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Improving Peacekeeping Capacity

Haiti 2005: A peacekeeper in Bel Air talks with a local girl

Concerns


Effective peacekeeping operations can transform conflict and bring about a stable peace so that displaced people can return home. Yet too often, under-funded peacekeeping missions with weak mandates can only keep a lid on a crisis situation. With a combination of field-based evidence and New York and Washington-DC based advocacy, Refugees International seeks to improve the United Nations' and other regional institutions' abilities to effectively protect civilians and also aims to generate greater political will to send peacekeepers in when genocide and crimes against humanity occur.

Refugees International is working to ensure that military troops and civilian police can deploy more quickly when peacekeeping operations start up, and that they receive better equipment and training for peacekeeping tasks. Through the Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping (PEP), Refugees International is encouraging the U.S. Congress and administration to devote more resources to winning the peace, including:
  • Fully funding UN peacekeeping;
  • Supporting greater peacekeeping capacity around the world through “train and equip” programs like the Global Peace Operations Initiative; and
  • Building up America's own capacity to respond to post-conflict situations especially through the new State Department Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
Refugees International thanks The Ploughshares Fund for its support of the Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping.

UN Peacekeeping missions have been in the news recently as allegations of sexual abuse have been lodged at peacekeepers. The masculinized culture of peacekeeping missions has led to a "boys will be boys" attitude that condones abusive behavior. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations is working on reforms, including establishing “conduct and discipline units” to investigate allegations. Refugees International supports these reforms but calls for further action, including greater integration of women into peacekeeping forces and increased attention to empowering women in local communities. To read more about RI's work on sexual exploitation and abuse in UN peacekeeping missions, click here.


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Photo Gallery

Jordan 2003 - Refugee Camps in Jordan and in the “no-man’s land” at the Iraq-Jordan Border

Though they are Palestinian, everyone in Khalid’s and Ichlas’ family was born and raised in Baghdad.  After the Iraqi regime fell, they were forced from their home.  They came directly to no ...

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