The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a landmark resolution aimed at ensuring that those who commit crimes against UN peacekeepers are held accountable, closing longstanding gaps in a system that has historically seen very low prosecution rates. Resolution 2823, sponsored by Pakistan and Denmark and backed by a record 153 UN member states — the highest co-sponsorship ever recorded for a Security Council resolution — was adopted on Tuesday with support from all 15 Council members.

The resolution condemns attacks on UN peacekeeping personnel, underscores that such attacks may constitute war crimes, and calls on governments to promptly investigate and prosecute those responsible. It authorises Secretary-General António Guterres to designate a senior UN official to coordinate accountability efforts and requires him to submit an initial report within 120 days outlining concrete options for strengthening accountability mechanisms, followed by annual reports. The text also asks UN peacekeeping missions to establish prompt factual records of incidents in the aftermath of attacks, in order to support national investigations — a compromise reached after several Council members raised concerns about host-state sovereignty over an earlier proposal that would have authorised missions to conduct their own investigations directly.

The need for such measures is underscored by a sobering record. Since 1948, nearly 1,100 peacekeepers have been killed in the line of duty and thousands more injured, yet convictions remain rare. There has been some progress: 103 individuals have been convicted since 2020 for offences related to the killing of 35 peacekeepers and two UN experts in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, and Mali. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric acknowledged the gains but stressed that