ZIF at 20
The Berlin Center for International Peace Operations is celebrating its birthday: since 2002, ZIF is committed to preventing crisis, providing political expertise and building peace worldwide - supported by the Federal Foreign Office.
We are taking a look back at 20 successful years in which ZIF has grown and diversified. 20 years after ZIF’s foundation, the many crisis, conflicts and wars worldwide prove how important and relevant its work still is.
Anniversary Message
Find out more about our mission and tasks here.
Milestones in ZIF history
Intro- and Retrospective

Election observation
20 years of ZIF also means 20 years of election observation with ZIF! Since 2002, we have deployed nearly 6,000 election observers in EU and OSCE ODIHR missions. We are proud to further support democracy and human rights with our work. Find out more about our election observation activities here.

9th German Peacekeeping Day 2022
A milestone in these 2 decades: the launch of the German Peacekeeping Day. Since 2013, the Federal Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs and the Interior award herewith civilian, police and military personnel in international missions. A big step towards more visibility of the challenging work in international peace operations. This year, the Federal Ministry of Interior hosted the 9th edition and June 23.

Interview with former Director Kühne
In three short interview clips, our former Executive Director Dr. Winrich Kühne talks about ZIF’s foundation, the main issues of the first years and what he remembers the most vividly.

Long-time ZIF employee
In an interview our long-time employee, Anja von Eickels, talks about ZIF’s beginnings and what has changed in the last 20 years.

Our first deployments of civilian experts
In 2002, we began deploying civilian experts to the Western Balkans. One of the first to be sent out was Hannelore Valier. She currently works for EUAM Ukraine. In an interview, she talks about her work and the foundation of ZIF.

Our favourite publications
In a regularly updated series we present our team's favourite publications.

International Women’s Day
For this year’s International Women‘s Day on March 8th, ZIF had a special message: #NoWomenNoZIF! Derived from #NoWomenNoPeace, which is associated with the UN Resolution 1325 and highlights the key role of women in peace processes, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our female colleagues in the Berlin “headquarters” for their work and commitment towards more peace and security worldwide.