etc who formed a high-level consultation team on the topic to come up with concrete findings and recommendations (11 people).

In the evening, a public event was open to civil society and general public (about 50 people attended) with 3 panel speakers, and extensive time for discussion among the public. This fulfilled the UNA-Canada mandate to facilitate dialogue among the Canadian public, as well as provide an education value through the panelists.

Panelists for Public Dialogue:

  • Ray Crabbe, Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute
  • Peter Gantz, Peacekeeping Advocate, Refugees International, Washington, DC
  • Jeremy Kinsman, Canadian ambassador to European Union from 2002 – 2006

Overview of Discussion

The participants of the closed experts’ roundtable and the panelists of the public dialogue event discussed New Challenges Facing UN Peacekeeping in the 21st Century. Participants to the roundtable first discussed several new challenges facing UN peacekeeping operations. They are: political will, troop and financial constraints, capacity of forces; rapid deployment and standing capacity; rules of engagement and the use of force; and the rule of law.

Participants went on to discuss a number of opportunities for strengthening UN peacekeeping missions on the ground including the integration of peacekeeping capabilities and the transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding. Other opportunities, such as new technology and civil society initiatives were addressed.

In response to the decline in the willingness of developed nations to contribute larger contingents to UN peacekeeping missions, the participants agreed that Canadians should play a major role in mobilizing support within the Canadian government for future UN peacekeeping missions. Canada has a long history in peacekeeping and the Canadian public is proud of its nation’s involvement. As such, participants believed that Canada is in a unique position to utilize its identity as a champion of multilateralism to garner the necessary political will both domestically and internationally (at the UN and as part of the G8) to continue strengthening this tradition.

Sample of Recommendations

  • Ensure that the mandate of a peacekeeping force operate matches the needs on the ground.
  • Develop a unit of core UN staff, military & civilian, for the onset of a peacekeeping mission.
  • Promote the recruitment and deployment of women police officers to better contend with gender issues and crimes specifically targeting women.
  • Integrate longer-term peacebuilding initiatives into UN missions to address DDR and SSR issues at the onset of a peacekeeping mission.
  • Ensure that all personnel deployed receive basic training in civil-military cooperation.
  • Review financial contributions to devote more resources to building African military and civilian capacity for peacekeeping operations as well as provide greater technological and