Capacity Building for Peacekeeping: The Case of Haiti

In 2004, for the second time in a decade, the international community found it necessary to intervene in Haiti to enforce and keep a peace. For the first time under a United Nations mandate, several Latin American countries stepped up to lead the mission. Chile provided political leadership in the form of the special representative of the secretary general, while Brazil agreed to send the force commander as well as troops. Several other Latin American states also deployed military personnel. As a result of this historically unique circumstance, CHDS led a research project that looked at capacity building in the hemisphere for those countries that took part in the peacekeeping operation in Haiti: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay. The project identified strategic-level lessons learned in capacity building for peacekeeping and tapped experts from all ten to contribute to Capacity Building for Peacekeeping. In addition, this study identifies which lessons are applicable to the critical task of peacekeeping operations in general.