Security Council resolution 2594 (2021) [on transition planning in peacekeeping operations]
Symbol: S/RES/2594 (2021)
Date: 2021-09-09
Status: adopted
Agenda: S/76 [18] PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
S/ X United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Subjects: UN. Peacebuilding Commission|PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS|PEACEBUILDING|RESIDENT COORDINATORS|COUNTRY TEAMS
Votes in favour: 15
Votes against: 0
Abstentions: 0
Voting record:
country: CHINA
vote: yes
country: ESTONIA
vote: yes
country: FRANCE
vote: yes
country: INDIA
vote: yes
country: IRELAND
vote: yes
country: KENYA
vote: yes
country: MEXICO
vote: yes
country: NIGER
vote: yes
country: NORWAY
vote: yes
country: RUSSIAN FEDERATION
vote: yes
country: SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
vote: yes
country: TUNISIA
vote: yes
country: UNITED KINGDOM
vote: yes
country: UNITED STATES
vote: yes
country: VIET NAM
vote: yes

               United Nations                                                                   S/RES/2594 (2021)
               Security Council                                                 Distr.: General
                                                                                9 September 2021




               Resolution 2594 (2021)
               Adopted by the Security Council at its 8852nd meeting, on
               9 September 2021

                    The Security Council,
                     Recalling the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and
               reaffirming the primary responsibility of the Security Council under the Charter of
               the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security,
                    Recalling its previous relevant resolutions and presidential statements
               addressing issues of peacekeeping, and reaffirming the basic principles of
               peacekeeping, such as consent of the parties, impartiality, and non -use of force,
               except in self-defence and defence of the mandate,
                     Stressing that the primacy of politics should be the hallmark of the approach of
               the United Nations to the resolution of conflict, including through mediation, good
               offices, the monitoring of ceasefires, assistance to the implementation of peac e
               accords,
                     Underscoring the importance of peacekeeping as one of the most effective tools
               available to the United Nations in the promotion and maintenance of international
               peace and security, reaffirming that lasting peace is neither achieved nor sustained by
               military and technical engagements alone, but through political solutions and strongly
               convinced that this should guide the design and deployment of United Nations peace
               operations, and understanding United Nations peace operations as peacekeeping
               operations and special political missions,
                     Recognising the crucial role peacekeeping plays in creating conditions for
               stability and lasting peace, and the need for United Nations peace operations to have
               integrated strategies that articulate a clear pathway to transition and to achieving
               sustainable peace, and underlining that transitions of United Nations Peace
               Operations are understood as a strategic process which builds towards a
               reconfiguration of the strategy, footprint, and capacity of the United Nati ons in a way
               that supports peacebuilding objectives and the development of a sustainable peace, in
               a manner that supports and reinforces national ownership, informed by the operational
               context and the national priorities and needs of the host State and its population, and
               that includes engagement with local community and civil society, and, where relevant,
               regional and sub-regional organisations, and other relevant stakeholders, with the full,
               equal and meaningful participation of women and the inclusion of youth and persons
               with disabilities,




