The Role of the United Nations in Peacekeeping

Introducton

Peacekeeping is defined by the United Nations as "a unique and dynamic instrument developed by the Organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict create the conditions for lasting peace".It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking.
Peacekeepers monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas and assist ex-combatants in implementing the peace agreements they may have signed. Such assistance comes in many forms, including confidence-building measures, power-sharing arrangements, electoral support, strengthening the rule of law, and economic and social development. Accordingly UN peacekeepers (often referred to as Blue Beret because of their light blue berets or helmets) can include soldiers, police officers, and civilian personnel.
The United Nations Charter gives the United Nations Security Council the power and responsibility to take collective action to maintain international peace and security. For this reason, the international community usually looks to the Security Council to authorize peacekeeping operations.
Most of these operations are established and implemented by the United Nations itself, with troops serving under UN operational control. In these cases, peacekeepers remain members of their respective armed forces, and do not constitute an independent "UN army", as the UN does not have such a force. In cases where direct UN involvement is not considered appropriate or feasible, the Council authorizes regional organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Economic Community of West African States, or coalitions of willing countries to undertake peacekeeping or peace-enforcement tasks.

The United Nations and Peacekeeping

The UN Security Council is the main organization of the United Nations dedicated to the resolution of conflicts and peacekeeping. It is composed of fifteen members, five of whom are permanent, namely China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, and ten of which are elected by the General Assembly every two years.

When the Security Council is confronted with a problem that can represent a threat for international peace and safety, it must first try to resolve the problem peacefully. In the past, the Security Council has acted as mediator or, in cases of armed conflict, proposed a cease-fire. The Council can also reinforce its decisions by enacting sanctions. According to the report " 'We the Peoples'...", sanctions are a way for the Council to apply its decisions, constituting a step between a simple condemnation and armed intervention. Sanctions can include an arms embargo, trade and finance restrictions, the ceasing of air and sea contact, or diplomatic isolation. Furthermore, the council can also opt for measures that call for more people and material.

Peacekeeping missions allow the Security Council to watch over the cease-fire and participate in the creation of conditions for peace. On a few rare occasions, the Security Council has authorized member States to use all the necessary means to keep the peace, including collective military action.

General Indar Jit Rktye, the former president of the International Peace Academy who has participated in several peacekeeping missions, defines peace keeping as being "the prevention, limitation, moderation and cessation of hostilities between or within States due to the intervention of a third party, which is organized and directed at the international level and which calls upon military, police and civilian personnel to restore peace."[1][1]

Up until the end of the Cold War, the UN only intervened in the majority of cases if the conflict involved two or more States. This is known as the principle of non-interference. The principle of State sovereignty was "officially" adhered to more than it is today. The first UN mission began in 1948 in Palestine and is still in place. It was baptised UNTSO, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine. The missions have changed considerably since then. Indeed, UNTSO was only made up of observers mandated to observe whether the truce was obeyed. However, with the insistence of Lester B. Pearson, UNEF I, the fist United Nations Emergency Force, was set up during the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. It was the start of veritable peacekeeping missions supported by military, police and civilian contingents.

History

United Nations peacekeeping was initially developed during the Cold War as a means of resolving conflicts between states by deploying unarmed or lightly armed military personnel from a number of countries, under UN command, to areas where warring parties were in need of a neutral party to observe the peace process. Peacekeepers could be called in when the major international powers (the five permanent members of the Security Council) tasked the UN with bringing closure to conflicts threatening regional stability and international peace and security. These included a number of so-called "proxy wars" waged by client states of the superpowers. As of February 2009, there have been 63 UN peacekeeping operations since 1948, with sixteen operations ongoing.

Since 1991

Norwegian Peacekeeper during the Siege of Sarajevo, 1992 - 1993, photo by Mikhail Evstafiev.

The end of the Cold War precipitated a dramatic shift in UN and multilateral peacekeeping. In a new spirit of cooperation, the Security Council established larger and more complex UN peacekeeping missions, often to help implement comprehensive peace agreements between protagonists in intra-State conflicts and civil wars. Furthermore, peacekeeping came to involve more and more non-military elements that ensured the proper functioning of civic functions, such as elections. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations was created in 1992 to support this increased demand for such missions

Activities

1.      United Nations Simulations: Organize or participate in a United Nations simulation. This type of activity makes it easier to understand how the UN operates.

2.      Security Council Simulation: Organize or participate in a Security Council simulation. Smaller than the United Nations simulation, this type of activity nonetheless makes it easier to understand how the Security Council operates and the role it plays in international peacekeeping.

3.      Parliament Simulation: Organize or participate in a Canadian or provincial parliament simulation. This type of activity makes it easier to understand how our political system operates and how conflicts are resolved.

4.      Unfair Supper: Organize a supper where people are served different quantities and qualities of food. The groups are unfairly divided by using numbers or other means. The goal of this activity is to make people understand how the unequal distribution of wealth and food can lead to violence.

5.      The Water Game: The goal of this game is to accumulate the amount of drinking waterneeded for the well being of your population.

Criticism

Potential for harm to troops

There is some concern about the harm caused to troops, as peacekeeping can be very stressful. The peacekeepers are exposed to danger caused by the warring parties and often in an unfamiliar climate. This gives rise to different mental health problems, suicide, and substance abuse as shown by the percentage of former peacekeepers with those problems. Having a parent in a mission abroad for an extended period is also stressful to the peacekeepers' family In addition, peacekeepers, even when acting on UN mandate, may become a target for attacks by some of the parties in a conflict.
Another viewpoint raises the problem that the peacekeeping may soften the troops and erode their combat ability, as the mission profile of a peacekeeping contingent is totally different from the profile of a unit fighting an all-out war

Peacekeeping, human trafficking, and forced prostitution

Reporters witnessed a rapid increase in prostitution in Cambodia, Mozambique, Bosnia, and Kosovo after UN and, in the case of the latter two, NATO peacekeeping forces moved in. In the 1996 U.N. study The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, former first lady of Mozambique Graça Machel documented: "In 6 out of 12 country studies on sexual exploitation of children in situations of armed conflict prepared for the present report, the arrival of peacekeeping troops has been associated with a rapid rise in child prostitution."^[16]
Gita Sahgal spoke out in 2004 with regard to the fact that prostitution and sex abuse crops up wherever humanitarian intervention efforts are set up. She observed: "The issue with the UN is that peacekeeping operations unfortunately seem to be doing the same thing that other militaries do. Even the guardians have to be guarded."^[

---