15 - The ‘Protection of Civilians’: Peacekeeping’s New Raison d’Être?

Summary

The military/civilian distinction has been significantly shaped by international efforts to bring assistance to civilians. Traditionally, peacekeeping was not particularly oriented towards that goal, but the need to rescue civilians has become increasingly central to the justifications of Security Council interventions and, in turn, the very nature of such interventions. The protection of civilians nonetheless remains a vexed issue, one that raises problems of impartiality for peacekeepers, may bring them to support the state in its fights against armed groups, and raises questions of potential accountability both for what peacekeepers do and, more problematically, what they may fail to do. The construction of what types of civilians need to be rescued is therefore at the heart of contemporary evolutions of peacekeeping.