Comprehensive Review of the Whole Question of Peace-Keeping Operations in All Their Aspects

A/RES/48/42No PDF available

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A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 87Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects, published in 1994.

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69 documents · 1965–2025

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2025A/RES/79/296Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspectsCompare with earlier document
2024A/RES/78/291Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspectsCompare with earlier document
2023A/RES/77/302Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspectsCompare with earlier document
2022A/RES/76/263Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspectsCompare with earlier document
2021A/RES/75/281Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspectsCompare with earlier document

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What does this mandate say?

86 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the report of the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations; 4/

Resources

Notes with appreciation the initiative of the Secretary-General in establishing a stand-by forces planning team and looks forward to periodic reports on that initiative;

Recommends that contact between the Secretariat and Member States should be enhanced with a view to clarifying the military and civilian needs for United Nations peace-keeping operations and such capabilities of Member States as could be made available for those operations;

Encourages Member States, to the extent that their domestic arrangements permit, to develop, in cooperation with the Secretariat, arrangements for military, police and civilian personnel to participate in peace-keeping operations and to notify the Secretary-General of the existence and the modalities of such arrangements on an ongoing basis;

Calls upon the Secretary-General to develop a proposal for regularly updated data banks recording the type and availability of resources Member States could provide, as described in paragraph 4 above, as well as individuals with skills appropriate for civilian peace-keeping duties, and invites the Secretary-General to propose such other measures as he believes necessary to meet the urgent need for timely availability of personnel qualified to serve in the full spectrum of civilian peace-keeping capacities;

Stresses the need for the United Nations to be given the resources commensurate with its growing responsibilities in the area of peace-keeping, particularly with regard to the resources needed for the start-up phase of such operations;

Takes note of the recommendations of the Secretary-General concerning the timely provision of basic peace-keeping equipment 6/ and suggests the development of a limited revolving reserve of such equipment within existing resources;

Invites the Secretary-General to consult in advance with Member States on their willingness to earmark certain equipment specified by the Secretary-General for immediate sale, loan or donation to the United Nations when required;

Encourages Member States to make available air and sea-lift resources to the United Nations at the best available rates in accordance with the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretariat to develop guidelines concerning the disposition of United Nations equipment upon the termination of a peace-keeping operation;

Finances

Recalls that the financing of peace-keeping operations is the collective responsibility of all Member States in accordance with Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter of the United Nations; notes the report of the Secretary-General on improving the financial situation of the United Nations, 2/ reiterates its call upon all Member States to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time, and encourages States to make voluntary contributions in accordance with the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations;

Invites the Secretary-General to review, as appropriate, the applicable United Nations financial and administrative regulations concerning peace-keeping operations and, to that end, urges that steps be taken to strengthen lateral communication and the distribution of information within the Secretariat;

Requests that the Secretary-General improve the financial control mechanisms relative to peace-keeping by strengthening the system of audit and inspection, including external controls, and stresses the need to ensure that appropriate accountability is maintained and, in that regard, notes with appreciation recent steps to strengthen the capacity for independent oversight and investigation;

Stresses the need to delegate the appropriate degree of financial and administrative authority to Force Commanders or Special Representatives while ensuring that measures relating to responsibility and accountability are strengthened in order to increase the missions' capacity to adjust to new situations and specific requirements;

Notes that a number of military officers have been made available on loan on a non-reimbursable basis to the Secretariat at its request and welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-General to implement financial arrangements, within existing resources, which would enable all Member States to contribute to such a system in the future and would ease the costs borne by Member States contributing those officers;

Calls upon the Secretariat to prepare comprehensive budget estimates for all new and ongoing peace-keeping operations in a timely fashion in order to allow for a thorough examination by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the General Assembly;

Stresses the importance of reimbursing all outstanding dues of troop-contributing or other participating States without delay and notes the report of the Secretary-General in that regard; 2/

Reaffirms the competence of the General Assembly for the appropriation and apportionment of the costs of United Nations peace-keeping operations, and notes the importance for the Security Council to be aware of, inter alia, the availability of adequate physical and material resources and the cost implications before it establishes new peace-keeping operations;

Considers that the issue of supplementing diversified financial resources to the assessed contributions should be studied further in all the appropriate United Nations forums;

Encourages the consideration in the appropriate forums of further measures that could improve the financing of peace-keeping operations, including the feasibility of an improved billing system;

Requests the Secretary-General to consult with Member States during his current review of the rates of reimbursement for depreciation of contingent-owned equipment deployed at the request of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretariat to compile all the existing financial and administrative rules, regulations, practices and procedures relating to peace-keeping into a comprehensive document available to Member States;

Welcomes the creation of the Peace-keeping Reserve Fund, notes the importance of adequate resources for peace-keeping start-up costs and that sufficient resources have not been made available for this purpose, stresses that the Fund should be supplied with the amount specified in General Assembly resolution 47/217 of 23 December 1992, thereby making the Fund operational as soon as possible, and emphasizes that the Fund should, in the future, serve as an essential source of funds for peace-keeping start-up costs;

Organization and effectiveness

Suggests that the Security Council and the Secretary-General should continue to analyse a given situation very carefully before the establishment of a United Nations peace-keeping operation, that a realistic mandate, including clear objectives and a time-frame for the resolution of the problem, as appropriate, should be formulated in each case, conducive to the furtherance of the political process, that the Security Council should review periodically the effectiveness of current operations with a view to ensuring that they are consistent with the objectives and the mandates as approved by the Council, and affirms that no change in the mandate, character or duration of peace-keeping operations authorized by the Security Council is possible except through a specific decision of the Council;

Notes with appreciation the steps taken by the Secretary-General to strengthen and reform those units of the Secretariat dealing with peace-keeping, as outlined in his report on the implementation of the recommendations contained in "An Agenda for Peace"; 6/

Stresses the need for the Secretariat to deal effectively and efficiently with planning, launching, managing and providing administrative and logistics support to peace-keeping operations and urges the Secretary-General, as the chief administrative officer of the Organization, in consultation with Member States, to initiate a comprehensive review of the role, tasks and functions, including civilian functions, of the various units of the Secretariat with a view to identifying the optimum Secretariat structure in that respect and to assuring the unity of command and control indispensable for successful peace-keeping by assigning executive responsibility for all aspects of a peace-keeping operation to the Department of Peace-keeping Operations of the Secretariat;

Also stresses the importance of coordination of all aspects of the planning process in peace-keeping operations and suggests that the emergency relief coordinator should be fully consulted in the overall planning of a peace-keeping operation when the mandate for such an operation contains a humanitarian component and in other cases should be consulted at an early stage when close coordination between humanitarian and peace-keeping activities is required;

Takes note of the transfer of the Field Operations Division from the Department of Administration and Management to the Department of Peace-keeping Operations, and encourages the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to strengthen and make more effective planning, management and administrative support for peace-keeping operations and the capability of the Secretariat for overall evaluation and analysis of peace-keeping operations from their initial stages to their conclusion;

Urges the Secretary-General in his review of Secretariat capabilities to improve information flow and to enhance coordination and communication between United Nations Headquarters and field missions in order to manage peace-keeping operations effectively and inform Member States as appropriate;

Requests the Secretary-General to keep Member States informed on organizational responsibilities of the various units of those Secretariat departments responsible for peace-keeping operations;

Invites the Secretary-General to identify a focal point for contact by Member States seeking information on all facets, including operational, logistics and administrative matters, of ongoing and planned peace-keeping operations;

Also invites the Secretary-General to continue arrangements and procedures for providing additional personnel on a short-term basis in order to ensure that the Secretariat can respond effectively and efficiently to fluctuations in its workload, particularly when new operations are planned and launched, and to keep the Member States informed of such procedures;

Once again invites the Secretary-General to consider means whereby Special Representatives, Force Commanders and other key personnel of newly approved missions are identified and involved in the planning process at the earliest possible time;

Welcomes the establishment in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations of a 24-hour/7-day-a-week situation centre which will be equipped with appropriately standardized communication and information management systems so as to enhance the management of all peace-keeping operations and requests the Secretary-General to keep under review the efficiency and efficacy of the situation centre;

Also welcomes the initiative of the Secretariat in establishing a logistics doctrine and procedures project charged with developing a set of guidelines of United Nations logistics doctrine and procedures in order to standardize logistics practices and procedures and thereby enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of logistics support to peace-keeping operations;

Requests the Secretary-General to consider, in the ongoing restructuring of the Secretariat, the inclusion of a logistics planning capability in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations which would consider all aspects of support required for peace-keeping operations;

Stresses that the conclusion of a status-of-forces agreement between the United Nations and a host State is of the utmost importance when deploying peace-keeping operations and calls upon host States to give their fullest cooperation in that regard, and recommends that after the establishment of a peace-keeping operation by the Security Council the concerned Member States should cooperate fully with the operation in the implementation of its mandate;

Requests the Secretary-General to include in the status-of-forces agreement between the United Nations and host States requirements for host States to treat United Nations peace-keeping forces at all times with full respect for the principles and relevant Articles of the Charter, for United Nations peace-keeping forces to respect local laws and regulations and for both parties to such an agreement to act at all times in accordance with the provisions of the status-of-forces agreement and the principles and relevant Articles of the Charter;

Notes the importance of concluding arrangements between the United Nations and troop contributors before deployment occurs and urges implementation of the agreements along the lines of the model agreement outlined in the report of the Secretary-General of 23 May 1991; 7/