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                     Reiterating the primary responsibility of States to protect the population
               throughout their territories, recognising that reconfigurations of missions may entail
               increased risks for civilians, in particular for women, youth, children, persons with
               disabilities, and, where relevant, the need to enhance States’ capacity to protect their
               own civilians, emphasising the importance of security sector reform, poverty
               reduction measures, gender equality, human rights monitorin g and reporting, the
               promotion of rule of law and good governance, and the extension of legitimate State
               authority in ensuring the protection of civilians over the longer term and in the
               consolidation of peace and stability, taking note of interlinkages between transitional
               justice, inclusive disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration processes, functional
               child protection services, national small arms and light weapons management, and
               organised crime and anti-corruption measures, for enhancing stability, reaffirming
               that development, peace and security, and human rights are interlinked and mutually
               reinforcing, and recalling further the General Assembly resolution, A/RES/70/1,
               entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” ,
                    Recognising that States bear the primary responsibility to respect and ensure the
               human rights of all persons within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction as
               provided for by international law, and acknowledging the important role of those who
               protect and promote human rights, civil society organisations, journalists and other
               media workers in the promotion and protection of human rights,
                     Reaffirming its commitment to addressing the impact of armed conflict on
               women, youth, and children, and recalling its resolution 1325 (2000) on women,
               peace and security, resolution 1265 (1999) on the protection of civilians in armed
               conflict, resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security, resolution 1261 (1999) on
               children and armed conflict, and resolution 2475 (2019) on the disproportionate
               impact of armed conflict and related humanitarian crises on persons with disabilities,
               as well as all subsequent resolutions concerning these agendas,
                     Reaffirming its commitment to include in the mandates of peace oper ations a
               desired outcome of the implementation of sequenced, mandated tasks and, where
               appropriate, a clear prioritisation of tasks to achieve this outcome, reflecting the need
               to create favourable conditions for sustainable peace, understanding prioritisation as
               the mission focussing on those specific mandated tasks which are based on up -to-date
               conflict analysis and planning and are assessed as responding to the evolving needs
               on the ground, and further understanding sequencing as a logical, flexible
               implementation of the mandate over time, in line with the strategic vision as set out
               in the mandate, aligned with the peace and security needs within the host State,
               building towards a consolidation of peace,
                     Recognising that the effective implementation of peacekeeping mandates is the
               responsibility of all stakeholders and is contingent upon several critical factors,
               including well-defined, realistic and achievable mandates, political will, leadership,
               performance and accountability at all levels, adequate r esources, policy, planning and
               operational guidelines and training and equipment, and welcoming further
               engagement and dialogue between United Nations, troop and police contributing
               countries, and other relevant stakeholders to improve performance and inf orm
               decisions regarding mandate design,
                     Reaffirming its belief that United Nations peacekeeping, including mission
               transition processes, is a unique global partnership that draws together the
               contributions and commitments of the entire United Nations system, and reaffirms its
               commitment to strengthening this partnership, including to ensure a coherent,
               integrated, and planned approach to transitions at the earliest possible stage,
                    Noting efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General to mobilise all partners and
               stakeholders in support of more effective United Nations peacekeeping through his

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           initiatives “Action for Peacekeeping” and “Action for Peacekeeping +”, which
           highlight the importance of advancing political solutions, strengthening protection of
           civilians, improving the safety and security of peacekeepers, implementing the
           Women, Peace and Security agenda, supporting effective performance and
           accountability, improving peacekeeping partnerships, strengthening the conduct of
           peacekeeping operations and personnel, and strengthening the impact of
           peacekeeping on peacebuilding and sustaining peace,
                 Reaffirming that “sustaining peace” should be broadly understood as a goal and
           a process to build a common vision of a society, ensuring that the needs and human
           rights of all segments of the population are taken into account, which encompasses
           activities, including promotion of justice and accountability, aimed at preventing the
           outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict, addressing root causes ,
           assisting parties to conflict to end hostilities, ensuring national reconciliation, and
           moving towards recovery, reconstruction and development, and emphasising that
           sustaining peace is a shared task and responsibility that needs to be fulfilled by the
           government and all other national stakeholders and should flow through all three
           pillars of the United Nations’ engagement at all stages of conflict, and in all its
           dimensions, and needs sustained international attention and assistance,
                 1.    Stresses the crucial role peace operations play in the pursuit of sustainable
           political solutions and building peace, and, in this regard, emphasises the need for
           peace operations to engage at the earliest possible stage in integrated planning and
           coordination on transitions with the Resident Coordinators, United Nations Country
           Team, other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, the host State and other
           national stakeholders including civil society and further emphasises that in order to
           be sustainable, the transition planning process should take into account broad
           challenges, including risks to stability, governance, and the rule of law, as well as the
           political, economic, development, humanitarian, and human rights context;
                 2.    Requests the Secretary-General to plan for United Nations peace
           operations transitions which are integrated within the wider country -specific
           transition to peace and to elaborate mission transition strategies which build towards
           the reconfiguration of the strategy, footprint and capacity of the United Nations
           presence, informed by input from stakeholders at all levels, including in close
           consultation with national authorities, the Resident Coordinator and United Nations
           Country Team, local communities and organisations, including those that c ontribute
           to peacebuilding, with the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and
           inclusion of youth, regional and sub-regional organisations, as well as relevant
           International Financial Institutions and United Nations funds, programmes and
           agencies, and further requests that these mission strategies clarify roles and
           responsibilities for all relevant United Nations stakeholders as well as, where
           relevant, clear and realistic benchmarks and indicators which measure factors and
           conditions that might impact the reconfiguration in order to ensure a successful and
           durable transition;
                 3.    Encourages national governments to develop and implement
           comprehensive national plans, policies, or strategies to protect civilians, which
           include national benchmarks, in advance of peace operations transitions and requests
           the Secretary-General to direct United Nations peace operations to engage with host
           State governments, other United Nations entities, civil society, including women and
           youth, those who protect and promote human rights, International Financial
           Institutions, and all relevant stakeholders to assist, when requested by host state
           governments, in the development, implementation and monitoring of national
           strategies and plans for transition including on th e protection of civilians, human
           rights and access to justice, in line with the United Nations peace operations
           transitions strategy;

