This policy paper covers the role of the UN Security Council in mandating and overseeing UN transitions, typically as peace operations are drawn down or significantly reconfigured. Based on an extensive literature review and interviews with UN experts and Council members, the paper explores the evolution of Council practice over the past thirty years. Drawing from this practice, it offers concrete recommendations how Council-led transitions processes can be planned and managed in a proactive, integrated and forward-looking manner, better positioning the UN to provide support to host countries in often fragile moments.

This paper was developed in partnership between the UN University  (UNU) Center for Policy Research and the UN Transitions Project with the generous support of the Government of the United Kingdom.