Peacekeeping missions face fast-paced, complex, and dangerous environments where cross-border and diverse threats pose serious risks to peacekeepers and civilians. This was clearly demonstrated in Mali in the 2000s, where the peacekeeping mission faced unprecedented security threats to the populations it was protecting and to the peacekeepers themselves. During the mission's ten-year mandate, 174 peacekeepers lost their lives in malicious attacks while attempting to protect Malian civilians, and thousands more lost their lives in the conflict.
The collection and analysis of information was identified as critical to countering these threats. Following consultations with Member States, UN peacekeeping operations, intelligence experts, and numerous other stakeholders, the first Policy on Peacekeeping Intelligence was issued in 2017 (and amended in 2019), introducing a new term and concept: peacekeeping intelligence. Peacekeeping intelligence is now a key tool helping UN peacekeeping forces operate safely and effectively.
What is meant by intelligence in the field of peacekeeping?
Peacekeeping intelligence involves the acquisition, processing, and analysis of information to enable missions to enhance the safety and security of UN personnel and guide operations related to the protection of civilians. It enables missions to better understand the operating environments and contexts in which they operate, maintain a strategic overview of developments, and anticipate specific threats and opportunities to enable peacekeeping forces to effectively implement their mandates. For example, peacekeeping intelligence can provide information on the movements of armed groups to help missions better predict and prevent attacks or identify threats to the safety of peacekeepers, their patrols, and convoys. It is continually adapted to new contexts, threats, and technologies.
Peacekeeping intelligence differs from other forms of intelligence in that it must respect UN rules and ensure state sovereignty. This is clearly stated in the unique guidelines for intelligence in peacekeeping:
- Under these rules, intelligence activities in peacekeeping are conducted in accordance with Security Council mandates, the UN Charter, and relevant legal frameworks. This includes human rights standards and obligations that protect the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.
- Non-confidentiality: Covert activities, defined as obtaining information or intelligence in a manner that ensures secrecy or concealment of such activities because they are illegal and/or inconsistent with the legal framework, principles, policies and mandate of UN peacekeeping operations, are outside the scope of intelligence in peacekeeping.
- Areas of application: Information may only be obtained to enhance situational awareness, for the safety and security of UN personnel, and to guide operations and activities related to the protection of civilians.
- Respect for the sovereignty of states: The sovereignty of states must be respected, including host and neighboring states.
- Independence: Intelligence activities in peacekeeping must be independent of any national intelligence system.
- Accountability, capacity, and authority: Those who make intelligence-related decisions in peacekeeping must have the capacity to carry out their mandates and must be held accountable for compliance with guiding policies.
- Security and confidentiality: Peacekeeping intelligence is only disclosed to trusted individuals to ensure that it is not widely disseminated, especially when its disclosure is likely to endanger the safety or security of any individual or group, violate rights, or interfere with privacy.
- These principles reflect the United Nations' commitment to enhancing the safety and security of peacekeeping forces and the protection of civilians, while respecting the Charter of the United Nations, the principles of peacekeeping, and the directives of Member States.
Peacekeeping Intelligence Academy
The Peacekeeping Intelligence Academy ( PKIA ) was established in 2023 to build the capacity of field colleagues conducting intelligence activities in peacekeeping. The Academy equips them with the knowledge, skills, and thinking necessary to perform their duties safely, efficiently, and effectively. The Academy is currently funded through extrabudgetary funds from Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
- The training covers how to conduct effective, integrated and gender-responsive intelligence operations in peacekeeping among civilian, military and police personnel.
- Topics covered in the training include the fundamentals of intelligence in peacekeeping, military intelligence in peacekeeping, open-source intelligence in peacekeeping, human intelligence in peacekeeping, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in peacekeeping, early warning and critical indicators, and motivation-based scenario development. Other courses are under development, such as peacekeeping intelligence in geospatial and analytical techniques.
Training is delivered at the UN Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda, or hosted by Member States. Ad hoc training is offered within missions when peacekeeping operations require specialized support, and online courses are available to provide essential knowledge to a wider audience, with more courses being added continuously. Member States such as Austria, Brazil, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom provide support for curriculum development and training delivery.
The following are online training courses available to UN staff and are also available to members of the public interested in learning how the UN implements intelligence in peacekeeping.
We also provide pre-deployment training courses for regular peacekeeping personnel, with support from Member States.
Interested in learning more about intelligence in peacekeeping? Email the team at pict@un.org . Want to learn more about the Peacekeeping Intelligence Academy? Email pkia@un.org .