The United Nations Security Council on 23 June 2026 unanimously adopted Resolution 2823, aimed at strengthening accountability for attacks against UN peacekeepers. The move follows a series of lethal assaults, including the killing of seven personnel serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) during renewed Israel–Hezbollah hostilities in early March. The resolution, drafted by Denmark and Pakistan and backed by more than 150 co-sponsoring states, urges host governments to take ‘all necessary measures’ to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, told the Council that attacks on peacekeepers in several missions have grown in number and sophistication, yet often end with inadequate accountability. He stressed that condolences, while necessary, are insufficient and that the Council must track whether facts are established, investigations proceed, and perpetrators face justice. Denmark’s envoy, Christina Markus Lassen, said the resolution sends a message to the more than 50,000 peacekeepers deployed worldwide that attacks ‘will not be met with silence or impunity’ and to perpetrators that ‘crimes will not go unpunished.’ UN officials acknowledge that prosecution rates for killings and other violent acts against peacekeepers have remained very low, despite some progress since a 2021 Council resolution on the same subject.

The text mandates the Secretary-General to designate a senior focal point within the UN to coordinate accountability efforts and to ensure that peacekeeping operations produce clear factual records of future attacks for host-state investigations. It encourages troop- and police-contributing countries to deploy investigators at the request of host states and calls for an annual progress report on investigations and prosecutions. The resolution also states that attacks on peacekeepers may constitute war crimes and expresses the Council’s intention to consider further steps. Within 120 days, the Secretary-General is to present options for strengthening accountability, which the Council will then assess.

According to UN data, nearly 1,100 peacekeepers have been killed in hostile acts since 1948, including 359 since 2013. Since 2020, 103 individuals have been convicted for offences related to the killing of 35 peacekeepers and two UN experts in the Central African Republic, Congo, Lebanon and Mali. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric welcomed the resolution but noted that ‘much more needs to be done.’ The primary responsibility for safety and prosecution remains with host states, a point the resolution reaffirms while urging all parties to cooperate. The Council’s next review will depend on the Secretary-General’s forthcoming options report, expected within four months.