Renew Canada's commitment to United Nations peace operations.

What success looks like

Canadian efforts enhance peace and security, protect human rights, promote stability, and help those most in need around the world.

Government's narrative on progress

Canada has a long and proud history of contributing to peacekeeping operations. Modern conflicts have, nevertheless, called for a rethinking of how we can most effectively promote international peace and security. At the UN peacekeeping conference in Vancouver in November 2017, the Prime Minister unveiled the main elements of Canada’s new approach to peace support operations. Canada is taking a leadership role supporting, among other initiatives, the following: • The Vancouver Principles – focused on ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers in the context of UN peacekeeping operations. As of November 2018, 72 countries have already endorsed the principles. To support this effort Canada is helping to strengthen the capacity of the African Union, as well as military and police forces in Somalia and the DRC, to protect children in conflict situations. Canada has pledged $1.25M through UNICEF to provide training, to help improve policies and procedures, and to deploy two Child Protection Advisors to the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia. • The Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations – a pilot project that aims to test approaches to increase the meaningful participation of uniformed women in UN peace operations. As of November 2018, a baseline study which describes the barriers faced by uniformed women in UN peace operations has been completed, bilateral technical assistance and training partnerships have been established with Ghana and Zambia, and $7.7M has been provided to the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations and select UN missions to support the creation of receptive environments for women peacekeepers. • A range of Smart Pledges and military capabilities – aimed at leveraging Canadian expertise, contributing high-end capabilities to UN peace support operations, and supporting broader UN reform efforts. In keeping with this approach, on March 19, 2018, the Government of Canada announced the deployment of an Air Task Force to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) for a period of 12 months. The Air Task Force became fully operational on August 15, 2018, as part of Canada’s efforts to help set the conditions for durable peace, development, and prosperity in Mali. The Task Force provides urgently needed aeromedical evacuation, transport, and logistics capacity, as well as armed escort and protection.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.