Reducing all forms of violence: from peacekeeping to peacebuilding

SDG 16 aims for the “elimination of violence” as a basis for the establishment of sustainable development. We have seen in the earlier video and articles that violence can be understood as something both direct (physical and obvious) and structural (embedded in social structures of inequality) in peace research. This is reflected in current thinking on peacebuilding at the UN level.

What do we mean by peacebuilding?

In 1992 UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali introduced “An Agenda for Peace”. He argued that UN efforts must go beyond peacekeeping – simply stopping violence and holding a truce between warring parties – to a wider agenda of peacebuilding.

Peacebuilding is defined as:

“a process that facilitates the establishment of durable peace, and tries to prevent the recurrence of violence by addressing root causes and effects of conflict through reconciliation, institution building, and political as well as economic transformation”. (UN General Assembly, 1993)

Changes in peacebuilding and peacekeeping

Consequently, peacebuilding and peacekeeping has dramatically changed, developed, and advanced over time.

^{Copyright United Nations. Read about the current UN peacekeeping operations around the world.}

With the growth of peacekeeping, there has also been the growth of international organisations and joint UN missions, especially between the UN, European Union, and the African Union. There is ever increasing participation of civilian peacekeepers including civilian police, election monitors, and various types of civilian administrators.

The approach to conflict prevention and peacebuilding in more recent years has been an attempt to broaden the model of peacebuilding beyond traditional peacekeeping which uses military force to keep the peace between warring parties.

Conflict prevention is now moving to a different way of thinking and increasingly includes such practices as:

• Structural or diplomatic measures to stop state tensions moving to violent conflict
• Information gathering of what factors are driving the conflict (The Capstone Doctrine, 2008)

In turn, peacebuilding has also changed. For example, through:

• Strengthening conflict management within states
• Looking at the root causes of violent conflict
• Addressing the core issues that affect the functioning of society
• Helping states effectively and legitimately carry out their roles (The Capstone Doctrine, 2008)

^{UN and Timor Police Prepare for Presidential Elections. Credit UN Photo/Martine Perret}

Building sustainable peace

While the protection of civilians is paramount, the concept of “responsibility to protect” has become a central issue where states have a duty to protect citizens from war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. In recent decades, new conflict units have been created which seek to bring in these broader elements of peacebuilding. These include the UN Development Programme, the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Unit, and the Security Sector Reform Unit.

These new units demonstrate the converging interest among humanitarian, development, political, security, and human rights actors to help prevent and resolve conflict and build sustainable peace.

In the next step, we will be looking at the interesting case study of Kosovo, and the challenges it faces for peacebuilding after conflict.