Resolution 2594 (2021)
Adopted by the Security Council at its 8852nd meeting, on 9 September 2021
The Security Council,
Recalling the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming the primary responsibility of the Security Council under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security,
Recalling its previous relevant resolutions and presidential statements addressing issues of peacekeeping, and reaffirming the basic principles of peacekeeping, such as consent of the parties, impartiality, and non-use of force, except in self-defence and defence of the mandate,
Stressing that the primacy of politics should be the hallmark of the approach of the United Nations to the resolution of conflict, including through mediation, good offices, the monitoring of ceasefires, assistance to the implementation of peace accords,
Underscoring the importance of peacekeeping as one of the most effective tools available to the United Nations in the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security, reaffirming that lasting peace is neither achieved nor sustained by military and technical engagements alone, but through political solutions and strongly convinced that this should guide the design and deployment of United Nations peace operations, and understanding United Nations peace operations as peacekeeping operations and special political missions,
Recognising the crucial role peacekeeping plays in creating conditions for stability and lasting peace, and the need for United Nations peace operations to have integrated strategies that articulate a clear pathway to transition and to achieving sustainable peace, and underlining that transitions of United Nations Peace Operations are understood as a strategic process which builds towards a reconfiguration of the strategy, footprint, and capacity of the United Nations in a way that supports peacebuilding objectives and the development of a sustainable peace, in a manner that supports and reinforces national ownership, informed by the operational context and the national priorities and needs of the host State and its population, and that includes engagement with local community and civil society, and, where relevant, regional and sub-regional organisations, and other relevant stakeholders, with the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and the inclusion of youth and persons with disabilities,
Reiterating the primary responsibility of States to protect the population throughout their territories, recognising that reconfigurations of missions may entail increased risks for civilians, in particular for women, youth, children, persons with disabilities, and, where relevant, the need to enhance States’ capacity to protect their own civilians, emphasising the importance of security sector reform, poverty reduction measures, gender equality, human rights monitoring and reporting, the promotion of rule of law and good governance, and the extension of legitimate State authority in ensuring the protection of civilians over the longer term and in the consolidation of peace and stability, taking note of interlinkages between transitional justice, inclusive disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration processes, functional child protection services, national small arms and light weapons management, and organised crime and anti-corruption measures, for enhancing stability, reaffirming that development, peace and security, and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, and recalling further the General Assembly resolution, A/RES/70/1, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”,
Recognising that States bear the primary responsibility to respect and ensure the human rights of all persons within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction as provided for by international law, and acknowledging the important role of those who protect and promote human rights, civil society organisations, journalists and other media workers in the promotion and protection of human rights,
Reaffirming its commitment to addressing the impact of armed conflict on women, youth, and children, and recalling its resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, resolution 1265 (1999) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security, resolution 1261 (1999) on children and armed conflict, and resolution 2475 (2019) on the disproportionate impact of armed conflict and related humanitarian crises on persons with disabilities, as well as all subsequent resolutions concerning these agendas,
Reaffirming its commitment to include in the mandates of peace operations a desired outcome of the implementation of sequenced, mandated tasks and, where appropriate, a clear prioritisation of tasks to achieve this outcome, reflecting the need to create favourable conditions for sustainable peace, understanding prioritisation as the mission focussing on those specific mandated tasks which are based on up-to-date conflict analysis and planning and are assessed as responding to the evolving needs on the ground, and further understanding sequencing as a logical, flexible implementation of the mandate over time, in line with the strategic vision as set out in the mandate, aligned with the peace and security needs within the host State, building towards a consolidation of peace,
Recognising that the effective implementation of peacekeeping mandates is the responsibility of all stakeholders and is contingent upon several critical factors, including well-defined, realistic and achievable mandates, political will, leadership, performance and accountability at all levels, adequate resources, policy, planning and operational guidelines and training and equipment, and welcoming further engagement and dialogue between United Nations, troop and police contributing countries, and other relevant stakeholders to improve performance and inform decisions regarding mandate design,
Reaffirming its belief that United Nations peacekeeping, including mission transition processes, is a unique global partnership that draws together the contributions and commitments of the entire United Nations system, and reaffirms its commitment to strengthening this partnership, including to ensure a coherent, integrated, and planned approach to transitions at the earliest possible stage,
