The world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since 1945 and today, one quarter of humanity lives in conflict-affected areas. The UN's core task is to maintain peace and security, and offices across the world work towards this goal.
The Security Council is the main decision-making entity when talking about questions of peace and security, and determining how to counter a threat to peace. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General have important roles to play in this process, too.
UN Geneva complements the work done in New York: with its skilled staff and state-of-the-art facilities, the office hosts and supports several peace processes and high-level political discussions, aiming at preventing or ending conflicts and wars.
How does the UN work towards peace?
At the early stages of a disagreement within or between States, the UN steps in to prevent them from turning into violent conflicts. The UN’s “preventive diplomacy” can span one or several of the following activities:
- The Security Council investigates any such situation and recommends next steps to reach a peaceful settlement.
- The Secretary-General can serve as a negotiator between parties. Alternatively, he mandates a Special Envoy, a senior UN official, to bring the conflicting groups to the negotiating table, discuss and compromise.
- The UN offers mediation services when both parties agree to a third, neutral actor who can guide the process of achieving an agreement. The Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) has a Mediation Support Unit, which offers advisory, financial and logistical support to peace processes. It can also deploy seasoned mediators anywhere in the world.
- Political Missions are field offices with different mandates, including preventive diplomacy. These missions prevent and solve conflict and can support complex political processes within a country.
- In addition, many of the UN’s ongoing activities prevent conflict: the organization’s work on development, reducing poverty, respecting human rights and limiting arms is an invaluable contribution towards its efforts to maintain peace.
Example: The United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) has a dedicated mandate for preventive diplomacy and mediation in West Africa. As part of its mandate, UNOWAS oversees the implementation of a ruling of the International Court of Justice regarding a border conflict between Cameroon and Nigeria. The office supports the demarcation of the boundaries, assists affected communities and manages the transfer of power inside the disputed area from Nigeria to Cameroon.
If a conflict has erupted and spread, the UN’s main goals are to protect innocent people and to end the hostilities as quickly as possible.
The actors on UN side are largely the same as in the first phase of conflict prevention, but their focuses shift:
- The Security Council discusses all aggressions and recommends future action. These can range from economic sanctions to military action against an aggressor.
- The Secretary-General’s role, just as those of his Special Envoys, involves mediation, and arbitration to overcome the tensions. They, as well as other experienced UN mediators, can advise the parties on issues such as power-sharing, natural resources and conflict, constitution-making, ceasefires, and other security arrangements.
UN Peacekeeping is often the first step towards a lasting peace. If the security situation in a conflict is stable enough, the UN makes an assessment to determine next steps and reports its findings to the Security Council. The latter can, as one possible option, decide to deploy UN peacekeepers. These are military, police and civilian personnel who can be tasked with a broad range of mandates, from protecting civilians to making sure that the conflicting parties do not clash again, to assisting in re-building a functioning state and governance – e.g. assisting to reinstate law and security institutions; overseeing elections; disarming and reintegrating former combatants into society; and much more.
Currently, the UN operates 11 peacekeeping missions worldwide.
When a conflict is over, the country or countries affected need to recover from its consequences, cities and societies must be rebuilt. The UN’s Peacebuilding Commission, a body of 31 Member States, discusses strategies for such a recovery and brings together everyone involved in a long term post-conflict peace process. It is supported by the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Among others, the Department manages a Peacebuilding Fund which invests in peacebuilding activities on all levels. This covers, for example, costs for counselling and psychological or legal services as well as financial support for affected persons, training and dialogues within communities.
Some Political Missions have a dedicated peacebuilding mandate. The United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL, 2008-2013), for example, was created to provide political advice to foster peace and political consolidation, offer support and training to the national police and security forces, and build the capacity of democratic institutions in furtherance of good governance and the promotion and protection of human rights.
The calculation is simple: a world with fewer arms will be a world with fewer armed conflicts. The UN’s work on disarmament is therefore an important puzzle peace in its overall efforts to achieve and maintain peace.
Peace negotiations at UN Geneva
Intra-Syrian talks led by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria
The Special Envoy for Syria is the main mediator between conflicting parties in the Syrian civil war. Geir O. Pedersen, the current Special Envoy, regularly convenes representatives from government and the opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission in Geneva to achieve a political settlement of the conflict.
One key aspect of his work is his role as facilitator for the Constitutional Committee. The Committee was formed in 2019 with the aim to amend the Syrian constitution or draft a new constitution. It is in equal parts comprised of representatives from government, opposition and the Syrian civil society. The commitment of both parties to this process is the first agreement on the way to implementing Security Council resolution 2254 (2015) which guides the way for a peace process in the Syrian Arab Republic.
The Office of the Special Envoy also chairs the Humanitarian Taskforce which tries to achieve unhindered access to all areas to provide humanitarian assistance and to protect civilians. In addition, the Office serves as the secretariat for a Ceasefire Task Force which aims at reaching an agreement to ending all hostilities.
The Special Envoy is at the pulse of developments within Syria, working closely with different parts of society, especially with members of NGOs and with a group of women advisors who are committed to supporting a Syrian-owned peace process.
