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IPI, together with the Permanent Missions of the Republic of Korea, Denmark, and Pakistan to the United Nations, cohosted a policy forum on the “Ten-Year Review of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) Report” on July 8th.

The purpose of this event was to revisit the findings and recommendations of the 2015 HIPPO report in light of current policy discussions. The event also served to launch an IPI publication on the ten-year review of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations Report written by Jenna Russo, IPI Director of Research and Head of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations; Bitania Tadesse, IPI Policy Specialist for Africa; and Ilianna Kotini, IPI intern at the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations.

This event and publication are part of IPI’s workstream on the HIPPO report funded by the Republic of Korea.

Opening Remarks:
H.E. Hyunwoo Cho, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations
H.E. Sandra Jensen Landi, Deputy Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations

Speakers:
Jenna Russo, Director of Research and Head of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations, International Peace Institute
Youssef Mahmoud, Senior Adviser Emeritus, International Peace Institute, and former HIPPO panel member (VTC)
Ian Martin, former HIPPO panel member and former Special Representative of the Secretary-General (VTC)
Eugene Chen, Senior Fellow, New York University’s Center on International Cooperation
Dirk Druet, Non-resident Fellow, International Peace Institute

Moderator:
Bitania Tadesse, Policy Specialist for Africa, International Peace Institute

Closing Remarks:
H.E. Muhammad Usman Iqbal Jadoon, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations

The post Ten-Year Review of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations Report appeared first on International Peace Institute.

Ten years after the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) released its landmark report “Uniting Our Strengths for Peace,” UN peace operations face new challenges that test the UN’s capacity to adapt to an evolving global landscape. As the UN examines the future of peace operations, it is timely to review the recommendations of the HIPPO report, many of which remain pertinent to today’s policy discussions.

This report reassesses the findings of the HIPPO report in light of today’s peace operations contexts, analyzes where there has and has not been progress, and considers how the HIPPO report can be useful to current discussions. Overall, today’s peace operations operate in a more challenging environment than in 2015, facing a more divided Security Council, severe financial constraints, and questions about the UN’s legitimacy. Nonetheless, the report concludes that many of HIPPO’s core insights remain relevant, and the findings and recommendations of the HIPPO report can help inform current policy discussions on the future of peace operations:

• UN80 Initiative: The secretary-general should articulate a clear vision guided by the New Agenda for Peace and Pact for the Future, ensuring cuts do not compromise the UN’s readiness to deploy peace operations or institutional memory.
• Review on the Future of Peace Operations: The Secretariat should use this review to identify what forms of peace operations the UN is best positioned to support and the capacities needed to backstop these efforts effectively.
• Modular Approaches: The Secretariat should develop frameworks for implementing modular mission designs while ensuring critical areas of work like the protection of civilians, gender, and human rights remain prioritized in streamlined mandates.
• Peacebuilding and Prevention: All member states should develop national prevention strategies as called for in the Pact for the Future, and the UN should consider pooling early-warning resources with regional organizations.
• Political Primacy: The secretary-general should clarify what the primacy of politics means in contexts without viable peace processes, encompassing politics beyond the signing of a formal agreement at the national level.
• Advancing Partnerships: The UN should embrace more ambitious partnerships that leverage its normative independence while drawing on regional organizations’ proximity to crises, focusing on prevention and mediation alongside peace enforcement.

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Sudan’s war has left millions in need of protection, as civilians continue to endure mass displacement, famine, widespread violence, and grave human rights violations. Despite commitments to international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, both the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces have persistently targeted civilians, and international efforts to protect them have so far been insufficient. While ceasefire negotiations remain stalled, the protection of civilians cannot wait, and the international community must act now.

This report examines the policy options available to member states, the UN, and regional actors to support the protection of civilians in Sudan. It highlights feasible measures that can be taken even as ceasefire negotiations remain elusive, including the following:

• Navigating a Divided Security Council: Security Council members, particularly the three African members, could pursue a new resolution on Sudan with backing from the African Union (AU); utilize informal mechanisms like Arria-formula meetings and subsidiary bodies of the council to build consensus; and organize a field visit to Sudan to engage stakeholders and elevate international attention.
• Leveraging the Role of the General Assembly: The General Assembly could continue to hold the Security Council accountable by convening debates following any future vetoes, support UN and AU fact-finding missions, and exercise normative power by adopting a resolution on civilian protection in Sudan.
• Foresight and Planning by the UN Secretariat: The UN Secretariat could undertake proactive scenario-based planning for the deployment of a future protection force or ceasefire monitoring mechanism, including by developing a comprehensive political strategy and implementation framework.
• Joint Efforts with Regional Actors: The AU should ensure it has a cohesive approach to the protection of civilians in Sudan by enhancing communication among African capitals and between Addis Ababa and New York. The UN and AU should also ensure their efforts are complementary, including by collaborating on their fact-finding missions and improving engagement between their genocide prevention offices.
• Contact Group to Steer the Protection Agenda in Sudan: A coalition of committed member states could establish a contact group on Sudan to develop a coherent political strategy, engage the warring parties and their backers with sustained diplomatic pressure, and create a dedicated mediation track for civilian protection.

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IPI and the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) cohosted an event on “Modular, Effective, and Sustainable? Leveraging Insights from Security Sector Governance to Shape Tomorrow’s Peace Operations” on June 3rd.

