Enhancing peacekeeping deployment: structural and functional reforms from Rwanda and South Sudan case studies

Abstract

United Nations Peacekeepers endeavour to prevent the recurrence of violence and establish conditions conducive to enduring peace in countries ravaged by conflict. This document analyses methods to enhance the deployment and organisational structure of UN Peacekeeping missions, utilising two missions as illustrative case studies. It underscores the significance of the mission mandate, elucidating how it can facilitate support to peacekeepers during deployment rather than impede their efforts, and outlines the process for implementing necessary modifications. The study commences with an overview of UN peacekeeping and proceeds by providing background information on the missions in South Sudan and Rwanda, both serving as case studies. The central section investigates strategies for bolstering peacekeeping efforts, with an emphasis on the mission mandate and the deployment of peacekeepers. The case studies underscore the urgent necessity for reform in both the deployment and organisation of peacekeeping operations, notwithstanding some successes in mandate achievement. Although peacekeeping possesses substantial potential as a mechanism for restoring stability, its overall effectiveness remains constrained by existing deployment procedures and operational limitations. To address these issues more humanely and decisively in complex conflict scenarios, future missions must endeavour to surmount these challenges.