Also requests the Secretary-General to include, in the agreements to be concluded with States providing contingents, a clause by which those States would ensure that the members of their contingents serving in United Nations peace-keeping operations were fully acquainted with the principles and rules of relevant international law, in particular international humanitarian law and the purposes and principles of the Charter;

Stresses the importance of the institution of appropriate rules of engagement, on a case-by-case basis, for all United Nations peace-keeping operations;

Notes the recent increase in the number of peace-keeping operations, and requests the Secretary-General to prepare a detailed report on operations that have significant difficulties in implementing their mandates by highlighting the root causes of such difficulties and suggesting possible measures to address them;

Requests the Secretary-General, once again, to report periodically to Member States on the performance of all peace-keeping operations;

Welcomes the increasingly frequent informal consultations between the Secretariat and contributing States, strongly recommends the continuation of such consultations on peace-keeping operations from their initial stages to their conclusion and strongly encourages the presence of the President of the Security Council and other members of the Council, as appropriate, at such consultations;

Recognizes that the training of peace-keeping personnel is primarily the responsibility of Member States;

Also welcomes the establishment of a focal point for peace-keeping training in the Department of Peace-keeping Operations and recommends that the focal point act as the coordinating centre for the relationship between the United Nations and national and regional training facilities;

Requests the Secretary-General to review and improve arrangements for training civilian, police and military peace-keeping personnel, using the appropriate capabilities of Member States, regional organizations and arrangements, in accordance with their constitutional mandates and Chapter VIII of the Charter, and of non-governmental organizations and the Secretariat;

Acknowledges the increasing challenge of forging large and cohesive peace-keeping missions from many and diverse contingents, stresses the need for the effective training of civilian, police and military personnel before deployment and, in that regard, urges the Secretary-General to develop,

in consultation with Member States, official United Nations guidelines combined with performance goals for individuals and units, so that peace-keepers can be trained within a national framework in accordance with agreed-upon common standards, skills, practices and procedures;

Also requests the Secretary-General to develop and publish peace-keeping training guidelines, manuals and other relevant training material, including material for correspondence instruction, in order to assist Member States in preparing their civilian, police and military personnel for peace-keeping operations in a standardized and cost-effective manner;

Further requests the Secretary-General, in close consultation with Member States, to initiate, within resources which may be allocated for training purposes, a trial programme designed to train national peace-keeping trainers as a supplement to national training programmes, as well as to develop a proposal to strengthen the leadership cadre available for peace-keeping by training potential Force Commanders and senior military and civilian personnel for peace-keeping leadership and management duties;

Recommends that training for peace-keeping operations should, as appropriate, be included in the training of those military, civilian and police personnel being sent on peace-keeping operations and encourages Member States that have already developed such training to share information and experience with other Member States;

Strongly recommends that peace-keeping operations personnel be made generally aware of relevant local laws and customs of the host State and of the importance of respecting them;

Encourages troop contributors to consider arrangements between themselves for the loan and/or exchange of peace-keeping operations experts to enhance operational effectiveness through sharing of information and experience gained in peace-keeping operations;

Once again requests the Secretary-General to consider establishing a training programme for key staff personnel of peace-keeping operations with a view to creating a pool of trained personnel with knowledge of the United Nations system and its working procedures;

Recognizes that public information on peace-keeping operations, particularly an understanding of their mandates, is important and calls for significant enhancement of the press and public information function for peace-keeping missions and in particular for rapid deployment at the start of a peace-keeping operation of a robust and professional media outreach programme in the area of operation commensurate with the scope and needs of the missions;

Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with Member States, to establish guidelines for the public information function of peace-keeping operations;

Requests the Secretariat immediately to make all necessary arrangements for the reissue of The Blue Helmets 8/ in 1995;

Also requests the Secretariat to take the appropriate steps to record, in a dignified and yet simple manner in a public area of the United Nations Headquarters, the names of those who have given their lives in the service of United Nations peace-keeping operations;

Welcomes the intention of the Secretariat to establish a memorial dedicated to those peace-keepers who have given their lives in the service of peace;

Issues arising from "An Agenda for Peace"

Recalls its resolutions 47/120 A of 18 December 1992 and 47/120 B of 20 September 1993 and takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the recommendations contained in "An Agenda for Peace", 6/ welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-General to take appropriate steps through preventive diplomacy and, recognizing the need for those steps to be based on timely and accurate knowledge of relevant facts, encourages the Secretary-General to strengthen the capability of the Secretariat to secure and analyse all relevant information from as wide a variety of sources as possible in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter, urges Member States to assist the Secretary-General in this regard and requests the Secretary-General to keep the Member States regularly informed of such capabilities and mechanisms;

Reaffirms its resolution 47/120 B, in particular section II, entitled "Preventive deployment and demilitarized zones", and, in this context, recalls the importance of considering, on a case-by-case basis, the use of preventive deployment and/or the establishment of demilitarized zones as a means to prevent existing or potential disputes from escalating into conflicts and to promote efforts to achieve the peaceful settlement of such disputes, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security;

