Action for Peacekeeping: Strengthening the Effectiveness of Future Peace Operations

On 16 January the Challenges Forum was invited by the UN Secretariat to brief the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) on the recent Challenges Annual Forum (CAF18) in Stockholm last November. CAF18 focused on ‘Action for Peacekeeping: Strengthening the Effectiveness of Future Peace Operations’ and resulted in a number of recommendations on what needs to be done and how to implement the UN Secretary-General’s Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) agenda.

Director of the Challenges Forum International Secretariat, Dr. Björn Holmberg, along with chairs from two of CAF18’s dialogue strands from the Swedish Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, Ambassador Irina Schoulgin-Nyoni and Colonel Peter Öberg, and CAF18 report author, Head of the International Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Ms. Lisa Sharland, provided a summary of recommendations for the C-34 from CAF18 hosted by the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Swedish Armed Forces.

Also present at the C-34 briefing were the Chief of Policy and Best Practices at the UN’s Division for Policy, Evaluation and Training (DPET), Ms. Rania Dagash, and DPET’s Policy Planning Team Leader, Ms. Naomi Miyashita, who provided their thoughts and perspective on the outcomes from CAF18 and the work ahead for Member States and the UN Secretariat to ensure A4P would be implemented and UN peace operations strengthened.

Earlier that day the Canadian and Swedish Permanent Missions to the UN in New York co-hosted a breakfast briefing at the Swedish Mission for Ambassadors from host Member States of Challenges Forum Partner Organisations. The briefing was an opportunity to discuss the recommendations from CAF18 with key stakeholders for Challenges Forum and allowed for an interactive exchange and dialogue on the findings from Stockholm. Ms. Rania Dagash from DPET was also present for this briefing for Ambassadors.

To view the report and recommendations on implementing A4P distilled from the discussions at CAF18, along with background papers on various issues related to A4P, click here.