Photo Credit: Ministry of Defense
Peacekeeping
The Charter of the United Nations, signed on 26 June 1945, establishes the maintenance of international peace and security as the primary task of the Organization. This is the objective of the UN peacekeeping missions: over 70 operations from 1948 to today, in which over two million military, police and civilian personnel from over 120 countries have served for the peace and ideals of the UN. Over 4,400 of them have lost their lives, including 49 of our fellow citizens: a number that unfortunately continues to increase. Today, UN Peacekeeping activities consist of 11 ongoing missions, approximately 60,000 women and men in military and civilian service, for a current budget of over 5 billion US dollars. In recent decades, spending on peacekeeping operations and the number of blue helmets have increased and only recently has there been a decline in the trend. Faced with the multiplication of crises, the expectations placed on the blue helmets are growing, with their tasks and mandates assuming different degrees of complexity, such as the task of protecting civilians. Since the second half of the nineties, after the tragedies of Srebrenica and Rwanda, the Security Council has started to provide the missions with more robust mandates.
Italy and its Armed Forces proudly continue to do their part. The first mission of the Italian Defense dates back to 1949, when our country, not yet included in the list of United Nations member states, participated in the UNMOGIP mission by sending unarmed military observers. The first participation of an Italian contingent in a UN mission dates back to 1960, when Italy joined the United Nations Operation in Congo (ONUC). The Italian Armed Forces played a more active role by deploying maneuver forces in ITALCON, from 1982 to 1984 (under the command of General Franco Angioni) in the context of the First Lebanese War. The mission was initially established as a UN initiative, but it lost the international aegis due to the veto of a member state cast while the contingent was sailing towards Lebanon, so ITALCON transformed, in while in progress, into an eminently national effort, alongside the US and France. The Italian intervention in Lebanon, guided by the respect for the local culture, impartiality, credibility and closeness to the civilian population, stood out as a success and became a benchmark for future peace missions, both Italian and otherwise.
Today, Italy is the largest troop contributor among Western countries to UN peacekeeping operations, and the seventh largest contributor to the regular and peacekeeping budget. The UNIFIL mission, which operates in southern Lebanon to maintain a fragile peace in a conflict-torn region, has long been effectively commanded by Italian General Officers: as of June 24, 2025, the General Diodato Abagnara; from 2018 to 2022 General Stefano Del Col; General Luciano Portolano, current Chief of Defence Staff, from 24 July 2014 to 20 July 2016; General Paolo Serra, from 28 January 2012 to 24 July 2014; the late General Claudio Graziano, former President of the European Union Military Committee, from February 2007 to 28 January 2010. Over 1,100 Italian personnel operate in UNIFIL.
Italy is also present, albeit with smaller numbers, in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and in the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). Finally, in the African region of Western Sahara, with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
Italy also hosts the UN Global Service Center (CSG), established in Brindisi in 1994, which guarantees, thanks to its highly qualified staff, integrated logistical and administrative support for UN peacekeeping missions, representing a “natural hub” to bridge over to Africa and the Near/Middle East. Nearby the CSG there are also some components of the DPO, including the Standing Police Capacity, comprised of a highly specialized staff with police duties, which assists the UN Police Division in carrying out strategic tasks by providing rapidly deployable police expertise, in support of peacekeeping operations, in post-conflict situations and in other crisis contexts.
The Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) of the World Food Program (WFP) also has its headquarters in the same area. Its humanitarian emergency response work is another token of Italy’s contribution to the success of peacekeeping missions. The Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (COESPU) in Vicenza is headquartered in Italy; it is training center based on the model tested by the Carabinieri during numerous peacekeeping missions abroad, which trains police officers from all over the world to be deployed in peacekeeping operations. Today, almost 20 years since its foundation, the Center operates under the aegis of the United Nations as an international academic and training center, constantly expanding its training offering to sectors such as gender protection and the protection of cultural heritage, with a trainee body of over 15,000 units from 135 different countries and 17 international organizations.
