United Nations Security Council Resolution 2086 – United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

Resolution 2086 (2013)

The Security Council,

Reaffirming its primary responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security and its readiness to strive for sustainable peace in all situations under its consideration,

Reaffirming its commitment to uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including its commitment and respect to the principles of political independence, sovereign equality and territorial integrity of all States in conducting all peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities and the need for States to comply with their obligations under international law,

Commending the critical role of United Nations peacekeeping operations in the maintenance of international peace and security, preventing and containing conflicts, promoting compliance with international norms and Security Council decisions and building peace in post-conflict situations,

Resolving to strengthen the central role of the United Nations in peacekeeping and to ensure the effective functioning of the collective security system established by the Charter of the United Nations,

Noting that peacekeeping ranges from traditional peacekeeping missions, which primarily monitor ceasefire to complex multidimensional operations, which seek to undertake peacebuilding tasks and address root causes of conflict,

Reaffirming that respect for the basic principles of peacekeeping, including consent of the parties, impartiality, and non-use of force, except in self-defence and defence of the mandate, is essential to the success of peacekeeping Operations,

Reiterating the commitment to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in addressing conflict at all stages from prevention to settlement to post-conflict peacebuilding,

Encouraging further progress on a comprehensive, coherent and integrated approach to the maintenance of international peace and security by preventing conflicts, preventing relapse and building sustainable peace through effective preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding strategies,

Recalling in this regard its commitment regularly to assess, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, the strength, mandate, and composition of peacekeeping operations with a view to making the necessary adjustments where appropriate, according to progress achieved or changing circumstances on the ground including in security, thereby allowing, on a case by case basis, reconfiguration, transition or withdrawal,

Reaffirming the primary responsibility of national authorities in identifying their priorities and strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding, and in this regard, reiterating that national ownership, responsibility and political will as well as concerted efforts of national governments, and the international community, are critical in building sustainable peace,

Emphasizing the vital role of the United Nations, in consultations with international partners, to support national authorities in consolidating peace and in developing strategies for peacebuilding priorities as well as to ensure that these strategies strengthen coherence between political, security, human rights and rule of law activities,

Reaffirming its commitment to address the impact of armed conflict on women and children, and recalling resolution 1325 (2000) and all subsequent resolutions on women, peace and security to reiterate the need for full, equal and effective participation of women at all stages of the peace process, given their vital role in the prevention and resolution of conflict and peacebuilding, as well resolution 1261 (1999) on children and armed conflict and subsequent resolutions,

Paying tribute to the memory of United Nations peacekeepers who have lost their lives in the cause of peace, and in this regard, underscoring the importance of safety and security of United Nations peacekeepers, expressing grave concern about the security threats and targeted attacks against United Nations peacekeepers in many peacekeeping missions that constitute a major challenge to United Nations peacekeeping operations, condemning in the strongest terms killing of and all acts of violence against United Nations peacekeeping personnel, including the recent shooting down of a United Nations helicopter in South Sudan as well as recent casualties in United Nations Missions in Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Darfur, and emphasizing that perpetrators of such attacks must be brought to justice,

1. Welcomes the contribution of peacekeeping operations to a comprehensive strategy for durable peace and security and, notes with appreciation the contributions that peacekeepers and peacekeeping missions make to early peacebuilding;

2. Emphasizes that United Nations peacekeeping activities should be conducted in a manner so as to facilitate post-conflict peacebuilding, prevention of relapse of armed conflict and progress towards sustainable peace and development;

3. Reiterates its commitment to continue to improve its consideration and reflection of early peacebuilding tasks in the mandates and composition of peacekeeping operations, and in this regard, stresses the necessity for the Secretariat to plan early peacebuilding tasks in phases with clear objectives, taking into account local conditions and lessons learned, which should contribute to long-term peacebuilding objectives, in order to allow successful transition and withdrawal of peacekeeping operations;

4. Stresses the importance of grasping the challenges of peacebuilding from the inception of a peacekeeping mission through Integrated Strategic Assessment and Planning processes, so as to ensure coherence between, and integration of, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and development to achieve an effective response to post-conflict situation from the outset;

5. Recognizes the important role of multidimensional peacekeeping missions to:

(a) assist host countries in developing critical peacebuilding priorities and strategies;

(b) help to create an enabling environment for relevant national and international actors to perform peacebuilding tasks; and

(c) implement early peacebuilding tasks themselves;

6. Reiterates the need to integrate mission expertise and experience into the development of peacebuilding strategies;

7. Recognizes that the mandate of each peacekeeping mission is specific to the needs and situation of the country concerned;

8. Notes, in this regard, that multidimensional peacekeeping missions may be mandated by the Security Council, inter-alia, to:

(a) Provide support to basic safety and security by assisting national security sector reform programmes, through strategic assistance to develop security sector frameworks, and capacity building of military, police and other law enforcement institutions in key areas, while upholding the spirit of complete national ownership and true partnership, with a view to building a legitimate, accountable and sustainable security sector, responsive to the needs of the population;

(b) Enable national governments in conceiving and developing the programmes of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), which must follow a political process in an inclusive manner with a view to ensuring effective transition from disarmament and demobilization to reintegration, taking into consideration the different needs of all parts of the affected population, and in accordance with specific needs of a situation;

(c) Support the strengthening of rule of law institutions of the host country, in a coordinated manner with other United Nations entities, within the scope of respective mandates, in helping national authorities develop critical rule of law priorities and strategies to address the needs of police, judicial institutions and corrections system and critical interlinkages thereof, with a view to supporting the States’ ability to provide critical functions in these fields, and as a vital contribution to building peace and ending impunity;

(d) Provide for rapid response in mine action as well as advisory services and training tailored to needs of national authorities, upon request, with a view to enabling risk reduction, victim assistance, demining and stockpile management and disposal;

(e) Support peace consolidation and inclusive political processes and through their good offices, advice and support, as well as by their ability to deter threats to the ongoing peace process, and facilitate consultation process among local population and civil society to help them contribute to national processes and discussions, and upon request, provide security, technical, logistic and administrative support to representative electoral processes, within the limitation of its capacities and resources;

(f) Help to establish the necessary security conditions to facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance, taking into account the special needs of refugees, IDPs, women, children, elderly and disabled people, and to create conditions necessary for voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees and IDPs;

(g) Contribute towards agreed international efforts to protect human rights including through monitoring and prevention and support national governments’ efforts to promote and protect human rights, within its capacities and resources and according to its mandate throughout the life cycle of a Mission;

(h) Protect civilians, particularly those under imminent threat of physical violence, in conformity with paragraph 16 of its resolution 1674 (2006), within missions’ zones of operation and taking into account their capacities and resources, and support the efforts of the host authorities in protection of civilians from violence, including all forms of sexual and gender based violence, and in this regard, help in building and reforming security sector institutions of the host country that are able to sustainably and consistently protect civilians, while recognizing that protection of civilians is the primary responsibility of the host country;

(i) Cooperate and coordinate with United Nations agencies and funds and programs, as well as all relevant partners including international financial institutions and donors, to support the host government and relevant government institutions in designing poverty reduction and economic development policies, plans and strategies, within the context of specific situations;

(j) Support the participation of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and also support the efforts of the host government towards inclusion of women in decision-making roles in post-conflict governance institutions;

9. Recognizes that, while primary responsibility for successful peacebuilding lies with governments and relevant national actors, multidimensional peacekeeping missions bring comparative advantages in early peacebuilding by:

(a) drawing strength from international legitimacy and political leverage derived from the Security Council mandate;

(b) using a mix of civilian, police, and military capabilities under a unified leadership; and

(c) utilizing deep field presence;

10. Reiterates its resolve to give peacekeeping operations clear, credible and achievable mandates matched by appropriate resources;

11. Underlines the importance of deploying peacekeepers with professional skills, training, experience, excellence and in adherence to the United Nations zero tolerance policy for misconduct, and in this regard, encourages Troop- and Police-Contributing Countries, in the spirit of partnership, to continue to contribute professional military and police personnel with the necessary skills and experience to implement multidimensional peacekeeping mandates, including appropriate language skills at relevant levels;

12. Reiterates the importance, when establishing and renewing the mandates of United Nations Missions, to include provisions on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women in post-conflict situations and on children and armed conflict, including through the appointment of gender advisers, women protection advisers and experts and child protection advisers, as appropriate, and welcomes the call of Secretary-General for enhanced participation, representation and involvement of women in prevention and resolution of armed conflict and in peacebuilding as well as for a stronger commitment to address the challenges to such engagement of women at all levels;

13. Encourages national governments, the United Nations, regional and subregional organizations to continue to use existing civilian expertise and also to broaden and deepen the pool of civilian capacities for peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict, including from countries with relevant experience in post-conflict peacebuilding or democratic transition, giving particular attention to mobilizing capacities from developing countries and from women, and in this regard, stresses the imperative of mandating and deploying civilian capacities in compliance with relevant United Nations resolutions and rules and procedures, and with a view to minimizing duplication of efforts and ensuring consistency and complementarity;

14. Underlines the importance of clarity on roles and responsibilities of United Nations peacekeeping operations, United Nations country teams and other relevant actors, including entities of the United Nations Peacebuilding architecture and the United Nations Agencies, Funds and Programmes for the delivery of prioritized support to a country, consistent with its specific peacebuilding needs and priorities, as outlined by national authorities, in order to ensure effective integration of effort;

15. Stresses that integrated action on the ground by security and development actors requires coordination with national authorities in order to stabilize and improve the security situation and help in economic recovery, and underlines the importance of integrated efforts among all United Nations entities in the field to promote coherence in the United Nations’ work in conflict and post-conflict situations;

16. Encourages the Secretariat, in the context of Integrated Strategic Assessment and Integrated Strategic Framework, to provide the Security Council and Troop- and Police-Contributing Countries and other key stakeholders with an early assessment of peacebuilding challenges in peacekeeping missions, including assessment of capabilities, force and personnel generation and logistic resource requirements, in order to coordinate and prioritize peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities in missions’ mandates;

17. Recognizes the need to further strengthen the cooperation and consultations with Troop- and Police-contributing countries, including through triangular cooperation between the Security Council, the Troop- and Police-Contributing Countries and the Secretariat, in areas where military and police contingents undertake early peacebuilding tasks, and encourages active participation of all stakeholders in open and more frequent consultation processes with a view to improving the delivery of peacebuilding tasks in the field;

18. Underlines the importance of partnership and cooperation with regional and subregional arrangements and organizations, in accordance with Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, in supporting peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities as well as forging greater regional and national ownership;

19. Recalls its resolution 1645 (2005) and expresses its continued willingness to make use of the advisory, advocacy and resource mobilization roles of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in peacebuilding activities, welcomes the progress it has achieved, and emphasizes the need for further harnessing these roles in advancing and supporting an integrated and coherent approach with respect to multidimensional peacekeeping mandates in countries on its agenda;

20. Strongly condemns targeted attacks against United Nations peacekeeping personnel from any party to the conflict and in this regard, calls upon the Secretary-General to take all measures deemed necessary to strengthen United Nations field security arrangements and improve the safety and security of all military contingents, police officers, military observers and, especially, unarmed personnel;

21. Requests the Secretary-General to consider the provisions of this resolution in relevant peacekeeping and peacebuilding reports;

22. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Adopted by the Security Council at its 6903rd meeting, on 21 January 2013.