Cocaine trafficking is surging worldwide and coca cultivation soared 35 per cent from 2020 to 2021, a record high and the sharpest year-to-year increase since 2016.

A new UN report details how the supply surge matches a steep growth in demand, with many regions showing a steady rise in cocaine users over the past decade. While the cocaine market remains quite concentrated in the Americas and parts of Europe, the report warns that there is a strong potential for a large expansion in Africa and Asia.

If you look at the hard data, UN peacekeeping missions succeed most of the time. They significantly reduce civilian casualties, shorten conflicts, and help make peace agreements stick.

In two thirds of completed missions since the Cold War, UN peacekeepers, who are recruited from many different countries around the world, have succeeded in fulfilling their mandate.