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Protection of Civilians in UN Operations: What Does It Mean, What Does It Take?
On October 28th the UN Studies Program sponsored a Panel Discussion on the challenges facing the international community with regard to the protection of civilians in UN Peace Operations. The panel raised a hotly debated issue that is at the forefront of UN peacekeeping today and concerns the tensions between a Security Council that mandates peacekeeping missions to protect civilians without making available the necessary resources for it do so. This panel also was an opportunity for students to understand the conflict of interests within the UN system, not only between the Security Council and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, but also between OCHA and DPKO whose differing interests and professional cultures – humanitarianism on the one hand, military and peacekeeping on the other - make cooperation in the field sometimes challenging.
Panelists included H.E. Augustine P. Mahiga, Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the UN, who is also the chairman of a report commissioned by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) on the protection of civilians. The report was made public during the same week of the panel. Other panelists included Hans-Joerg Strohmeyer, Head, Policy and Development Studies Branch, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and David Haeri, Chief, Best Practices Section (DPKO).