Context The rising number of deaths among United Nations (UN) peacekeeping
forces after the Cold War has made some troop-contributing countries hesita
nt to participate in peacekeeping operations. While the number and scale of
missions have increased, no data have demonstrated a parallel increase in
risks to peacekeepers.
Objective To determine the association of characteristics of UN peacekeepin
g operations with risks and mortality rates among UN peacekeeping forces in
both the Cold War and post-Cold War periods.
Design, Setting, and Participants Descriptive analysis of 1559 personnel de
aths during 49 UN peacekeeping missions from 1948-1998 based on the casualt
y database maintained by Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UN Headquar
ters.
Main Outcome Measures Number and percentage of deaths by circumstance, tota
l crude death rate, and crude death rate and relative risk of death by circ
umstance (hostile acts, unintentional violence, and illness or other causes
) and time period (Cold War vs post-Cold War), geographic region, and natur
e of peacekeeping response; and regression analysis of mission variables (s
trength, duration, and humanitarian mandate) associated with total number o
f deaths.
Results More deaths have occurred among UN peacekeeping forces in the past
decade alone than in the previous 40 years of UN peacekeeping (807 vs 752),
but crude death rates did not differ significantly by time period (Cold Wa
r vs post-Cold War, 21.8 vs 21.2 deaths per 10 000 person-years; P = .58),
level of peacekeeping response, or for geographic regions other than East E
urope and Central America, where rates were lower (P < .001 for both region
s). Unintentional violence accounted for 41.2% of deaths, followed by hosti
le acts (36.1%), and illness or other causes (22.7%). Deaths from hostile a
cts increased after the Cold War (relative risk [RR] 1.51; 95% confidence i
nterval [CI], 1.22-1.88), while rates for deaths caused by unintentional vi
olence decreased (RR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.67-0.94) but remain high, particularl
y in the Middle East and Asia (RR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.15-1.69). Regression ana
lysis showed a significant association between number of deaths and the str
ength (P < .001) and duration (P < .001) of a peacekeeping mission.
Conclusion The increase in number of deaths among UN peacekeeping personnel
since 1990 can be attributed to the increased number and scale of missions
after the Cold War rather than increased RR of death. Post-Cold War peacek
eeping personnel have a higher risk of dying from hostile acts in missions
where more force is required. In missions providing or facilitating humanit
arian assistance, both the RR of deaths from all causes and deaths from hos
tile acts are increased.