Stockholm: In 2022, 64 multilateral peace operations were conducted in 38 countries and territories around the world which was more operations that were conducted in any year during the past decade. As in previous years, the UN led the largest number of multilateral peace operations, at 20. Another 38 operations were conducted by different regional organizations and alliances, according to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The other six were conducted by ad hoc coalitions of states. Of the 64 operations, 24 were located in sub-Saharan Africa, 18 in Europe, 14 in the Middle East and North Africa, 5 in Asia and 3 in the Americas.
The number of international personnel deployed to multilateral peace operations around the world increased by 2.79 per cent during 2022, reaching 114 984 by December 31. The biggest year-on-year changes in personnel numbers were an increase of 3771 (4.2 per cent) in sub-Saharan Africa and a decrease of 541 (-6.7 per cent) in Europe.
New operations were launched in Kazakhstan, Somalia, Guinea-Bissau, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia. The operation in Kazakhstan terminated less than two weeks after its deployment, while the operation in Somalia was essentially a reconfiguration of an existing operation with a new name and mandate. Operations also closed in Ukraine and the Philippines.
Three interconnected developments that were evident in 2022 and are likely to influence multilateral peace operations in the coming years: the intensification of geopolitical rivalries between Russia and the West; the deterioration in relations between some operations and their host countries; and a trend towards peace operations being mounted by regional organizations. These are continuations of trends identified earlier, but during 2022 they were intensified by a combination of events, including geopolitical tensions heightened by the war in Ukraine.
Five new peace operations were established in 2022, which together deployed roughly 26,000 personnel. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Collective Peacekeeping Forces to Kazakhstan operation was established on January Six, 2022 to guard strategic infrastructure and assist law enforcement after demonstrations driven by rising fuel prices escalated into mass protests. Claiming that international terrorist groups had hijacked the protests, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev requested the deployment of CSTO troops. The operation was officially terminated on January 19, 2022, after Tokayev announced that it had completed its mission.
