On April 7th a high-level panel with the two UN Under-Secretaries for Peace-Keeping, Ameerah Haq and Hervé Ladsous was organized at IPI in New York focusing on advances in technologies and other innovations in peacekeeping that have the potential to make operations more effective and adaptable as well as make peacekeepers safer and more efficient were organized at IPI. The panel focused inter alia on the recent deployment of the UAVs as part of the UN Peace Keeping Mission in DRC and its political opportunities and challenges. See their presentations here.
During the Q&A Daniel Stauffacher of ICT4Peace commented as the first speaker from the floor that a well performing Crisis Information Management System (UN CiMS) has to be in place at the Mission level, to make efficient use of the data and information obtained with such as tools as UAV, but also new media, crisis mapping and crow-sourced data. See his intervention here and the response of USG Haq here and USG Ladsous here.
A second panel with representatives of DPKO and DFS and the private sector discussed specific technological solutions and their operational challenges. See the presentation of Ms. Suzanne Shanahan, Chief Field Information Solutions Section, United Nations Department of Field Support (DFS) here.