Recent discussions at the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin emphasized the urgent need for more modular peace operations, improved mission effectiveness, and strengthened sustainability, particularly in the context of transitions and long-term peacebuilding. As the UN undertakes the review on the future of all forms of peace operations mandated by the Pact for the Future and undertakes efforts to shift toward more focused, adaptable models, key questions arise about how to reshape peace operations to meet today’s challenges.

Insights from peace operations’ support to security sector governance and reform (SSG/R) offer critical lessons. One concern is that modularity may lead to fragmented efforts, particularly if SSG/R continues to be treated as a stand-alone activity rather than a means to achieve broader strategic goals. DCAF’s recent study, “Review of Security Sector Reform Language in the Mandates of UN Peace Operations,” commissioned by Switzerland, highlights missed opportunities and recommendations to improve such efforts.

Opening Remarks:
Riccarda Chanda, Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations
Beatrice Godefroy, Deputy Director of DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (virtual)

Speakers:
Vincenza Scherrer, Head of Policy Engagement, DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance
Daniel Prins, Chief of SSR Unit, UN Department of Peace Operations
Carole Baudoin, Security Sector Reform Chief, MINUSCA
David Haeri, Director, Division for Policy, Evaluation and Training, UN Department of Peace Operations

Closing Remarks:
Ed Caelen, Military Advisor, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations

Moderator:
Jenna Russo, Director of Research and Head of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations, International Peace Institute

The post Modular, Effective, and Sustainable? Leveraging Insights from Security Sector Governance to Shape Tomorrow’s Peace Operations appeared first on International Peace Institute.

Informal “minilateral” coalitions of the willing and interested have long been a feature of peacemaking. Groups of states identified as “friends” of the mediator or a particular peace process and contact groups bringing together interested powers date back to concert diplomacy traditions and proliferated at the end of the Cold War as conflict resolution activity surged. The incidence of such informal mechanisms grew exponentially between 1990 and 2009.

This report assesses how these mechanisms have evolved in the years since 2010 and investigates their place in parallel to the UN’s efforts to mediate internationalized internal conflicts in Libya, Syria, and Yemen; peace processes in the Philippines, Colombia, and Mozambique taking place in relatively benign regional settings, as well as the anomalous case of Venezuela, where efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the political crisis were mired in international divisions; the geopolitically contested contexts of Myanmar and Afghanistan; and the democratic transition and descent into war in Sudan.

The report concludes that groups have the potential to build internal coherence among their members, as well as to elevate public messaging and facilitate information sharing, but they can also become a forum for competition between their members. In this context, the report offers lessons to help those considering whether a group is appropriate. The “right” group structure will depend on the context, and the adage of “form follows function” is critically important. It is key to set realistic expectations and, in some cases, accept that the “right” structure will be no group at all. Successful groups and partnerships all point to the importance of skilled individual mediators committed to working with each other, whether within a group or without an established mechanism. Finally, some contexts may defy attempts to design or deliver a coherent international peace architecture. In these cases, more modest goals related to specific or localized gains and incremental support to conflict parties and other affected communities should be pursued.

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Radio remains the most popular medium of communication in many countries where UN peacekeeping operations are deployed, and several missions have leveraged UN radio stations to communicate with local populations. UN strategic communications via radio can help reduce violence against civilians, both during and after armed conflict. This protective effect of UN radio is evident even in areas where no UN military peacekeepers are deployed.

This issue brief examines the protective impact of UN radio and the mechanisms through which strategic communications by peacekeepers may reduce violence. It identifies four main pathways: building trust in the mission and enhancing cooperation with peacekeepers’ protection activities; filling gaps in reliable information that might otherwise be filled by misinformation that incites violence; fostering pro-peace behavioral change among ordinary civilians; and incentivizing rank-and-file combatants to exercise restraint. The brief also argues that messages are more effective when they are perceived as accurate and informative by local audiences.

As the UN seeks to enhance strategic communications in peacekeeping operations, it must carefully manage several trade-offs. These include trade-offs between empowering civilians vs. exposing them to risk; ensuring that messaging is coherent vs. tailoring it to the local context; sustaining independent media vs. promoting national ownership; and expanding access to data vs. maintaining security and host-state consent.

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UN police (UNPOL) have long contributed to protection of civilians (POC) mandates, yet their role remains underexamined and often undervalued. As UN peace operations shift toward more flexible, lighter-footprint mission models and increasingly emphasizes regional partnerships, preventive approaches, and people-centered security, UNPOL could take on an expanded role. This could include greater involvement of UNPOL in addressing emerging protection threats related to urban violence, transnational crime, and cyber-related risks. However, future POC strategies must balance UNPOL’s strengths with other security tools to align expectations with capacity.

This issue brief examines UNPOL’s contributions to POC, focusing on their recent experience, emerging functions during mission transitions, and potential place in future models for peace operations. It highlights how UNPOL have played a vital role in reducing violence, engaging communities, supporting host-state law enforcement, and sustaining protection efforts during mission drawdowns. However, persistent challenges—including coordination gaps, militarization trends, limited data on effectiveness, and political constraints—continue to restrict their impact.

To make UNPOL’s contributions to POC more effective, the UN needs to focus more on police in high-level policy discussions, improve coordination across the rule-of-law sector, and strengthen data collection to assess the impact of UNPOL efforts. As peace operations adapt to evolving challenges, ensuring that UNPOL are properly resourced and embedded within mission planning will be key to realizing their full potential in protecting civilians.

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