Consider the following statements with regard to the UN Peacekeeping Operation: 1. The power to authorize a Peacekeeping Operation is exclusively vested with the General Assembly. 2. UN Peacekeeping Operations are deployed with the consent of the main parties to the conflict. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

The authority to authorize UN Peacekeeping Operations is primarily vested in the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, not exclusively in the General Assembly — hence statement 1 is incorrect. One of the three core principles of UN Peacekeeping is 'consent of the parties' — peacekeeping operations are deployed with the consent of the main parties to the conflict (along with impartiality and non-use of force except in self-defence). Hence only statement 2 is correct.