Glossary and List of Abbreviations

Duty of care, or the protection of the welfare of personnel deployed in international peace operations, entails the rights and obligations

• of multilateral organisations receiving seconded personnel;

• of national institutions deploying or seconding personnel; and of the personnel themselves.

Due to the particular risks and special circumstances associated with the majority of peace operations, duty of care is a particularly important topic. Duty of care specifically comprises the adequate preparation for deployment, the compliance with legal requirements, as well as safety and risk management. Adequate duty of care is central to the sustainable implementation of any mandate.

In Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace and Security,” adopted in the year 2000, the United Nations Security Council stressed the importance of incorporating women’s roles in the preservation and restoration of peace and security.

To this end, the agenda laid out in Resolution 1325 defines four key priorities:

• Participation of women in conflict prevention, peace and reconstruction processes, as well as in the design of security policy;
• Preventive measures taken prior to the outbreak of armed conflicts that reflect the different perspectives and social roles of women, girls, men and boys (gender perspective);
• Protection against sexual violence in particular, and protection of women’s rights during and after armed conflicts;
• Incorporation of a gender perspective in all measures taken in the protection of peace and security (gender mainstreaming).

Since 2000, seven follow-up resolutions have established important links to other issues, including climate change, forced migration, combatting terrorism, sexual violence in the context of peace operations and human trafficking.

We understand peace operations to be missions deployed by an international organisation with the consent of the respective host state that are aimed at defusing crises, ending violent conflicts and securing a lasting peace. Each mission receives a number of different mandated tasks – in some cases several dozen – which must be implemented in the host country.

The UN currently deploys the majority of these peace operations, but other international and regional organisations such as the EU, OSCE or the African Union (AU) also utilise this tool. Oftentimes, several peace operations with different mandates work in parallel in the same crisis area.

The United Nations guidelines for effective mediation describe peace mediation as a voluntary process “whereby a third party assists two or more parties, with their consent, to prevent, manage, or resolve a conflict by helping them develop mutually acceptable agreements.” Peace mediation entails a number of different instruments aimed at resolving inter- and intra-state conflicts, ranging from conflict prevention, to support for ceasefire negotiations, to the implementation of peace agreements at various societal levels.

The term mediation support describes the professional support of mediation processes with the aim of improving the conditions for the success of these processes in the long term. Target groups and beneficiaries of mediation support not only include mediating third parties, but also conflict parties, interest groups, donor institutions and other supportive actors.

The integrated approach is one of the underlying principles of German engagement in international crisis and conflict management. The approach is designed to contribute to lasting peace and international security by facilitating the effective prevention or management of violent conflicts. The purpose of the comprehensive approach is to:

• coordinate and, through bundling or division of labour, to optimally employ resources of diplomacy, development cooperation, security policy and humanitarian aid and – in the case of a peace operation – also its civilian, military and police components,

• across departmental, ministerial or institutional boundaries.

In the implementation of the integrated approach, the challenge is to promote a corresponding culture of cooperation among all participants. This culture begins with an open, respectful attitude, for example, on the part of the staff of peace missions and extends to formalised and institutionalised structures and joint programmes. At senior level, those in positions of responsibility are expected to promote and actively shape the integrated approach, while at an operational level the comprehensive approach should be practiced and implemented on a daily basis.

ZIF Policy Briefing about the integrated approach (in German).

The mandate of a peace operation specifies the tasks it is entrusted with as well as the authorisation with which it has been provided. The mandates of United Nations peace operations are issued by the Security Council in the form of resolutions. With most operations, a mandate is adjusted and modified over time. The tasks of peace operations as specified in their respective mandate range from clearance of mines and electoral assistance to robust interventions and security sector development.

The cooperation of multiple countries in the resolution of cross-border issues is referred to as multilateralism. The term is often used in contrast to bilateralism (two countries working together) and unilateralism (action taken by a single country). The 2015 Paris Agreement, for example, was negotiated multilaterally, while the 1987 Washington Treaty on Mid-range Nuclear Systems was signed only by the Soviet Union and the United States, making it a typical example of a bilateral agreement.

Promoting multilateralism is a central tenet of German foreign policy. Addressing the UN General Assembly in September 2019, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas stressed that the major challenges of the 21st century – globalisation, digitalisation, migration and man-made climate change – can only be resolved if the international community relies on strong multilateral cooperation based on common principles and values, which respects the principle of fundamental equality between all states. Multilateral action is also the foundation for peace operations, shaping how they are structured and lending them a high degree of legitimacy.

Speech of Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas: "Multilateralism first!" (in German).

