Traditionally, peacekeeping was defined as a process where a group of lightly armed military personnel stood between two parties in a conflict who had agreed to a ceasefire. The conventional tenets guiding the process are impartiality, minimum use of force and acquiring the consent of involved parties.
However, the nature and scope of conflict has changed since peacekeeping was first conceived – nowadays, more armed conflicts are taking place within, rather than between, countries. According to the United Nations, during the 1990s, the majority of the 118 armed conflicts were internal. These conflicts are characterized by increased hostility, targeting of civilians, and those involved are no longer automatically following the accepted international rules of engagement. This means that the way the world brings conflict to an end has changed and by default, the activities that fall under peace operations have also evolved. The original tenets of peacekeeping have been in need of discussion and examination in this new context.
In response to the evolving peace operations environment, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has launched consultations on the reform of international peace operations principles and guidelines. The PPC participated in consultations in Sweden on issues related to the use of force, impartiality, sovereignty, consent and credibility and in New York on sexual exploitation and abuse/zero tolerance. The PPC has also contributed to this dialogue by hosting roundtable discussions with civilian, military and police stakeholders in Ottawa in May 2007 and has another assembly planned in Jordan in the fall of 2007.
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