On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized ongoing “limitations” to the performance of the organization’s peacekeeping operations and asked for a “serious, broad-based reflection” on how to improve them.
In his most recent policy brief, “New Agenda for Peace,” Guterres lauded the efforts of UN peacekeeping forces for “saving millions of lives” and maintaining ceasefires.
However, the former Portuguese prime minister cited “longstanding unresolved conflicts, driven by complex domestic, geopolitical and transnational factors” as well as a “persistent mismatch between mandates and resources” as exposing the missions’ limitations.
“Peacekeeping operations cannot succeed when there is no peace to keep,” he said.
They are also unable to succeed “without clear, prioritized, and realistic mandates from the Security Council, centered on political solutions,” he continued.
Consequently, he urged “serious, broad-based reflection on the future of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, with a view to moving towards nimble, adaptable models with appropriate exit strategies in place.”
Although he made no specific reference of any countries, the Security Council recently terminated the MINUSMA mission in Mali, which had been there for ten years.
