Transitions

Transitions are situations involving significant changes to the configuration of the United Nations presence in a country in which at least one peace operation is present, such as when a peace operation is replaced by a different peace operation or when a peace operation closes and hands over responsibilities to a United Nations country team.

The Security Council, in its resolution 2594 (2021) established the following definition of transitions:


 * "transitions of United Nations Peace Operations are understood as a strategic process which builds towards a reconfiguration of the strategy, footprint, and capacity of the United Nations in a way that supports peacebuilding objectives and the development of a sustainable peace, in a manner that supports and reinforces national ownership, informed by the operational context and the national priorities and needs of the host State and its population, and that includes engagement with local community and civil society, and, where relevant, regional and sub-regional organisations, and other relevant stakeholders, with the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and the inclusion of youth and persons with disabilities"

The term is also used to refer to "re-hatting" situations involving the replacement of a non-United Nations presence by a United Nations peace operation.

Resolutions

 * Security Council resolution 2594 (2021)

Reports

 * S/2022/522 Report of the Secretary-General on United Nations transitions
 * A/75/787 OIOS evaluation of the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of UNAMID in supporting transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding in Darfur in collaboration with United Nations country team
 * S/2015/3 Letter from the Secretary-General on AU-UN transitions in Mali and the Central African Republic

Internal documents
Planning
 * Secretary-General's Planning Directive for the development of consistent and coherent UN Transition processes (25 February 2019)
 * Policy on UN Transitions in the Context of Mission Drawdown or Withdrawal (04 February 2013)

Mission support
 * 2018.08 Guide for Senior Leadership on Field Entity Closure (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.09 End of Mission/Field Entity Report (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.10 Transition Process Map in a Closing Mission (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.11 Map for Planning and Conducting Mission Closure (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.23 Mission Closure: Task Force Organigram (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.24 Mission Closure: MSD Team Organigram (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.25 Hand-over and Checklist of Mission to DOS Finance and Budget Units (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.26 Development of Mission Support Division Closure Plan (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.27 Development of Mission Support Division Closure Progress Report (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2018.28 Environmental Clearance and Handover of Mission Sites (Guidelines)
 * DOS 2019.07 Field Entity Closure: Paper and Digital Records and Archives (SOP)
 * DPKO/DFS 2012.18 Liquidation Manual (superseded by 2018.08)

Other documents

 * UNU/CPR report: UN Transitions: Improving Security Council Practice in Mission Settings (30 September 2019 | link)
 * OIOS IED-018-002 Evaluation of re-hatting in MINUSMA and MINUSCA