History of United Nations peacekeeping

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The United Nations Peacekeeping efforts began in 1948.[1] Its first activity was in the Middle East to observe and maintain the ceasefire during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Since then, United Nations peacekeepers have taken part in a total of 72 missions around the globe, 12 of which continue today. The peacekeeping force as a whole received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.

Though the term "

United Nations Charter, the authorization is generally considered to lie in (or between) Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. Chapter 6 describes the Security Council's power to investigate and mediate disputes, while Chapter 7 discusses the power to authorize economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions, as well as the use of military force, to resolve disputes. The founders of the UN envisioned that the organization would act to prevent conflicts between nations and make future wars impossible; however, the outbreak of the Cold War
made peacekeeping agreements extremely difficult due to the division of the world into hostile camps. Following the end of the Cold War, there were renewed calls for the UN to become the agency for achieving world peace, and the agency's peacekeeping dramatically increased, authorizing more missions between 1991 and 1994 than in the previous 45 years combined.

Early years

14th Prime Minister of Canada,
Lester B. Pearson a Nobel Peace Prize laureate[2]

The

International Force in the Saar (1934–35) may be "the first true example of an international peace observation force".[3]

Before any official peacekeeping mission, the UN played an important role in the conflict concerning Trieste after World War II. From 1947 to 1954, Trieste was declared an independent city state under the protection of the United Nations as the Free Territory of Trieste. The territory was divided into two zones, which later formed the basis for the division of the territory between Italy and Yugoslavia. The UN also authorized two nations to station troops in the Free Territory, the US (Trieste United States Troops) and the UK (British Element Trieste Force) in the northern zone and Yugoslavia in the southern zone.

The first UN peacekeeping mission was a team of observers deployed to the Middle East in 1948, during the

People's Republic of China
. It was therefore unable to veto the authorization of member states to assist in the defense of South Korea. The United Nations forces pushed the North Koreans out of the South and made it to the Chinese border before the Chinese People's Volunteer Army intervened and pushed the UN back to the 38th parallel. Although a cease-fire was declared in 1953, UN forces remained along the demilitarized zone until 1967, when American and South Korean forces took over.

In 1956, the UN responded to the

Canadian peacekeepers to that cause was seen as a brilliant political move.[7] Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his work in establishing UN peacekeeping operations. UNEF was the first official armed peacekeeping operation modeled on Pearson's ideas.[8]
Since 1956, most UN peacekeeping forces, including those called "observer" missions, have been armed.

Cold War

Throughout the

UN Security Council
made it difficult to implement peacekeeping measures in countries and regions seen to relate to the spread or containment of leftist and revolutionary movements. While some conflicts were separate enough from the Cold War to achieve consensus support for peacekeeping missions, most were too deeply enmeshed in the global struggle.

International conflicts

The UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, begun in 1964, attempted to end the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
. Neither of these disputes were seen to have Cold War or ideological implications.

There was one exception to the rule. In the Mission of the Representative of the Secretary-General in the

US intervened unilaterally in a civil war between leftist and conservative factions. The US had consolidated its hold and invited a force of the Organization of American States
(dominated by US troops) to keep the peace. The mission was approved mainly because the Americans presented it as fait accompli and because the UN mission was not a full peacekeeping force. It included only two observers at any time and left the peacekeeping to another international organization. It was the first time the UN operated in this manner with a regional bloc.

Decolonization

The UN also assisted with two

UNSF maintained law and order while the territory was transferred from Dutch colonial control to Indonesia.[10]

Middle East conflicts

Canadian peacekeeper in 1976 wearing the distinctive UN blue helmet

The Middle East, where combatants were generally not firmly aligned with the superpowers, who mainly sought stability in the crucial oil-producing region, was the most visible location of UN peacekeeping during the Cold War. In 1958,

UNIIMOG, to supervise the withdrawal of troops to the internationally recognized border between Iraq and Iran after almost eight years of war
between those two countries.

End of the Cold War

Alpine Helicopters contract Bell 212 on MINUGUA peacekeeping duty in Guatemala, 1998

With the decline of the Soviet Union and the advent of

UNMOT
respectively.

