Peacekeeping responses to transnational organized crime and trafficking: a case study of MINUSMA

This paper explores some of the challenges to countering transnational organized crime in Mali, focusing primarily on the United Nations Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), but also considering the challenges faced by other multilateral actors and initiatives. The objective is to feed into a larger research initiative exploring multilateral efforts to counter organized crime in conflict-affected and fragile areas. Examining MINUSMA as well as other UN Country Team efforts in relation to transnational organized crime offers a critical point of reflection. 

MINUSMA’s hasty closure and dissolution comes at a time when the UN and Member States are re-considering the future models and mandates of peace operations and exploring other multilateral approaches that might offer a better response to transnational and cross-border threats. Though transnational organized crime was never strategically prioritized and sufficiently resourced, it is notable that the sort of tools and initiatives that tend to be recommended for better addressing transnational organized crime and trafficking were present in Mali. MINUSMA thus represents an interesting test case, illustrating some of the challenges facing future multilateral efforts to tackle transnational organized crime. 

The paper offers a brief background on how transnational organized crime and illicit trafficking dynamics contributed to the 2012 crisis in Mali, as well as the origin and deployment of MINUSMA and other parallel international intervention mechanisms. It then assesses how the mission approached transnational organized crime and concludes with some reflections on what these limitations suggest for future peacekeeping operations or other approaches to responding to transnational organized crime in conflict-affected regions.

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