Encourages, in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter, the involvement of Member States through regional organizations and arrangements, as appropriate, in accordance with their respective areas of competence and the purposes and principles of the United Nations;

Welcomes efforts by the Secretary-General to develop, in consultation with Member States, a set of guidelines governing cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations;

Takes note of the existing cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, in particular in the area of peace-keeping;

Requests the Secretary-General, in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter, to consider ways to provide advice and assistance, in a variety of forms such as advisory services, seminars and conferences, to regional organizations and arrangements in their respective areas of competence, so as to enhance their capacity to cooperate with the United Nations in the field of peace-keeping operations;

Resolves to continue consideration of these items;

Status and safety of United Nations peace-keeping personnel

Urges all Member States in whose territory United Nations peace-keeping operations are conducted to provide, in accordance with relevant Articles of the Charter and other instruments, comprehensive support to all United Nations peace-keeping operations personnel in fulfilling their functions, as well as to take all necessary measures to ensure respect for and guarantee the safety and security of those personnel;

Considers that any State in whose territory a United Nations peace-keeping operation is conducted should act promptly to deter and prosecute all those responsible for attacks and other acts of violence against all personnel of United Nations peace-keeping operations;

Notes the particular difficulties and dangers that can arise when United Nations peace-keeping operations are conducted in situations where no authority exercises jurisdiction or discharges responsibilities with regard to ensuring the safety and security of United Nations personnel and in such an eventuality agrees that measures appropriate to the particular circumstances and in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations should be considered by the Security Council and other appropriate bodies of the United Nations;

Emphasizes the importance of all relevant information on conditions in the field of operations for the safety of United Nations peace-keepers and invites the Secretariat to adopt measures to secure and analyse such information from as wide a variety of sources as possible for immediate transmission to field missions;

Considers that it is the responsibility of host countries to disseminate to their populations necessary information on the role of peace-keeping operations and the inviolability of the safety of peace-keepers, including the information the United Nations may make available for that purpose;

Also considers that host countries are required to provide all available information in a timely manner to the United Nations and the respective peace-keeping missions in the field on any potential dangers that might jeopardize the safety of the peace-keepers, and that that requirement should be clearly specified in the status-of-forces agreements;

Urges the Secretary-General to review the current arrangements of compensation for death, injury, disability or illness attributable to peace-keeping service with a view to developing equitable and appropriate arrangements, and to ensure expeditious reimbursement;

Recognizes that conditions in the field require practical steps aimed at enhancing the necessary operational, political and legal environment to deal effectively with the problem of the growing vulnerability of United Nations operations personnel deployed in the field;

Requests the Secretary-General to take concrete steps to improve the physical security of all United Nations peace-keeping personnel deployed in the field, including all aspects related to material, organizational, operational and other aspects of safety;

Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on current measures and new proposals to ensure and enhance the security of United Nations operations, 9/ and will consider what further steps might be taken to enhance their status and safety, taking into account the need for concerted action by all relevant bodies of the United Nations, and in that context welcomes resolution 868 (1993) adopted by the Security Council on 29 September 1993, in which connection the General Assembly:

Will give consideration to promoting the elaboration of a declaration that would, inter alia, reaffirm the principles of international law and the obligations of Member States concerning the status and safety of United Nations personnel;

Calls upon the Security Council to include in mandates for the deployment of United Nations personnel, specific provisions recalling the obligations of Member States and the expectations of the United Nations concerning the status and safety of United Nations personnel;

Notes that a legally binding international instrument to reinforce the existing arrangements regarding the status and safety of United Nations personnel is being considered by the Sixth Committee;

* * *

Recommends that, should any of the proposals contained in the present resolution result in budgetary implications for the biennium 1994-1995, such additional costs should be accommodated within the appropriation level approved by the General Assembly for this biennium;

Decides that the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations, in accordance with its mandate, should continue its efforts for a comprehensive review of the whole question of peace-keeping operations in all their aspects;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that full conference services, including translation of official documents and simultaneous translation into all official languages, are provided to the Special Committee and its working group whenever they meet, normally for up to one month in April and May;

Requests the Special Committee to submit a report on its work to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session;

Invites Member States to submit further observations and suggestions on peace-keeping operations to the Secretary-General by 1 March 1994, outlining practical proposals on specific items in order to allow for more detailed consideration by the Special Committee;

Requests the Secretary-General to prepare, within existing resources, a compilation of the above-mentioned observations and suggestions and to submit it to the Special Committee by 30 March 1994;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-ninth session the item entitled "Comprehensive review of the whole question of peace-keeping operations in all their aspects".

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Comprehensive Review of the Whole Question of Peace-Keeping Operations in All Their Aspects

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