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                     4.    Stresses the importance of providing clear, achievable, sequenced, and
               prioritised mandates, where appropriate, based on accurate and reliable information
               on the situation on the ground and a realistic assessment of threats against civilians
               and United Nations personnel, premises and assets, made in consultation with all
               relevant stakeholders, requests the Secretary-General to provide integrated, evidencebased and data-driven analysis, strategic assessments and frank advice to the Security
               Council to facilitate as necessary a re-evaluation of the mission composition and
               mandate based on realities on the ground, reaffirms the importance of a greater
               awareness in the Security Council of the security, resource, and field support
               implications of its decisions and of transparent reporting on these issues in
               appropriate United Nations fora, stresses the necessity to ensure the execution of tasks
               that contribute to the protection of civilians in the field, and further requests that
               progress in achieving priority tasks laid down in Security Council resolutions be
               measured through clear, realistic and measurable benchmarks;
                     5.    Expresses the importance of a United Nations presence appropriately
               configured with necessary capabilities and capacities to provide support to protection
               of civilians efforts during transitions, further expresses its intention, where relevant,
               to consider the appropriate measures through which a mandated, reconfigured United
               Nations presence could provide such support, including through supporting the
               establishment of and training in the use of early warning and rapid response systems,
               deployment of mobile monitoring teams, facilitating local crisis mediation, utilising
               communications and outreach strategies with populations at risk of violence including
               sexual and gender-based violence, advancing conflict prevention, mitigation, and
               reconciliation, including through promoting and supporting inter-communal dialogue
               and community violence reduction, building trust between State authorities and local
               communities, supporting community policing initiatives, or other methods of
               unarmed civilian protection, and recalling the primary responsibility of States to
               protect the population throughout their territories;
                    6.    Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that comprehensive gender
               analysis and technical gender expertise are included throughout all stages of mission
               planning, mandate implementation and review and throughout the transition process,
               as well as mainstreaming of a gender perspective, and to ensure the full, equal, and
               meaningful participation of women, and the inclusion of youth, as well as measures
               to safeguard the interests of persons with disabilities, and further requests the
               Secretary-General to ensure that their needs are fully integrated in all prioritised and
               sequenced stages of a mission mandate and mission transitions;
                     7.    Requests the Secretary-General to further strengthen coordination between
               United Nations police, justice, and corrections activities, as well as between United
               Nations uniformed components and as appropriate, the relevant host State authorities,
               with a view to supporting States’ ability to provide critical functions in these fields,
               recognises that, in line with host State needs, strengthening the capacity of
               representative, responsive, accountable host State security sector and rule of law
               institutions, which are compliant with applicable international law, is critical for the
               development of a sustainable peace, and further requests the Secretary-General to
               produce a review across relevant peacekeeping missions of the implementation of
               mandates to support the restoration and extension of legitimate state authority and
               security sector reform with a view to identifying lessons learned for transition
               planning, and in his regular reports on relevant peacekeeping operations to the
               Security Council to include information on the challenges, best practices, and lessons
               learned in implementing mandates to support the restoration and extension of
               legitimate state authority and security sector reform with a view to facilitating
               transition planning;