In the field of cultural heritage protection, Italy – which has long been at the helm of international initiatives aimed to protect cultural heritage in crisis contexts – was the first country in the world to establish and provide the UNESCO with the Italian Task Force “Unite4Heritage”, now renamed the Task Force of the “Blue Helmets for Culture”, established by Decree of the Minister of Culture signed on 31 March 2022, as an operational unit promoted by the Italian Government to intervene, within a security framework, in areas affected by emergencies such as disasters or man-made crises with the aim of safeguarding archaeological sites, places of culture and cultural assets, combating international trafficking of illegally stolen cultural assets and supporting the authorities of requesting foreign countries in the preparation of measures to limit the risks that crisis situations could cause to the cultural heritage of that nation. The first significant experiment in advanced technology in a peacekeeping mission also has an Italian footprint: the Unmanned Unarmed Aerial Systems assigned to the MONUSCO mission (Democratic Republic of Congo) belong to the Leonardo group and decisively support the blue helmets in carrying out their difficult tasks in this country and, in particular, the mandate of protecting civilians.
To this specific point, in 2024, the Guidonia Aerocooperation School (Inter-Force Defense Institute) signed a Technical Arrangement (TA) with the United Nations Department of Operational Support (DOS), relating to training courses in the Remote Sensing sector for UN personnel, the first edition of which was held at the end of the same year. The agreement will allow to increase the collaboration already started in the context of workshops for academic development in the UAV sector.
Importantly, a collaboration was initiated with a technical agreement signed in 2019 between the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) and the Army Officers School – CSPCO (Post Conflict Operation Studies Centre) of Turin.
Italy’s commitment to peace is also reflected in the support provided to the reform priorities identified by the Secretary General to make the United Nations more effective, flexible and transparent: able to respond to contemporary challenges to peace and development by systematizing all the tools available and strengthening those of preventive diplomacy and political resolution of conflicts. In this framework, peacekeeping missions are also called upon to play a crucial role in building peace. During its mandate in the Security Council (2017), Italy contributed to aligning peacekeeping mandates with these objectives by promoting principles of clarity, efficiency, responsibility, strengthening the role of police forces to consolidate the capacities of host countries, reducing the environmental impact of missions, introducing new functions necessary to respond to hybrid threats to peace, training of blue helmets on human rights and gender equality in support of the Secretary General’s zero tolerance policy against violence and sexual abuse, and intensified cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations.
Italy’s commitment to peace is also reflected in its support to the reform priorities identified by the Secretary General to make the United Nations more effective, flexible and transparent and capable to respond to contemporary challenges to peace and development by connecting all the tools available and strengthening preventive diplomacy and political resolution of conflicts. In this context, peacekeeping missions are also called upon to play a crucial role in building peace. During its mandate in the Security Council (2017), Italy contributed to aligning peacekeeping mandates with these objectives by promoting the principles of clarity, efficiency, responsibility, strengthening the role of police forces to consolidate the capacities of host countries, reducing the environmental impact of missions, introducing new functions necessary to respond to hybrid threats to peace, training blue helmets on human rights and gender equality in support of the Secretary General’s zero tolerance policy against violence and sexual abuse, and intensified cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations.
Photo Credit: La Nazione magazine
As a follow-up to the action carried out within the Security Council during its mandate, in 2018 Italy launched, together with Bangladesh, a new Group of Friends for the management of the environmental impact of peacekeeping missions, with the aim of supporting the implementation of the Environmental Strategy developed by the Secretariat and of raising awareness among Member States and the various components of the UN system on the need for strengthened cooperation so that peacekeeping missions can achieve objectives of effectiveness and sustainability in the management of environmental impact, thus also contributing to the efficient fulfillment of their mandates. The collaboration between Italy and the United Nations in this sector also hinges on the agreement signed in 2023 between the Carabinieri and the UN Department for Operational Support for collaboration in training, capacity building and knowledge exchange, in the areas of environmental management and protection.
