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Into the Abyss: Water in Armed Conflicts

represent the most important and comprehensive contribution in conflict and post-conflict situations, especially in the form of
of the international community to stabilization and peace. UN peace operations.
peacekeeping is no longer a simple ceasefire monitoring activity
such as it was in its early history. Today, the mandates of UN The role of UN peace missions is determined by specific
peacekeeping operations are invariably complex and involve a mandates negotiated and adopted by the UN Security Council,
wide range of tasks such as the creation of safe environments with each mandate tailor made to address the specific situation.
allowing humanitarian assistance, political stabilization and the Many of these situations involve UN peace operations for long
strengthening of the rule of law. This endeavor often requires periods of time. New mandates in an individual situation reflect
critically important support to transitional authorities or local the priority needs at the time of adoption, thereby making
governments in establishing or restoring public administration, coherent development of the mandate more difficult to achieve.
disarming combatants, assisting the local police and local
governments in their efforts to establish control over natural The successful implementation of mandates for peace operations
resources. The roles played by UN peacekeeping operations can is influenced by human, technical and financial resources.
include digging water wells and other water resource initiatives The 2015 report of the High Level Independent Panel on Peace
that involve distributing high-capacity rolling water containers. Operations emphasized that Member States of the United
Nations must provide peace missions with adequate capabilities
The role of UN peacekeeping operations is likely to become to implement their mandates. These adequate capabilities
even more complex in the future and will increasingly include should include water and electric power specialists. Most of
water issues. There is a growing tendency to include natural the UN Member States with highly developed military systems
resource provisions in peace agreements. The UNEP report have skilled military specialists, trained to deliver the necessary
titled, “Greening the Blue Helmets” concludes that this tendency services, including drilling, water distribution, sanitation, power
has been observed since 2005, at which time peace agreements production and distribution. To strengthen the capacity of UN
began to include such provisions. In 2016, the UN Environment peace operations, those UN Member States should provide
Assembly adopted a resolution on the “Protection of the the assistance of these specialists for the evaluation, repair
Environment in Areas affected by Armed Conflict,” calling on the and rehabilitation of water supply systems so as to restore or
different parts of the UN system to provide enhanced assistance establish basic services to affected populations in the early
to countries affected by armed conflict and those in post-conflict stages of the deployment of peace operations.
situations to assist in post-crisis environmental assessment and
recovery (UNEP/EA/Res. 15). This trend indicates an increasing The UN Security Council must give coherent and complete
awareness of the need to address natural resources, including mandates, as well as match these with the necessary capacity
water, in peace mediations and in other forms of UN engagement on the ground in the peacekeeping operation.

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