Description
In the 25 years since the UN Security Council approved the first peacekeeping mandate with specific obligations for the protection of civilians (Sierra Leone in 1999), the scope and depth of this responsibility has developed considerably. More components of multidimensional peace support operations are seen to have a role in protection. The ambition has also increased, and the caveats and qualifications have been weakened. At the same time, civilian protection mandates have been added to more complex deployments where there may not be any peace to keep. A key question is how these mandates are operationalised, internalised, and prioritised. These include training, operational guidelines and manuals, and how lessons from the field are institutionalised. As a complement to these processes, this paper seeks to understand the processes from the perspective of norm diffusion. Civilian protection is itself a new norm which has been created and promoted by various means – formal and informal. It must compete alongside other norms and principles for priority, resources, and attention, especially when there are tensions between protection and other mandate responsibilities.