At the same time, the Carabinieri Forces, as part of the government initiative for the establishment of the “Green Helmets for the Environment”, are pursuing the objective of creating a Carabinieri Task Force, called “Unite4Environment”, tasked with carrying out interventions to protect and safeguard the environmental heritage in the event of natural disasters or serious crises on the national territory but also, when necessary, at an international level, within the framework of the actions promoted by UNESCO. The Carabinieri Forces are also committed to enhancing, in the various international fora, their qualified skills in the protection of forests, the environment and the agri-food heritage, which, as a whole, constitute a unique set of skills and experiences that connect the environmental police sector and with that of “land care”.
To this end, the Carabinieri Forces have launched the Project to upgrade the Sabaudia Training Center to a Center of Excellence for Environmental Protection (CoEPP), a training facility based on the idea of creating a study/research center and a training hub that can count on an institutional partnership with the UN Agencies engaged with environmental issues. Among the activities already undertaken between 2023 and 2024, it is worth mentioning three courses for the Spanish Guardia Civil, one for the French National Gendarmerie, one for representatives of the International Association of Gendarmerie and Police Forces with Military Status (FIEP), as well as one for the African Union.
As part of the structured collaboration between the Carabinieri and the UN Agencies that deal with environmental matters, two Memoranda of Understanding have been signed with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Furthermore, at the end of the 4th Summit of the Chiefs of Police of the UN, the idea emerged to create, within the UN-supported missions, the role of an “environmental focal point”. The related training course is being implemented by the CoEEP and the UN Logistics Base in Brindisi and the pilot project will take place in the Centre of Excellence. Furthermore, Italy offers an important contribution in the context of the peacekeeping review activities promoted by the SG which in 2018 launched the Action For Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative and renewed in 2021 (A4P+). The aim is to make Peace Operations more “robust” and “safer” by identifying a series of principles and commitments common to the countries that participate, in various capacities, in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Peacebuilding and preventive diplomacy
Italy’s commitment to peace includes strengthened action to support UN activities in the areas of peacebuilding and preventive diplomacy, which has found recognition in our country’s re-entry into the Peacebuilding Commission for 2023-2024, a consultative body between the General Assembly, the Security Council and ECOSOC.
Photo Credit: UN
The Peacebuilding Commission identifies and promotes, together with the States directly involved, initiatives aimed to prevent the risk of conflict in potentially crisis areas and support paths to sustainable peace in the long term. It therefore includes initiatives to strengthen the rule of law, national reconciliation, institution-building, respect for human rights, gender equality, social inclusiveness and the promotion of sustainable development.
The Peacebuilding Commission also analyses issues or situations not specifically addressed by the Security Council, through a cross-regional approach and by opening up to the participation of other bodies and partners from civil society. It also provides opinions to the United Nations bodies on issues relating to peacebuilding and promotes an integrated approach, thus involving, where necessary, actors external to the UN system in the consultations.
By mandate and purpose, the activities and recommendations of the PBC thus have a cross-cutting nature and can therefore provide added value to the peace and security architecture of the United Nations.
Parallel to Italy’s input as a member country of the Peacebuilding Commission, Italy’s contribution to the Peacebuilding Fund, the main United Nations Trust Fund created for this purpose, has also increased.
Notably, in the context of its support to peacebuilding and preventive diplomacy, Italy also contributes financially to the Multiannual Trust Fund managed by the Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding of the United Nations Secretariat.
Italy also has a consolidated tradition in the sector of promoting dialogue, which translates into its support within the UN for preventive diplomacy activities and the good offices of the Secretary General, participation in the Group of Friends for Mediation, valorization of the effective mediation work carried out by Italy’s civil society and its organizations in the main theaters of crisis (an example of this is the commitment of the Community of Sant’Egidio in several African countries: from Mozambique to Burundi to the Central African Republic), and of the role of women mediators, as demonstrated by Italy’s promotion of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network in 2017.