The UN Security Council has not authorized a new peacekeeping mission in more than a decade, and missions are being forced to leave countries due to political or budgetary pressures, even as conflict and violence against civilians persist at high levels. This reality has prompted a need for new thinking about how protection is managed in the context of mission departures.
The departure of a UN peacekeeping mission generally means significant reductions of assets and capabilities that can affect many types of protection capacities for the actors who remain on the ground. These affected protection capacities include a security umbrella from which other protection actors often benefit directly or indirectly; significant and consistent funding for activities that contribute directly or indirectly to protection; considerable infrastructure, including bases, airstrips, roadworks, medical facilities, and UN mission flights from which other protection actors often benefit directly or indirectly; protection-specific data collection, reporting, and analysis; and national and international attention drawn to protection issues.
This study looks at how humanitarian and human rights protection actors—that is, UN agencies, funds, and programmes, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and national nongovernmental organizations (NNGOs) whose mandates or objectives include protection—that remain on the ground can manage the protection gaps that may emerge when UN peacekeeping missions depart.