Geneva International Discussions on the Conflict in Georgia
After witnessing a violent conflict between the Georgian government and pro-independence forces in Georgia’s Abkhazia region in the early 1990ies, a UN observer mission was established in Georgia which was active until 2009.
After the mission’s closure, the UN remained engaged in alleviating the effects of that conflict which is still lingering as the political status of Abkhazia was never formally agreed upon. Regular discussions are held in Geneva on how to increase security and stability in the country, and how to organize the return and re-integration of thousands of refugees. These discussions are co-chaired by the European Union, the UN, and the OSCE. The UN Representative to the Geneva International Discussions, Ayşe Cihan Sultanoğlu, sits in these discussions as UN official. The aim is to implement a six-point-agreement adopted in 2008. In June 2024, the discussions entered their 61st round.
Informal 5+1 meeting on Cyprus
The conflict in Cyprus has protracted for decades, having arisen shortly after the country’s independence in 1960. Conflicts escalated in 1974 after the coup d’état initiated by Greece and the consequent Turkish invasion in the Northern part of the island. Since then, negotiations have largely been at a standstill. Although the day-to-day life between Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriot side has eased, and exchange between the two is possible, no political solution has been found on how both parts of the island should continue to coexist. The last official negotiations took place in 2017, in Switzerland’s Crans Montana, without results.
Under the leadership of Secretary-General António Guterres, UN Geneva convened informal “5+1” talks in 2021, the five parties being representatives from both Cypriot communities and the three guarantor nations Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, while the UN acted as mediator (+1). During these talks, the opposing viewpoints of both Cypriot parties became, once more, apparent. While Greek Cypriots aimed to achieve a settlement based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, Turkish Cypriots believed that a solution should be based on two sovereign states cooperating with each other. “The truth is that, in the end of our efforts, we have not yet found enough common grounds to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations in relation to the settlement of the Cyprus problem. But I do not give up", Guterres said at the end of the meetings.
In January 2024, the Secretary-General appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuellar, former Foreign Minister of Colombia, as new Personal Envoy on Cyprus. She is tasked to find a common ground between the two positions, and her work could be the basis for a resumption of negotiations.
The UN-led peace talks led by the Special Advisor of the Secretary-General for Libya
Libya has been in a state of insecurity and instability for more than a decade. The government in Tripoli does not control the Eastern part of the country which is held by the opposition Libyan National Army (LNA). Both sides claim power. In 2019, the then head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Ghassan Salamé, proposed a three-point peace plan, part of which were talks on the economic, military and political future of the country. The military and political talks took place in Geneva in 2020. In October 2020, a ceasefire deal was achieved, and in the following year, an interim government was formed. However, an opposition government was created at the same time and claimed to be the legitimate government. Until today, fights continue to break out between the opposing parties.
This situation led the Special Envoy for Libya to resign in April 2024. "Under the circumstances, there is no way the UN can operate successfully," Abdoulaye Bathily, who had held the office for 18 months, said. “The selfish resolve of current leaders to maintain the status quo through delaying tactics and maneuvers at the expense of the Libyan people must stop."
Officer-in-charge at the UN Support Mission is now Stephanie Koury, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Political Affairs. At a briefing to the Security Council in August 2024, she stated:
“The status quo is not sustainable. In the absence of renewed political talks leading to a unified government and elections – you see where this is heading - greater political financial and security instability, entrenched political and territorial divisions, and greater domestic and regional instability. Libyans are frustrated with the status quo and the toll it is taking on their daily lives.”
Proximity talks on Sudan
Most recently, and in light of a catastrophic and deteriorating humanitarian situation, the UN Secretary-General Personal Envoy for Sudan Ramtane Lamamra invited the Sudan’s warring parties of the 15 April 2023 war, namely the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, to send senior delegations to participate in discussions in “proximity format” from 11 to 29 July 2024 in Geneva. The discussions focused on measures to be undertaken to ensure the distribution of humanitarian assistance to all the Sudanese population in need and on exploring options to ensure the protection of civilian across Sudan. The discussions were in line with Security Council Resolution 2736 (2024) which requested the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Sudanese authorities and regional stakeholders, to make further recommendations for the protection of civilians in Sudan, building on the existing mediation and good offices mechanisms.
The UN Secretary-General Personal Envoy for Sudan Ramtane Lamamra and his integrated UN team including from political, humanitarian, and human rights offices, interacted with each of the delegations in the context of their respective mandates. The discussions held in Geneva are an encouraging initial step in a longer and complex process. The Personal Envoy remains in close contact with the leadership of the two parties to engage them on critical issues.
UN Organizations working on Peace
In line with Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria undertakes efforts to build trust among warring parties and convene and facilitate negotiations toward a political settlement of the Syrian conflict.
The Special Envoy is committed to engaging the [...]
UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with a broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, the agency helps nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.
The UNDP Office in [...]
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We lead international action to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless [...]
As a dedicated training arm of the United Nations system, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) provides innovative learning solutions to individuals, organizations and institutions to enhance global decision-making and support country-level action for shaping a better [...]
Housed at the Palais des Nations, the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) serves as the representative office of the Secretary-General at Geneva. A focal point for multilateral diplomacy, UNOG serviced around 8,000 meetings last year, making it one of the busiest conference centres in the world [...]