The pacific settlement of disputes is defined as the ‘diplomatic’ instrument of the UN that aims to help conflicting parties solve their disputes through peaceful and non-coercive means. The UN employs different techniques, including mediation, good offices, special envoys and missions as well as preventive diplomacy. For instance, a UN-mediated truce ended the war between India and Pakistan in 1947. The UN also sent special envoys and missions to peacefully settle disputes. For example, the Secretary-General appointed Staffan de Mistura as the “Special Envoy for Syria” in July 2014 (UN-B). Preventive diplomacy is an approach that was originally developed by Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld to “prevent disputes from arising between parties, prevent existing disputes from escalating into conflicts and to limit the spread of the latter when they occur”.