Challenges Annual Forum Report 2010

Challenges of Protecting Civilians in Multidimensional Peace Operations.

The Australian Government and the then Asia Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence (now retitled Australian Civil-Military Centre) hosted the Challenges Forum 2010 focusing on the Challenges of the Protection of Civilians in Multidimensional Peace Operations.

Since 1999, the UN Security Council has mandated ten peacekeeping missions to conduct ‘protection of civilians’ (POC) tasks. Yet, while POC has become an increasingly important element in UN peacekeeping missions, successful implementation has proven difficult. The Forum addressed a range of POC issues: the impact of POC on contemporary peace operations; the importance of POC in UN peacekeeping missions; regional and non-UN approaches to POC; military and police requirements for effective implementation of POC; and linkages between POC and conflict prevention, human rights and the rule of law. The present report contains the thought provocative background study, the illuminating presentations and the rich and dynamic discussions held.