The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was the fruit of many years of negotiations which had resulted in the Paris Agreements on Cambodia, and a sincere attempt to reach out to a country devastated by conflict. The present report synthesises the discussions and papers presented at the International Conference on the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC): Debriefing and Lessons', organized jointly by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) of Singapore and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). This report reflects as...

Over the last few years, and with the collapse of the bipolar world order, new and complex conflicts have emerged which, in some cases, have ignited into larger and devastating regional wars. In the very midst of peacekeeping operations for such conflicts, experts claim, the requirements of peace-building should be considered a priority as well. It is for this reason that the United Nations, even as it deploys military and civilian forces in the four corners of the globe, seeks to set the foundations for sustainable peace. The task is daunting but the challenge impossible to ignore. Against...

The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) which had effectively 'ruled' that territory for two and a half years handed over the country's administration to the government of the newly-independent Democratic Republic of East Timor on May 20, 2002. Praised as one of the most comprehensive and successful nation building operations of the United Nations, UNTAET had the challenging task of facilitating the creation of a new country from virtually non-existent institutional foundations, following a traumatic period of violence and civil war.
A group of eminent...