Noting efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General to mobilise all partners and stakeholders in support of more effective United Nations peacekeeping through his initiatives “Action for Peacekeeping” and “Action for Peacekeeping +”, which highlight the importance of advancing political solutions, strengthening protection of civilians, improving the safety and security of peacekeepers, implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda, supporting effective performance and accountability, improving peacekeeping partnerships, strengthening the conduct of peacekeeping operations and personnel, and strengthening the impact of peacekeeping on peacebuilding and sustaining peace,
Reaffirming that “sustaining peace” should be broadly understood as a goal and a process to build a common vision of a society, ensuring that the needs and human rights of all segments of the population are taken into account, which encompasses activities, including promotion of justice and accountability, aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict, addressing root causes, assisting parties to conflict to end hostilities, ensuring national reconciliation, and moving towards recovery, reconstruction and development, and emphasising that sustaining peace is a shared task and responsibility that needs to be fulfilled by the government and all other national stakeholders and should flow through all three pillars of the United Nations’ engagement at all stages of conflict, and in all its dimensions, and needs sustained international attention and assistance,
1. Stresses the crucial role peace operations play in the pursuit of sustainable political solutions and building peace, and, in this regard, emphasises the need for peace operations to engage at the earliest possible stage in integrated planning and coordination on transitions with the Resident Coordinators, United Nations Country Team, other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, the host State and other national stakeholders including civil society and further emphasises that in order to be sustainable, the transition planning process should take into account broad challenges, including risks to stability, governance, and the rule of law, as well as the political, economic, development, humanitarian, and human rights context;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to plan for United Nations peace operations transitions which are integrated within the wider country-specific transition to peace and to elaborate mission transition strategies which build towards the reconfiguration of the strategy, footprint and capacity of the United Nations presence, informed by input from stakeholders at all levels, including in close consultation with national authorities, the Resident Coordinator and United Nations Country Team, local communities and organisations, including those that contribute to peacebuilding, with the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and inclusion of youth, regional and sub-regional organisations, as well as relevant International Financial Institutions and United Nations funds, programmes and agencies, and further requests that these mission strategies clarify roles and responsibilities for all relevant United Nations stakeholders as well as, where relevant, clear and realistic benchmarks and indicators which measure factors and conditions that might impact the reconfiguration in order to ensure a successful and durable transition;
3. Encourages national governments to develop and implement comprehensive national plans, policies, or strategies to protect civilians, which include national benchmarks, in advance of peace operations transitions and requests the Secretary-General to direct United Nations peace operations to engage with host State governments, other United Nations entities, civil society, including women and youth, those who protect and promote human rights, International Financial Institutions, and all relevant stakeholders to assist, when requested by host state governments, in the development, implementation and monitoring of national strategies and plans for transition including on the protection of civilians, human rights and access to justice, in line with the United Nations peace operations transitions strategy;
4. Stresses the importance of providing clear, achievable, sequenced, and prioritised mandates, where appropriate, based on accurate and reliable information on the situation on the ground and a realistic assessment of threats against civilians and United Nations personnel, premises and assets, made in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, requests the Secretary-General to provide integrated, evidence-based and data-driven analysis, strategic assessments and frank advice to the Security Council to facilitate as necessary a re-evaluation of the mission composition and mandate based on realities on the ground, reaffirms the importance of a greater awareness in the Security Council of the security, resource, and field support implications of its decisions and of transparent reporting on these issues in appropriate United Nations fora, stresses the necessity to ensure the execution of tasks that contribute to the protection of civilians in the field, and further requests that progress in achieving priority tasks laid down in Security Council resolutions be measured through clear, realistic and measurable benchmarks;
5. Expresses the importance of a United Nations presence appropriately configured with necessary capabilities and capacities to provide support to protection of civilians efforts during transitions, further expresses its intention, where relevant, to consider the appropriate measures through which a mandated, reconfigured United Nations presence could provide such support, including through supporting the establishment of and training in the use of early warning and rapid response systems, deployment of mobile monitoring teams, facilitating local crisis mediation, utilising communications and outreach strategies with populations at risk of violence including sexual and gender-based violence, advancing conflict prevention, mitigation, and reconciliation, including through promoting and supporting inter-communal dialogue and community violence reduction, building trust between State authorities and local communities, supporting community policing initiatives, or other methods of unarmed civilian protection, and recalling the primary responsibility of States to protect the population throughout their territories;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that comprehensive gender analysis and technical gender expertise are included throughout all stages of mission planning, mandate implementation and review and throughout the transition process, as well as mainstreaming of a gender perspective, and to ensure the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women, and the inclusion of youth, as well as measures to safeguard the interests of persons with disabilities, and further requests the Secretary-General to ensure that their needs are fully integrated in all prioritised and sequenced stages of a mission mandate and mission transitions;
7. Requests the Secretary-General to further strengthen coordination between United Nations police, justice, and corrections activities, as well as between United Nations uniformed components and as appropriate, the relevant host State authorities, with a view to supporting States’ ability to provide critical functions in these fields, recognises that, in line with host State needs, strengthening the capacity of representative, responsive, accountable host State security sector and rule of law institutions, which are compliant with applicable international law, is critical for the development of a sustainable peace, and further requests the Secretary-General to produce a review across relevant peacekeeping missions of the implementation of mandates to support the restoration and extension of legitimate state authority and security sector reform with a view to identifying lessons learned for transition planning, and in his regular reports on relevant peacekeeping operations to the Security Council to include information on the challenges, best practices, and lessons learned in implementing mandates to support the restoration and extension of legitimate state authority and security sector reform with a view to facilitating transition planning;
8. Emphasises the importance of enhancing the safety and security of peacekeepers, in accordance with resolutions 2518 (2020) and other relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2589 (2021) on strengthening accountability for crimes committed against peacekeepers, and the Action Plan on improving safety and security related to the report on “Improving Security of United Nations Peacekeepers”, notes the particular risks faced prior to and during a transition, and, in this respect, requests the Secretary-General to continue to take all appropriate measures to enhance the safety and security of peacekeeping personnel, including through the provision of advice based on integrated, evidence-based and data-driven analysis, and strategic assessments to the Security Council to facilitate as necessary a re-evaluation of safety and security risks and the mission composition and mandate based on realities on the ground;
9. Calls upon the Secretary-General and field missions to draw on lessons learned from transitions in the further development and implementation of relevant United Nations transition policies and directives, including the Secretary-General’s Planning Directive for the Development of Consistent and Coherent United Nations Transition Processes and the Integrated Assessment and Planning Policy, and further calls upon the Secretary-General to continue to strengthen planning and management of transition processes and to further enhance organisational learning and guidance on transitions;
10. Acknowledges the importance of strong coordination, coherence and cooperation with the Peacebuilding Commission, in accordance with its resolution S/RES/2282 (2016), and, in this regard, reaffirms its intention to regularly request, deliberate and draw upon the specific, strategic and targeted advice of the Peacebuilding Commission, including to assist with the longer-term perspective required for peacebuilding and sustaining peace being reflected in the formation, review and reconfiguration of peace operations;
11. Strongly encourages the Peacebuilding Commission to continue fully utilising its role to convene United Nations bodies, Member States, national authorities and all other relevant stakeholders including regional and sub-regional organisations and international financial institutions to ensure an integrated, strategic, coherent, coordinated and gender-responsive approach to peacebuilding and sustaining peace and, in particular, to facilitate the development of joint objectives and priorities prior to transitions and, in this connection, requests the Secretary-General to liaise with the Peacebuilding Commission in advance of relevant reporting to the Security Council with a view to facilitating the provision of complementary and timely advice from the Commission to the Council;
12. Recognises the contribution of regional and sub-regional organisations to peacebuilding and transitions, and calls upon the Secretary-General to consult relevant regional and sub-regional organisations, as appropriate, in the planning and execution of transition processes and to ensure that transition plans clearly articulate the potential roles of these organisations;
13. Recognises that peacebuilding financing remains a critical challenge, takes note of the General Assembly decision to convene a high-level meeting in the seventy-sixth session to advance, explore and consider options for ensuring adequate, predictable and sustainable financing for peacebuilding, and reiterates the importance of adequately resourcing United Nations peace operations including during mission transitions to support the long-term stability and continuity of peacebuilding activities;
14. Requests the Secretary-General to incorporate comprehensive reporting on the status of ongoing transitions of United Nations peacekeeping operations in his regular country specific reporting on relevant missions, and to provide updates on the status of transitions across relevant United Nations peace operations, including those that have transitioned within the previous twenty four months, which includes updates from relevant Resident Coordinators and United Nations Country Teams as well as the view of the Peacebuilding Commission in his comprehensive annual briefing mandated by the Security Council under its resolution 2378 (2017), and further requests the Secretary-General to provide a report on the status of transitions across relevant United Nations peace operations, including those that have transitioned within the previous twenty four months, before 30 June 2022;
15. Decides to remain seized of the matter.
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