For the international community, the involvement of UN troops in direct combat may offer a model to reform peacekeeping missions to better protect civilians caught up in unrest and actively contribute to ending wars.
She specializes in international peacekeeping, security sector reform, political violence and conflict, and gender.
Malcorra is in London for a major conference on UN peacekeeping, and proposed reforms to make the performance of the peacekeepers much more accountable after successive stories of UN forces sexually exploiting or abusing the population they have been sent to protect.
It has become commonplace to hear international statesmen trumpet the importance of "reforming peacekeeping".
But far from being a one-time cost, "it locked into position for 27 years and never moved," said the United States representative, Richard C. Holbrooke, who described today's agreement as the first reform of peacekeeping.
Reforming its peacekeeping capability, he said, deserved the highest priority.
The G8 communique, which the UK hopes Russia, Germany et al will adopt, is therefore likely to cover the need for security and justice reforms, better peacekeeping operations, and improving the humanitarian community's response to ensure that the basic needs of survivors are met during crises.
During our 2015 election, everything from electoral and environmental reform to international peacekeeping was put back on the table, and we dared to open our eyes (just a peek) to the neglected, remote indigenous communities where suicide rates are shockingly high and access to untainted drinking water is shamefully low.
It was launched as part of a package of reforms in United Nations peacekeeping designed to strengthen accountability and uphold the highest standards of conduct.] I do not have much information on this, however, it appears from the comments of the UN Staff this week that it is rather ineffective.
In the last two decades, outrage over the international community's failures to prevent genocidal massacres in Rwanda and Bosnia led to great strides in one area of reform: strengthening mandates for peacekeeping missions.
