Peace and development are inseparable; one cannot exist without the other.

The withdrawal or drawdown of a UN Peacekeeping Operation or a Special Political Mission represents a critical transition for a host country. It signals progress towards peace and new opportunities for development, but also presents risks that need to be addressed through sustained investment in peacebuilding and longer-term efforts to overcome fragility. The UN’s legacy in a country emerging from conflict depends, to a large extent, on how it has supported national actors and coordinated with international and regional partners to consolidate the political and social gains made during the mission’s presence. UN Mission withdrawals are currently underway in Sudan and Guinea-Bissau, and large-scale UN Peacekeeping Operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Central African Republic have been asked to initiate or intensify transition planning by the UN Security Council (S/RES/2463; S/RES/2480; S/RES/2448). While recently completed UN Transitions took place in environments marked by relative stability and peaceful handovers of power, these ongoing and future transition processes will likely unfold on the backdrop of unfinished political settlements, continued security challenges and protection gaps, and limited presence of governance and rule of law institutions throughout the territory of the host country. In these settings, the transition from a UN Mission to a UNCT-only presence, or from one type of UN Mission to another, is much more than an administrative or logistical operation. It should rather be viewed as an important moment in the “peace continuum” of a country emerging from conflict. As such, ensuring pro-active, integrated and forward-looking transition planning and management is a key priority for the Organization in years to come.

It is, therefore, imperative for the UN and its Member States to fast-track and strengthen their collective efforts to better shape future UN Transitions. In order to respond to these new dynamics and rapidly changing transition contexts, the UN System has been developing new approaches and partnerships to ensure improved operational and policy coherence, and to foster better integration in transition planning processes, while anchoring them in gender-responsive and human rights analysis. The following sections outline the impact of new approaches and partnerships while at the same time highlighting some key considerations and lessons learned from previous UN transitions.

Learn more abour UN Transitions: Sustaining Peace and Development Beyond Mission Withdrawal