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The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Multilateral Peace Operations

Covid and PKO_cover
https://doi.org/10.55163/ZYXI8245
Publisher: SIPRI
SIPRI, Stockholm:
May, 2022

This report looks at the direct operational impacts the Covid-19 pandemic has had on multilateral peace operations and what these have meant for mandate implementation. The report also surveys the strategic and long-term impacts of the pandemic and how these may affect demand for peace operations. It closes by drawing up recommendations for the future. The report finds that peace operations have largely succeeded in maintaining the achievements they had already made and have prevented regression, but little progress has been made. The direct operational impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on mandate implementation were largely mission and time specific, and differed per mandate task. Although, strategically the Covid-19 pandemic may not have significantly changed the short-term global conflict map, its long-term negative impacts may increase the demand for peace operations.

 

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Operational impacts

3. Mandate implementation

4. Strategic impacts

5. Conclusions and recommendations

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)/EDITORS

Dr Jaïr van der Lijn is a Senior Researcher and Director of the SIPRI Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme.