NATO and UN Peacekeeping Operations
A. Official Documents and Declarations
     I. UN Peacekeeping Operations
     II. NATO Peacekeeping Operations
        1. Inclusion of Peacekeeping into NATO's Field of Action 
        2. Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF) 
     III. CIS Peacekeeping Operations
     IV. Co-operation between NATO and Russia in Peacekeeping Operations
B. Speeches
C. Research Studies
D. Parliamentary Reports

A. Official Documents and Declarations

I. UN Peacekeeping Operations

While it is true that the word "peacekeeping" does not appear in the text of the UN Charter, the United Nations has been deploying peacekeepers since 1948. Article 42 in Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which states that the Security Council may take such actions as necessary "to maintain or restore international peace and security", provides the legal basis for the conduct of such operations. As a regional arrangement recognised as such by the UN, the OSCE can conduct peacekeeping operations under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. Click here for a UN report on Cooperation with regional organisations in peacekeeping operations, Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organisation, 1995. 
Following the end of the Cold War, the concept of peacekeeping was further developed in the 1992 report of Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali "An Agenda for Peace" on preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peacekeeping. Click here for the references to peacekeeping in the Supplement to an Agenda for Peace released three years later. 
Recently, a UN Panel revisited the organisation's work in peace operations. Click here to see the executive summary of the "Brahimi Report".

In September 2000, Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced the establishment of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty at the United Nations Millennium Summit. The mandate of this independent body is to promote a comprehensive global debate on the relationship between intervention and state sovereignty, and to help bridge these two concepts. ICISS is intended to support the United Nations. The Commission completed its work during the Millennium Assembly year and reported back to the UN General Assembly in Winter 2001. Click here for the December 2001 ICISS report and the supplementary volume (both pdf). 


II. NATO Peacekeeping Operations

1. Inclusion of Peacekeeping into NATO's Field of Action 

During the last decade, NATO has progressively incorporated peacekeeping into its activities, regarding it as a new political rationale for the Alliance. The Alliance's New Strategic Concept of 1991 introduced the concepts of  "crisis management " and "conflict prevention", but remained very general. See also the Rome Declaration on Peace and Cooperation, which addresses the establishment of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC), 8 November 1991. 
It was not until the Oslo Ministerial Meeting of 4 June 1992 that the Alliance offered to support peacekeeping activities under the responsibility of the CSCE. 
Six months later, NATO decided to offer its support for peacekeeping operations under the responsibility of the UN Security Council in the course of the Brussels Ministerial Meeting of 17 December 1992. 

For NATO's conceptual and operational approach to peacekeeping, which has been developed within the NACC context, see the "Athens Report" issued by the NACC Ad Hoc Group on Cooperation in Peacekeeping (Athens 11 June 1993) as well as its follow-up documents: 

2. Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF)

The concept of CJTF was developed with a dual purpose: 
a) to facilitate the use of NATO forces in missions carried out under WEU command outside the area covered by the Treaty 
b) to permit the participation of non-members in NATO operations such as IFOR and KFOR. 
The use of NATO assets in WEU operations aimed at strengthening the development of a European Security and Defence Identity  within the Alliance. This concept was based on the idea of Alliance and European forces which would be "separable but not separate". 

2.1 NATO's Support to OSCE's Peacekeeping Activities 

Co-operation between NATO and OSCE in peacekeeping operations is mentioned in Chapter III of the Helsinki Document of 1992. 

2.2. US Peacekeeping Policy

III. CIS Peacekeeping Operations

An Agreement on Groups of Military Observers and Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the CIS was signed on 20 March 1992 by all CIS members during the Kiev Summit. Co-operation efforts between the OSCE and the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces on Georgian territory in Abkhazia and South Ossetia is carried out in accordance with  Chapter III of the CSCE Helsinki Summit Declaration of July 1992. CIS peacekeeping forces also co-operated with the UN mission UNMOT in Tajikistan until May 2000, and currently participate in the UN mission UNOMIG in Georgia. 

IV. Co-operation Between NATO and Russia in Peacekeeping Operations

NATO-Russia co-operation in peacekeeping activities, designated as an area for consultation and co-operation in the NATO-Russia Founding Act, is provided for in the PfP Programme. 

4.1. Bosnia-Herzegovina

Co-operation between Russian and NATO troops in the peacekeeping forces set up in Bosnia and Herzegovina (IFOR/SFOR) was established by the Dayton Peace Agreement.

4.2. Kosovo

The basis for NATO-Russian co-operation in the peacekeeping force deployed in Kosovo (KFOR) is UNSC Resolution 1244. Click here to see the Agreement on Russian Participation ("Helsinki Agreement"), signed on 18 June 1999. 

4.3. Points of Disagreement

4.3.1 NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council (PJC) Declarations on Peacekeeping 

NATO and Russia have stressed the need to develop a common understanding of peacekeeping. Recently, cooperation between Russia and NATO in KFOR in Kosovo was positively assessed by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. 

4.3.2 Russia's Position on NATO's Intervention in Kosovo 

While co-operation between NATO and Russia in the context of SFOR and KFOR is free from tensions, the same is not true for two other issues closely related to these missions: NATO's military intervention in Kosovo and the implementation of the political aspects of the peace accords. 
Russia's position on the intervention in Kosovo, which denounces it as an illegitimate aggression, contrasts with NATO's view that the humanitarian catastrophe justified the use of military force. In protest against NATO's intervention in Kosovo, Russia decided to interrupt contacts with the Alliance in the context of  the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council for almost a year. A joint statement on the restoration of relations between the Alliance and Russia was finally issued during the visit of NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson in Moscow on 16 February 2000. 


Click here for references to NATO-Russia co-operation in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation of June 2000. 
See a number of official statements illustrating Russia's disapproval of some of the actions of UNMIK and KFOR in Kosovo. 

Russia has also expressed dissatisfaction with the works of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), established by UNSC Resolution 827 on 25 May 1993. The mandates of the SFOR and the KFOR include the arrest of persons indicted by the ICTY in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. For this reason, the ICTY signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the NATO in 1996. The work of the ICTY is considered as part of the peace-building measures in the former Yugoslavia and the cooperation with the ICTY by the parties is provided for in the Dayton Agreement. For the position of the United States on the ICTY, see the remarks by UN Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues D. Scheffer and NATO Spokesman J. Shea on US Support for ICTY, 18 May 1999. For the Russian position, see: 

B. Speeches

C. Research Studies

D. Parliamentary Reports