We are delighted to announce that our Former Visiting Fellow Ryan D’Souza has recently completed a report entitled A Reoriented Approach to Atrocity Prevention in UN Peace Operations. The report results from Ryan’s independent research whilst a Visiting Fellow with ELAC at our Programme for International Peace and Security (IPS), and was spurred by his experience serving with the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia.
The purpose of this white paper is to examine how atrocity prevention mechanisms might be better integrated and operationalised in UN Peace Operations beyond the physical protection of civilians. More specifically, the white paper seeks to determine how civilian peacekeepers might more effectively leverage the UN field presence to prevent atrocity crimes while remaining committed to their mandate. Indeed, intrinsic to the peacekeeping mandate of protection is the prevention of extreme harms to civilians – including, but not limited to, atrocity crimes. By drawing on desk research, case study analyses, in-person and written interview responses, and fieldwork observations, Ryan makes recommendations concerning structural changes in mission, strategic communications, and monitoring and reporting that could help reconfigure a more holistic approach to atrocity prevention in UN Peace Operations.
His research was supported by a grant awarded to IPS Executive Director Federica D’Alessandra by Oxford University’s Knowledge Exchange Seed Fund. The views expressed in this paper represent those of the author only, and do not represent those of the Oxford Programme on International Peace and Security, of the Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, of the Blavatnik School of Government, of the University of Oxford, nor of any of their affiliates.
The full report can be accessed here.