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                 8.   Emphasises the importance of enhancing the safety and security of
           peacekeepers, in accordance with resolutions 2518 (2020) and other relevant Security
           Council resolutions, including resolution 2589 (2021) on strengthening accountability
           for crimes committed against peacekeepers, and the Action Plan on improving safety
           and security related to the report on “Improving Security of United Nations
           Peacekeepers”, notes the particular risks faced prior to and during a transition, and,
           in this respect, requests the Secretary-General to continue to take all appropriate
           measures to enhance the safety and security of peacekeeping personnel, including
           through the provision of advice based on integrated, evidence-based and data-driven
           analysis, and strategic assessments to the Security Council to facilitate as necessary
           a re-evaluation of safety and security risks and the mission composition and mandate
           based on realities on the ground;
                 9.    Calls upon the Secretary-General and field missions to draw on lessons
           learned from transitions in the further development and implementation of relevant
           United Nations transition policies and directives, including the Secretary -General’s
           Planning Directive for the Development of Consistent and Coherent United Nations
           Transition Processes and the Integrated Assessment and Planning Policy, and further
           calls upon the Secretary-General to continue to strengthen planning and management
           of transition processes and to further enhance organisational learning and guidance
           on transitions;
                10. Acknowledges the importance of strong coordination, coherence and
           cooperation with the Peacebuilding Commission, in accordance with its resolution
           S/RES/2282 (2016), and, in this regard, reaffirms its intention to regularly request,
           deliberate and draw upon the specific, strategic and targeted advice of the
           Peacebuilding Commission, including to assist with the longer-term perspective
           required for peacebuilding and sustaining peace being reflected in the formation,
           review and reconfiguration of peace operations;
                  11. Strongly encourages the Peacebuilding Commission to continue fully
           utilising its role to convene United Nations bodies, Member States, national
           authorities and all other relevant stakeholders including regional and sub -regional
           organisations and international financial institutions to ensure an integrated, strategic,
           coherent, coordinated and gender-responsive approach to peacebuilding and
           sustaining peace and, in particular, to facilitate the development of joint objectives
           and priorities prior to transitions and, in this connection, requests the Secretary-General to liaise with the Peacebuilding Commission in advance of relevant reporting
           to the Security Council with a view to facilitating the provision of complementary
           and timely advice from the Commission to the Council;
                12. Recognises the contribution of regional and sub-regional organisations to
           peacebuilding and transitions, and calls upon the Secretary-General to consult
           relevant regional and sub-regional organisations, as appropriate, in the planning and
           execution of transition processes and to ensure that transition plans clearly articulate
           the potential roles of these organisations;
                 13. Recognises that peacebuilding financing remains a critical challenge, takes
           note of the General Assembly decision to convene a high-level meeting in the seventysixth session to advance, explore and consider options for ensuring adequate,
           predictable and sustainable financing for peacebuilding, and reiterates the importance
           of adequately resourcing United Nations peace operations including during mission
           transitions to support the long-term stability and continuity of peacebuilding
           activities;
                 14. Requests the Secretary-General to incorporate comprehensive reporting on
           the status of ongoing transitions of United Nations peacekeeping operations in his
           regular country specific reporting on relevant missions, and to provide updates on the

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               status of transitions across relevant United Nations peace operations, including those
               that have transitioned within the previous twenty four months, which includes updates
               from relevant Resident Coordinators and United Nations Country Teams as well as
               the view of the Peacebuilding Commission in his comprehensive annual briefing
               mandated by the Security Council under its resolution 2378 (2017), and further
               requests the Secretary-General to provide a report on the status of transitions across
               relevant United Nations peace operations, including those that have transitioned
               within the previous twenty four months, before 30 June 2022;
                    15.   Decides to remain seized of the matter.




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