ABSTRACT
Although there is no document that indicates the official date of the first peacekeeping operation, it is usually considered that the term ‘peacekeeping’ appeared for the first time in the mid-1950s when the United Nations Organization (UN) created a new international force (UNEF I) to meet the security problems of the period. The idea was to replace collective security, which was ineffective for the least, with a new system that would generate increased commitment among Member States. Although it was first organized to respond to the international community’s specific national needs, it is mainly in the 1990s, after the Cold War, that the concept of peacekeeping activities really occupied a central place in UN activities. The tasks assigned to peacekeepers – the ‘blue helmets’ – were then increased substantially and became more diversified.
