"It looks very different from the inside," explained Karin Landgren. She was commenting on UN Peace Operations during a presentation to students enrolled in International Policy Practice, a two-credit elective course at the School of Public Policy. "The goal of this course," explained Visiting Professor Sara Svensson, "is to provide students with insight into the work of international institutions, NGOs, private foundations, and policy networks by giving them a chance to hear from and interact with people who have worked in those organizations."
Landgren has extensive experience of the operations of UN agencies, having worked with UNHCR between 1980 and 1998, and as the head of UN peace operations in Nepal, Burundi, and Liberia between 2009 and 2015. One of the interesting observations that she shared during her presentation concerned the reports that the secretary-general submits to the Security Council every six months. "I was struck by the frankness of these reports. They were quite often brutally honest," she said. Landgren was also struck by the poor gender balance on the Security Council and noted that US Ambassador Samantha Powers is now the only female member of the Security Council.
Landgren spoke primarily about her experience in Liberia where she led UNMIL as the special representative of the secretary-general between 2012 and 2015. She noted that one of the challenges of UN Peace Operations is that they are almost always working in countries where institutions are ineffective. "Even if there is a peace agreement in place, the weaknesses are still there," she said. Another challenge is the confusion and uncertainty that is often pervasive after a peace agreement has been signed. "There is of course celebration after an agreement, but also often a lot of fear as well," she said. She described Liberia as being a country that was "still fragile, with underlying problems not yet resolved" when she arrived.
Because UN peacekeeping forces are made up of military personnel from many countries, it is often enormously difficult to make sure everyone has the same understanding of when use of force is justified. There are also challenges involving the need to integrate equipment and personnel. Some of the other obstacles that Landgren faced involved the need to maintain (sometimes even to build) roads, to feed and provide health care to peacekeeping forces, to procure supplies, and to ensure that all members understand "what they are supposed to be doing."
Landgren spoke also about the HIPPO (High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations) Report that was issued in July 2015 focusing especially on its observation that mandates and missions are too often "produced on the basis of templates instead of tailored to support situation-specific political strategies, and technical and military approaches come at the expense of strengthened political efforts." Landgren said that getting the mandate right was especially important. "It is the job description, and a communications tool." Another factor that is critical to the success of any peacekeeping operation is being able to work with communities. "Peace must be established at this level," she said. Landgren went on to identify some of the challenges of doing this: language, culture, identifying who in the community can speak for it, etc.
"It was a truly inspiring talk," commented one-year MAPP student Tamar Colodenco. "Professor Landgren spoke very frankly about the challenges and limitations that are inherent in any UN peacekeeping mission, while also pointing out the progress that has been made over time regarding engagement with local communities. She posed some interesting questions that I believe it is our job, as public policy students and future researchers or practitioners, to try and answer."