The Protection of Civilians and the Post-Confl ict Security Sector. A Conceptual and Historical Overview

Abstract

During the last decade, peacekeeping operations have grown in both number and scope. A sign of the latter has been the development of larger “executive” mandates, where peacekeeping operations take on administrative tasks in the area where they have been dispatched. A response to the trends broader peacekeeping mandates have been designed in attempt to include a widening concept of the Protection of Civilians (PoC).

In the present report, we outline the main challenges that must be met for the PoC in peacekeeping operations to be effective. First, we address the understanding of “protection” prevalent in UN documents today. The second section of the report addresses the characteristics and problems of the security gap in post-conflict states, as well as their importance in the literature on conflict prevention and resolution.