African Union Peacekeeping and Civilian Protection. An Evaluation of the EU Strategy for Africa and the G8/Africa Joint Plan.

摘要

Global demand for peacekeeping is growing, especially in Africa. The UnitedudNations has traditionally been at the forefront of developing peacekeepingudtheory and practice, and remains the primary operational agency forudpeacekeeping in Africa. But increasing emphasis is being placed on the AfricanudUnion to assume greater responsibility for peacekeeping on the continent.udThe AU is still comparatively new and is in the process of developing its peaceudand security architecture. Over the past decade, the international communityudhas been supporting African peacekeeping, both to build AU capacity and toudprovide direct operational support. In 2005 the international communityudagreed a collective ¿responsibility to protect¿ vulnerable civilians threatened byudgross violations of their human rights. And civilian protection is increasinglyudincluded in the mandates of peacekeeping missions. Within the context ofudcontemporary complex, multidimensional peacekeeping (¿peace support¿),udcivilian protection is not an exclusive operational objective, but is rather oneudof a number of mandated tasks aimed at establishing more sustainableud4udsecurity as part of a broader peacebuilding goal. The AU has embraced theudresponsibility to protect principle, adopting a constitutional commitment toudprotect the rights of vulnerable civilians, including through peacekeepingudinterventions if necessary. But how capable is the AU in practice to deliverudeffective peacekeeping to protect civilians? And how appropriate isudinternational support to help realise this ambition?