Overview
- The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2823 on Tuesday, June 23, creating a bigger UN role in documenting and responding to attacks on peacekeepers.
- The text requires peacekeeping missions to create clear factual records after attacks, asks the secretary-general to name a senior focal point, and demands annual UN reports on investigations and prosecutions.
- The resolution asks the secretary-general to present options to the council within 120 days for further measures to strengthen investigations and accountability.
- The council framed attacks on peacekeepers as potentially amounting to war crimes and reiterated that host states have the primary duty to investigate and prosecute perpetrators.
- The vote, co-authored by Pakistan and Denmark and backed by over 150 co-sponsors, signals broad political will but real-world deterrence will depend on host-state cooperation, the availability of investigators and follow-through by troop-contributing countries, and could change safety and legal outcomes for the more than 50,000 personnel serving in UN missions.