A Peacekeeping mission is a deployment of troops, police and civilian personnel from a host country or group of countries to a conflict zone with the mandate to protect civilians and facilitate a political solution to a war. The deployment is normally the result of a decision by the UN Security Council, but in some cases the initiative has been taken by the General Assembly. Operational control rests with the UN Secretariat and its peacekeeping department, which oversees field operations and all the logistical and financial support services.
UN peace operations are deployed only if the warring parties consent to their presence. They cannot stop the fighting, but can monitor ceasefires and troop withdrawals, provide humanitarian assistance, and assist with democratic efforts like elections and disarmament. The first peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), began in 1948 after a dispute between Israel and the Arab states over Palestine deteriorated into armed conflict.
In more recent times, peacekeeping has diversified to include multidimensional missions that attempt to implement robust and comprehensive settlements. These can encompass electoral supervision, judicial and military reform, institution building and economic development. For example, the United Nations operation in El Salvador (UNTAG) involved both military and police personnel from seventeen different countries whose duties included documenting atrocities committed during the decade-long civil war, establishing amnesty guarantees, and supervising major overhauls of the country’s judicial, military, and law enforcement institutions.
Many of the UN’s peacekeeping operations have proven to be effective, although a number have not. Nevertheless, the development of new theories and concepts at the turn of the millennium has helped to link peacekeeping more closely with ideas about liberal peace, democracy and human rights.