Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 08/2009

Multidimensional and Integrated Peace Operations: Trends and Challenges

Emily J. Munro

May 2008

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy

Abstract

The progression of integrated missions has moved forward a great deal over the past years, but there remains a need for greater clarification in a number of critical areas. The Geneva meeting on integrated missions provided an opportunity to discuss how the integration agenda can and should be reconciled with the need to safeguard the independence and impartiality of humanitarian assistance. Participants generally agreed that demand for integration reflects a genuine need but emphasised that it cannot come at any cost. They also stressed that there should be better links between strategic and operational dimensions, and between headquarters and field dimensions. Integration is not, and should not become, a bureaucratic exercise in aligning resources, but it should be an exercise in developing greater coherence on deliverables, something that will have to be done specifically for each mission.