President Joko Widodo (foreground, second from right), flanked by then Vice President Jusuf Kalla, welcomes Afghan and Pakistani mullahs to the Trilateral Ulema Conference held at Bogor Palace in West Java, Indonesia.
Wahyu Putro A/Antara Foto
Indonesia needs to consider long-term engagement to produce deeper and more sustainable impacts.
Virginia National Guard troops in front of the U.S. Capitol building, Feb. 5, 2021.
Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Some 5,000 National Guardsmen will stay in Washington to protect the Capitol into March, according to the Pentagon. The Guard is seen as a reliable peacekeeping force – but it wasn’t always that way.
Some hard decisions need to be taken about the future of the South African National Defence Force.
Nic Bothma/EFE-EPA
Besides the misalignment of its resources, design, equipment and its additional roles, the military has also been hobbled by misappropriation of funds.
A Moroccan UN peacekeeper in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo helps raise awareness about COVID-19.
MONUSCO Photos/Flickr
Peacekeeping had been in decline before COVID-19, but they are vital tools in the UN’s armoury.
The number of Canadian peacekeeping forces deployed around the world is at an all-time low.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
Canada sees itself as a peacekeeper and an independent voice in global affairs. The recent vote for a seat on the UN Security Council shows the world doesn’t agree with that image.
South African soldiers enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town.
EPA/Nic Bothma
South Africa’s post-apartheid leaders have failed to properly prepare the military for secondary roles such as peacekeeping, let alone to a fight a virus.
Ink Drop/Shutterstock
Nigeria’s pre-eminent position in Africa, lost to corruption and political patronage over the years, can be regained by putting its house in order.
Leymah Gbowee, the head of Monrovia’s Women in Peacebuilding Network, stands in front of a sign calling for peaceful elections in Liberia in 2017.
Zoomdosso/AFP via GettyImages
Local peacebuilders must step up to the plate with support from their counterparts in the international community.
Soldiers escort a homeless woman to a gathering point in the Johannesburg CBD during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.
Michele Spatari/AFP-GettyImages
The South African National Defence Force has suffered from terrible neglect over the past 25 years of democracy.
UN Blue Helmet peacekeepers in Bouake, Ivory Coast in 2017.
Sia Kambou/GettyImages
The UN missions deployed around the world to manage conflict and protect civilians need to be assessed in a manner that accurately reflects their successes and failures.
Members of the South Korean peacekeeping unit at their base in the city of Bor, Jonglei State, South Sudan in July 2015.
EPA/YONHAP
The country has suspended the rotation of peacekeeping troops in a move to manage the pandemic.
U.N. technicians prepare an unarmed drone for flight over the Democratic Republic of Congo.
MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti/Flickr
Drones could help United Nations peacekeepers save civilians’ lives – but there are obstacles.
Peacekeeper with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC
MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti
The independent strategic review, now before the Security Council, recognises many of the challenges ahead. But it appears overly sanguine about what can be achieved within a three-year period.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (waving) with some of the heads of state who attended the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia.
SEFE-EPA-Pool/Sergei Chirikov
At the Sochi summit, African states embraced Russia’s newly established relations.
A push for digital peace is growing around the world.
Finchen/Shutterstock.com
Dozens of countries and hundreds of firms and nonprofits are fed up with digital violence and are working toward greater cybersecurity for all.
South African National Defence Force soldiers in Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats, Cape Town.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Using the military continuously in internal roles for which it is not structured, funded or trained simply speeds up its decline.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with United Nations Secretary General António Guterres.
GCIS
Election to the Security Council is prestigious for member states because it gives them a seat at the highest table of global decision-making.
d a b e o.
UN agencies could play a role in improving training programmes for peacekeepers who help women.
Supporters of Sudan’s military rulers rally in Khartoum.
EPA-EFE-Marwan Ali
The killing of protesters by the Sudanese military signifies its reluctance to hand over power, as demanded by the African Union.
Rwandan peacekeepers in Mali in 2014.
United Nations Photo
Interviews with Rwandan women from the military who had served on peacekeeping missions found many felt ill-equipped for what they had to deal with.