Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping was not mentioned in the Charter as a tool for the United Nations to employ in the control of conflicts. It was developed during the initial years of the UN as a method to contain armed conflicts in areas where warring parties were in need of a neutral party to observe the peace process.

Peacekeeping in the UN Charter

The concept of peacekeeping is based on ad hoc practice, and belongs in the "gray zone" between Chapters VI and VII of the Charter.

• Chapter VI describes the means of pacific settlement of disputes by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means
• Chapter VII refers to the Security Council's power to authorize economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions, as well as the use of military force, to resolve disputes.

Peacekeeping and the main bodies

Peacekeeping operations are established by the Security Council, which holds the primary responsibility under the Charter for international peace and security and provides the political mandate for the operations. The General Assembly provides the budget, and the operational control belongs to the Secretary-General and his Secretariat.

• What is peacekeeping? Information from United Nations Peacekeeping about:
  • Peace and security
  • Peacekeeping and its mandate
  • Role of the Security Council
  • Role of the Genral Assembly
  • Peacekeeping operations
• Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council. The Repertoire provides an analysis of the actions related to conflict prevention taken by the Council and its subsidiaries.
  • Pacific Settlements of Disputes (Part VI). The Repertoire covers implicit references and explicit references to Chapter VI and Articles 11, 33-38 and 99 of the Charter in documents of the Security Council, as well as case studies.
  • Representatives, Mediators, Coordinators, and Good Offices. A short description, as well as links to the sections covering them in The Repertoire.
  • Actions with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression (Part VII). Implicit references and explicit references to Chapter VII and Articles 39-51 of the Charter in documents of the Security Council, as well as case studies.
  • The Peacekeeping operations. A list of all well as a couple of advance or observer missions established by the Security Council, with short descriptions and links to the sections covering them in The Repertoire.

Websites and research guides

• Maintain International Peace and Security. An overview of peace and security.
• Fred, säkerhet och nedrustning. The website of UNA Sweden with information on Peace, Security and Disarmament, and the responsibility to protect (R2P) (In Swedish).
• For more information on documentation in this topic, see the Dag Hammarskjöld Library's (New York) research guide om Peacekeeping.
• UNRIC Library backgrounder : Peacekeeping.

• UN Charter in Swedish | in English
• UN System Chart
• Yearbook of the United Nations
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Swedish | in English
• Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
• Statue of the International Court of Justice

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• Daily list of documents (ODS). Documents published for the day, with full text links, can be found in the United Nations full text database ODS.
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• Index to proceedings is an annual bibliographic guide to the proceedings and documentation of the major UN organs. The index includes:
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• United Nations Documents Index (United Nations Digital Library) References to all documents by subject area are published. A collection of indexes is held by the Dag Hammarskjöld and Law Library, Uppsala, and the Libraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva.