Security Council resolution 2436 (2018) [on developing a comprehensive and integrated performance policy framework for UN peacekeeping operations]
Symbol: S/RES/2436 (2018)
Date: 2018-09-21
Status: adopted
Agenda: S/73 [18] PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
S/ X United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Subjects: PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS|PERFORMANCE STANDARDS|PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL|ACCOUNTABILITY|SEX CRIMES
Votes in favour: 15
Votes against: 0
Abstentions: 0
Voting record:
country: BOLIVIA (PLURINATIONAL STATE OF)
vote: yes
country: CHINA
vote: yes
country: CÔTE D'IVOIRE
vote: yes
country: EQUATORIAL GUINEA
vote: yes
country: ETHIOPIA
vote: yes
country: FRANCE
vote: yes
country: KAZAKHSTAN
vote: yes
country: KUWAIT
vote: yes
country: NETHERLANDS
vote: yes
country: PERU
vote: yes
country: POLAND
vote: yes
country: RUSSIAN FEDERATION
vote: yes
country: SWEDEN
vote: yes
country: UNITED KINGDOM
vote: yes
country: UNITED STATES
vote: yes

               United Nations                                                                  S/RES/2436 (2018)
               Security Council                                                Distr.: General
                                                                               21 September 2018




               Resolution 2436 (2018)
               Adopted by the Security Council at its 8360th meeting, on
               21 September 2018

                    The Security Council,
                     Recalling the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and
               bearing in mind its primary responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of
               international peace and security,
                    Recalling its previous relevant resolutions and presidential statements
               addressing issues of peacekeeping,
                     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 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,
               and recognizing that the mandate of each peacekeeping operation is specific to the
               needs of the situation concerned and underlining that the mandates that it authorizes
               are consistent with the basic principles, and reiterating that the Security Council
               expects full delivery of the mandates it authorizes,
                     Commending the commitment of troop- and police-contributing countries and
               the sacrifices of uniformed and civilian personnel in implementing United Nations
               peacekeeping mandates in challenging environments, and reaffirming that the
               sustained commitment to operating in challenging environments is crucial for a
               peacekeeping mission’s success and full implementation of all peacekeeping
               mandates,
                     Expressing grave concern about the security threats and targeted attacks against
               United Nations peacekeepers in many peacekeeping missions that constitute a major
               challenge to United Nations peacekeeping operations, and condemns in the strongest
               terms killing of and all acts of violence against United Nations personnel, which may
               constitute war crimes,
                     Honouring the heroic work of tens of thousands of United Nations unif ormed
               and civilian peacekeeping personnel, underscoring that the United Nations should not
               let the performance failures of a few tarnish the achievements of the whole,
                    Welcoming efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General to mobilize all partners
               and stakeholders in support of more effective United Nations peacekeeping through




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               his initiative “Action for Peacekeeping”, to include advancing political solutions,
               strengthening protection of civilians, improving the safety and security of
               peacekeepers, supporting effective performance and accountability, strengthening the
               impact of peacekeeping on sustaining peace, improving peacekeeping partnerships,
               and strengthening the conduct of peacekeeping operations and personnel,
                    Recalling the report on “Improving Security of United Nations Peacekeepers”,
               which highlights the link between the safety and security of peacekeepers and
               performance, and its plan of action, and recognizing that deficiencies in training,
               equipment and performance can increase risks to the safety and security of
               peacekeepers, including leading to increased risk of fatalities,
                    Underscoring the need to enhance the overall effectiveness and efficiency of
               United Nations peacekeeping through improved integrated mission planning,
               including threat assessments of violence against civilians and United Nations
               personnel, increasing the numbers and fulfilment of pledges of capabilities and
               enablers, and increasing overall mission performance,
                     Recognizing that realistic mandates and adequately resourced missions,
               deployed uniformed and civilian peacekeeping personnel that are willing, capable and
               equipped to effectively and safely implement their mandate, and strong leadership at
               all levels, including mission leadership, are essential to peacekeeping pe rformance,
                    Stressing the importance of identifying gaps that have an impact on mandate
               delivery, improving provision of support services to field personnel, addressing
               systemic issues, and making recommendations on incorporation of lessons learned
               and best practices, in close cooperation with troop- and police-contributing countries
               and senior leadership, both in the field and at Headquarters,
                     Underscoring the link between performance and safety and security of
               uniformed and civilian peacekeeping personnel and recognizing that institutionalizing
               a culture of performance in UN peacekeeping will contribute to better delivery of
               peacekeeping mandates, as well as lead to improvements in the safety and security of
               peacekeepers,
                     Acknowledging the importance of data to inform objective decision-making to
               improve the performance of UN peacekeeping, taking into account the unique
               conditions of individual missions, and recalling resolutions 2378 (2017) and 2382
               (2017) and their request of the Secretary-General to ensure that data related to the
               effectiveness of peacekeeping operations, including peacekeeping performance data,
               is used to improve analytics and the evaluation of mission operations, based on clear
               and well identified benchmarks for mandate implementation and emphasizing the
               need to regularly review all peacekeeping operations, and welcoming the work
               already initiated by the Secretariat in the setting up of a comprehensive and integrated
               performance policy framework measuring performance based on data c ollection and
               analysis,
                     Recalling the importance of the role of UN peacekeeping operations in
               protecting civilians, where mandated, and expressing strong concern regarding
               continued instances of underperformance, including, inter alia, inaction in the fa ce
               of, in particular, imminent threats of physical violence against civilians, insufficient
               contingency planning to react to violence, conduct and discipline issues, risk averse
               leadership, lax force protection standards, inadequate operational readiness a nd
               preparedness, and inadequate integrated planning, and also noting with concern
               instances in which national caveats may have a detrimental effect on mandate
               implementation and performance,
                    Encouraging further coordination between the United Nations and regional and
               subregional organizations on strengthening peacekeeping performance,

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                 Welcoming the contribution of peacekeeping operations to a comprehensive
           strategy for sustaining peace, and noting with appreciation the contributions that
           peacekeepers and peacekeeping missions make to peacebuilding,
                 Expressing deep concern about the serious and continuous allegations and
           underreporting of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers and
           non-United Nations forces authorized under a Security Council mandate, including
           military, civilian and police personnel, and underscoring that sexual exploitation and
           abuse, among other crimes and forms of serious misconduct, by any such personnel
           is unacceptable, and commending the troop- and police-contributing countries that
           have taken steps to prevent, investigate and hold accountable their personnel for acts
           of sexual exploitation and abuse,
                 Recalling its resolution 2242 (2015), recognizing the indispensable role of
           women in United Nations peacekeeping and welcoming efforts to incentivise greater
           numbers of women in military, police and civilians deployed in United Nations
           peacekeeping operations, and noting the importance of increasing the number of
           women in leadership, and of ensuring that the need s and participation of women are
           integrated in all stages of mission planning and implementation through the inclusion
           of appropriate gender technical expertise,
                Taking into account its critical role in strengthening United Nations
           peacekeeping and stressing the importance of effectively promoting international
           peace and security, and that posture, behaviour, leadership, initiative, and
           accountability need to improve at all levels both at Headquarters and in the field,
                 1.   Reaffirms its support for the development of a comprehensive and
           integrated performance policy framework that identifies clear standards of
           performance for evaluating all United Nations civilian and uniformed personnel
           working in and supporting peacekeeping operations that facilitates effective and full
           implementation of mandates, and includes comprehensive and objective
           methodologies based on clear and well defined benchmarks to ensure accountability
           for underperformance and incentives and recognition for outstanding performance,
           including, inter alia, innovative and effective training, exceeding operational
           standards, delivery of key enabling capacities, excellence in the provision of mission
           support functions, demonstrated progress in mandate delivery, and committed and
           proactive leadership, and that specifies measures for performance accountability that
           include a range of responses proportionate to the identified performance failures,
           including, as appropriate, transparent public reporting, withholding reimbursement,
           and repatriating or replacing units, including the possibility of replacement by units
           from another troop- or police-contributing country from the Peacekeeping
           Capabilities Readiness System (PCRS), as well as revocation of delegated authorities,
           performance improvement plans, training, change of duties, or dismissal or
           non-renewal of contracts for civilian personnel;
                 2.   Recognizes that the effective implementation of peacekeeping mandates is
           the responsibility of all stakeholders and is contingent upon several critical f actors,
           including well-defined, realistic, and achievable mandates, political will, leadership,
           performance and accountability at all levels, adequate resources, policy, planning, and
           operational guidelines, and training and equipment;
                 3.   Urges all troop- and police-contributing countries to meet UN
           performance standards for personnel, training, and equipping, and to support the
           effective implementation of mandated tasks while maintaining the highest standards
           of conduct, further urges all civilian mission components and Secretariat staff
           supporting peacekeeping operations to meet performance standards and comply with
           staff regulations, notes the efforts of the Secretary-General to develop a
           comprehensive performance assessment system to help troop- and police-contributing

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               countries meet United Nations performance standards, and calls upon all stakeholders
               to support these efforts;
                    4.    Reaffirms the importance of adhering to the Human Rights Due Diligence
               Policy in providing United Nations peacekeeping-related support to non-United
               Nations security forces in line with the Charter of the United Nations;
                     5.   Recognizes the need for enablers to bolster peacekeeping performance and
               calls on the Secretary-General to continue efforts to ensure that United Nations
               peacekeeping missions have effective operational command and control architectures,
               necessary, capable and efficient enablers including airlift, medical and casualty
               evacuation, and adequate medical support facilities and qualified p ersonnel;
                     6.   Emphasizes the primary responsibility of host countries for the protection
               of civilians, and affirms the need for peacekeeping missions with a mandate that
               includes the protection of civilians to ensure full mandate implementation, and
               underlines that where mandated, peacekeepers are authorized to use all necessary
               means, which includes the use of force when required, in order to protect civilians
               under threat of physical violence, in accordance with mission mandates, the United
               Nations Charter and other applicable international law, and stresses the importance
               of continued and further engagement by senior mission leadership, with a view to
               ensuring that all mission components and all levels of the chain of command are
               properly informed of, trained for, and involved in the mission’s protection of civilians
               mandate and their relevant responsibilities;
                    7.    Recognizes the role of United Nations peacekeeping operations in the
               protection of women and children, and the crucial role of protection -related personnel
               such as women protection advisers and child protection advisers in mainstreaming of
               protection and leading monitoring, prevention, and reporting efforts in missions;
                     8.    Calls on the Secretary-General to ensure United Nations peacekeeping
               missions have capable and accountable leadership, including through improving
               transparent selection processes that are based on merit, competence, and the needs of
               the mission, improving training and mentoring programs for selected and prospective
               leadership, and developing a cadre of experienced future candidates for senior
               leadership positions, and recalls that the paramount consideration in this regard shall
               be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and
               integrity, and that due regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting on as wide
               a geographical basis as possible;
                     9.    Welcomes the commitment of Member States to support improved training
               and capacity building activities to strengthen peacekeeping, including, inter alia,
               predeployment training and assessments, triangular partnerships, co deployments,
               and smart pledging, and encourages further activities in this regard, and welcomes
               the Secretary-General’s commitment to implement a light coordination mechanism,
               within existing resources, to facilitate improved training and capacity building
               activities between Member States, to include troop- and police-contributing countries,
               providers of training and capacity building, and the United Nations, and encourages
               this mechanism to be made operational as soon as possible, and further encourages
               Member States to engage with this mechanism;
                     10. Welcomes initiatives of the Secretary-General to conduct Special
               Investigations into issues related to the performance of troo p, police, and civilian
               personnel, including with regard to protection of civilians, and requests the Secretary-General to act with urgency to initiate these Special Investigations into alleged
               instances of significant performance failures and underlines the importance of
               improving the methodology of the investigations and transparency of the findings of
               such investigations, as well as the potential of these Special Investigations to facilitate


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           further engagement and dialogue between the United Nations, tro op- and policecontributing countries, and other relevant stakeholders to improve performance and
           inform decisions regarding mandate design;
                 11. Requests the Secretary-General to provide detailed reporting on the
           findings and implementation plans of Special Investigations to the Security Council
           and relevant Member States, as appropriate, to include recommendations to address
           all factors contributing to any identified failures, as well as accountability measures,
           as appropriate, for uniformed and civilian components, including mission leadership
           and mission support personnel, including, as appropriate, remedial training and
           repatriation or dismissal of personnel;
                 12. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that decisions to recognize and
           incentivize outstanding performance and decisions regarding deployment,
           remediation, training, withholding of financial reimbursement, and repatriation of
           uniformed or dismissal of civilian personnel, are predicated on objective performance
           data, and calls for greater utilization of the PCRS to ensure the recruitment and
           retention of qualified uniformed personnel, and further calls on the Secretary-General
           to continue his efforts to improve analytics and evaluation of mission operations
           through implementation of the Operational Readiness Assurance and Performance
           Improvement Policy and commensurate policies for police in peacekeeping missions;
                13. Welcomes the Secretary-General’s initiative to undertake regular strategic
           reviews of peacekeeping missions, including those at the request of the Security
           Council, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure relevant findings of future
           Secretary-General commissioned reviews are shared with the Security Council and,
           as appropriate, relevant Member States, alongside the Secret ary-General’s integrated
           analysis, strategic assessment and frank advice;
                 14. Requests the Secretary-General to include in reports to the Security
           Council on individual peacekeeping operations, a summary of actions taken to
           improve mission performance and address performance challenges including lapses
           in leadership, national caveats that negatively affect mandate implementation
           effectiveness, and demanding operational environments, as well as any actions taken
           in line with paragraph 12 above;
                 15. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on
           instances of outstanding performance in order to highlight best practices and promote
           their widespread adoption, and encourages the Secretary-General to apply risk and
           enabling premiums to eligible troop- and police-contributing countries, and to
           advance public recognition of outstanding performance, including to raise awareness
           of the importance of peacekeeping in the promotion and maintenance of international
           peace and security, as well as of the significance and sacrifice of peacekeepers and
           troop- and police-contributing countries;
                 16. Underscores that any form of sexual exploitation and abuse is
           unacceptable and reaffirms its support for the United Nations zero-tolerance policy
           on all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse, and welcomes the Secretary-General’s
           victim-centred approach and the Secretary-General’s measures to strengthen the
           prevention, enforcement and remediation efforts against all forms of sexual
           misconduct, and reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to include a section on
           adherence to his zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse in all his
           reporting to the Security Council, both thematic and country-specific, and urges all
           troop- and police-contributing countries to redouble their efforts to take the steps
           necessary to vet and train their personnel and conduct investigations of allegations of
           sexual exploitation and abuse by their personnel and take appropriate steps to hold
           accountable those responsible, and recognizes the need to make further visible and
           measurable improvement on addressing sexual exploitation and abuse;

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                     17. Expresses concern regarding allegations of sexual harassment in
               peacekeeping operations, and affirms its support for the Secretary-General’s zerotolerance policy on all forms of sexual harassment;
                     18. Encourages Member States, as appropriate, to provide training to
               peacekeeping personnel to be deployed in United Nations peacekeeping operations
               on issues related to sexual violence in conflict, trafficking in persons in the context
               of armed conflict, and gender expertise, and to ensure that these considerations are
               fully integrated, as appropriate, into performance and operational readiness standards,
               and further encourages Member States to nominate individual military and police
               personnel to act as focal points on these areas;
                     19. Recalls its resolution 2242 (2015) and its request that the Secretary-General initiate, in collaboration with Member States, a revised strategy to double the
               numbers of women in military and police contingents of United Nations peacekeeping
               operations by 2020 and further requests that this strategy ensures the full, effective
               and meaningful participation of women in all aspects of peacekeeping, an d that this
               revised strategy is presented to the Security Council by March 2019;
                    20.   Decides to remain seized of the matter.




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