Post-conflict societies are often at high risk of relapsing into conflict. In the early 1990s, the UN coined the term “(post-conflict) peacebuilding” or “peace consolidation” to refer to measures aimed at consolidating peace and preventing a resurgence of violence. It is essential for peacebuilding efforts to be initiated as soon as possible following the end of a violent conflict. In modern peace operations, peacekeeping measures are therefore closely tied to elements of peacebuilding. Marrying the two in a cohesive approach is an extremely complex and lengthy process that requires both the coordinated action of international actors and the early involvement of local partners in order to identify deeply rooted structural causes of conflict and address them in a comprehensive and effective manner. As a rule, peacebuilding measures also continue after the withdrawal of a peace operation. Within the framework of the UN, this often occurs under the auspices of Special Political Missions or UN funds and specialized agencies in the host country, otherwise known as the “UN Country Team”.

This term is sometimes used as a synonym for “peace operation.” Strictly speaking, however, “peacekeeping” refers to a specific form of United Nations operations. The term “peacekeeping” was originally used by the UN to describe the deployment of unarmed military observers or lightly armed peacekeeping forces (“blue helmets”) to support a ceasefire or peace agreement. Since the 1990s, these missions have always incorporated police and civilian components, have taken on a significantly broader spectrum of tasks and, moreover, usually include larger and more heavily armed forces. Their objective is no longer merely to “freeze” a conflict, but rather to achieve long-term stabilisation by dealing with the underlying causes of the conflict.

Despite this evolution of the instrument of peacekeeping, all UN peacekeeping operations are still based on the same three basic principles: the consent of all (ideally), or at least the key parties to the conflict; impartiality towards the parties to the conflict; and non-use of force except in self-defence or in defence of the mandate.

Secondment refers to a particular employment relationship in civilian crisis prevention operations. Member states and participating states use secondment systems to supply a peace operation or the headquarters of an international organisation with personnel funded by that state as a contribution to the operation. This is in addition to the respective regular financial contributions made by a state to the budget of an international organisation.

In Germany, secondments are regulated under the 2017 Secondment Act This provides the legal basis for the comprehensive social security benefits, competitive pay, professional support and duty of care support that seconded civilian personnel receive from ZIF as their employer.

Qualified professionals who wish to be deployed to a peace operation of the OSCE, EU or another international organisation that uses seconded personnel can apply to become a member of the ZIF Expert Pool. Members of this pool can then apply to any vacancies issued. Once they are nominated by the German Federal Foreign Office and ZIF and selected by the respective international organisation, they conclude an employment contract with ZIF.

There are also so-called “contracted” positions for which the candidate applies directly to the respective organisation and then enters into an employment contract with that organisation if accepted. In this case, the applicant’s home country is not involved in the selection process.

Since the beginning of the millennium, stabilisation has been a prominent paradigm of international conflict management. In foreign and security policy, it describes instruments with which international organisations or third countries attempt to prevent or mitigate violent conflicts and the breakdown of state structures. In conflict regions, stabilisation measures adopt a civilian-military, i.e. a comprehensive approach.

The concept of stabilisation is not undisputed, and is defined differently depending on each context. However, all approaches have certain elements in common. Stabilisation efforts tend to be launched quickly and close to the “hot phase” of a conflict. Different organisations pursue similar, although not identical approaches.

In the German Government’s 2017 guidelines Preventing Crises, Resolving Conflicts, Building Peace, the term stabilisation is used for the first time in a fundamental document of German foreign and security policy to describe the approach of the German Government towards dealing with violent conflicts. The Federal Foreign Office has its own Directorate-Generale for Crisis prevention, stabilisation and post-conflict peacebuilding , which bundles its instruments in the area of stabilisation.

In the context of peace operations, “transition” describes a process in which the conflict situation evolves in such a way that it necessitates a managed adaptation of the peace operation to the changed circumstances. Transitions vary depending on the respective peace operation; sometimes, as in the case of Burundi, individual components of a peace operation are added or removed, while in other cases a multidimensional peace operation ends and processes are taken over by other UN actors within the country.

The withdrawal of a peace operation from the host country is clearly the most important transition. If this process is thoroughly planned and consistently implemented, the withdrawal of a peace operation can be the final step in leaving behind a peaceful society. The completion of the UNMIL mission in Liberia in 2018 exemplifies such a successful transition.

Election observation  is one of the core instruments for promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It consists of the observation of an election by a group of independent international and/or local election observers so as to critically assess the electoral process on the basis of national legislation and international standards.

Election observation missions have existed in their current form since the end of the Cold War. These missions make an important contribution to crisis prevention: They can demonstrate international interest, strengthen public confidence in the electoral process and expose potential irregularities.

Independent international election observers are sent to a country to accompany the electoral process before, during and after election day and document any irregularities. The most important international organisations that deploy election observation missions are the OSCE, which sends missions to its own participating states, and the EU, which carries out election observation missions around the world. In addition, civil society groups also regularly dispatch their own election observers.