Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 11/5/2007
Gender mainstreaming in ESDP missions
May 2007
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract
Crisis management and other international operations are new fields for the EU, and the EU’s practices concerning international operations are just evolving (see Annex 4). Traditionally it has been the United Nations (UN), and during the last few years also NATO, that have engaged in crisis management.1 The EU’s involvement is taking place at a time when crisis management operations, more familiarly known as peacekeeping operations, have been changing in nature. During the last couple of decades, peace operations have become more multi-faceted. The chain of events that led to the deployment of troops has been quite simple: (i) war; (ii) ceasefire; (iii) monitoring the ceasefire. Building a lasting peace was not a part of UN peacekeeping mandates, and peacekeeping forces had little or nothing to do with the local population of the host country. This meant that the operations were relatively safe and lowcost. One problem with traditional operations was that they dealt with the consequences rather than the sources of conflicts. Their purpose was to prevent a new war. Traditional operations did not have an exit strategy and therefore some operations, such as those in Cyprus and India/Pakistan, have remained in situ for decades.2 It has become clear that in such cases the mere presence of soldiers without any plans for economic and social reconstruction will not lead to a lasting peace.