With the end of the Cold War, a number of nations called for the UN to become an organization of world peace and do more to encourage the end to conflicts around the globe. The end of political gridlock in the Security Council helped the number of peacekeeping missions increased substantially. In a new spirit of cooperation, the Security Council established larger and more complex UN peacekeeping missions. Furthermore, peacekeeping came to involve more and more non-military elements that ensured the proper operation of civic functions, such as elections. The UN

Department of Peacekeeping Operations
was created in 1992 to support the increased demand for such missions.

A number of missions were designed to end civil wars in which competing sides had been sponsored by Cold War players. In

URNG
and the conservative government.

Post Cold War

International conflicts

UN Soldiers in Eritrea as part of UNMEE. Photo by Dawit Rezene

In 1991, the political situation created by the collapse of the USSR allowed the first explicitly-authorized operation of collective self-defense since the Korean War: expelling

UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was established to monitor the cessation of hostilities after the Eritrean–Ethiopian War
.

Civil Wars

The 1990s also saw the UN refocus its attention on genocide and ethnic cleansing. The Civil War in

UNOMUR
.

Brazilian MINUSTAH soldier with a Haitian girl.

Despite the cessation of international, Cold-War inspired aid, civil wars continued in many regions and the UN attempted to bring peace. Several conflicts were the cause of multiple peace-keeping missions.

The collapse of

UNOSOM II
fail to bring peace and stability, though they did mitigate the effects of the famine.

The

UNMIL
was dispatched to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and continues to assist in national security reform.

A coup in

MINUSTAH
to stabilize the country.

In

UNAMID
, the AU/UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur. Violence in Darfur, spilled over the border into Chad and the Central African Republic. In 2007, MINURCAT was deployed to minimize violence to civilians and prevent interference of aid distribution related to violence in Darfur.

The UN has also organized single peacekeeping missions aimed at ending civil wars in a number of countries. In Central African Republic, MINURCA (1998) was created to oversee the disarmament of several mutinous groups of former CAR military personnel and militias as well as to assist with the training of a new national police and the running of elections. The mission was extended after successful elections to help ensure further stability. In

UNOCI was dispatched to enforce a 2004 peace agreement ending the Ivorian Civil War
, though the country remains divided. Following ceasefire agreements ending the Burundi Civil War, ONUB was authorized in 2004 to oversee the implementation of the Arusha Peace Accords.

Landrovers for use by UNTAG being unloaded in Namibia.

Independence facilitation efforts

UN Peacekeepers have also been used to oversee independence movements and the establishment of new states. Beginning in 1989,

UNMIT
, which continues to monitor the situation.

Assessment

Delegates of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) examine an exhumed mass grave of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre, outside the village of Potočari, Bosnia and Herzegovina. July 2007.

A 2005 RAND Corporation study found the UN to be successful in two out of three peacekeeping efforts. It compared UN nation-building efforts to those of the United States, and found that seven out of eight UN cases are at peace, as opposed to four out of eight US cases at peace.[12] Also in 2005, the Human Security Report documented a decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuses since the end of the Cold War, and presented evidence, albeit circumstantial, that international activism—mostly spearheaded by the UN—has been the main cause of the decline in armed conflict since the end of the Cold War.[13]

The UN has also drawn criticism for perceived failures. In some cases, the Security Council has failed to pass resolutions or the

member states have been reluctant to fully enforce them in the face of deteriorating conditions. Disagreements in the Security Council are seen as having failed to prevent the 1994 Rwandan genocide.[14][15] UN and international inaction has also been cited for failing to intervene and provide sufficient humanitarian aid during the Second Congo War,[16] the failure of UN peacekeepers to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica massacre,[17] failure to provide effective humanitarian aid in Somalia,[18] failing to implement provisions of Security Council resolutions related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Kashmir dispute and continuing failure to prevent genocide or provide assistance in Darfur.[19][20]

One suggestion to address the problem of delays such as the one in Rwanda, is a rapid reaction force: a standing group, administered by the UN and deployed by the Security Council that receives its troops and support from current Security Council members and is ready for quick deployment in the event of future genocides.[21]

UN peacekeepers have also been accused of sexual abuse including child rape, gang rape, and soliciting prostitutes during peacekeeping missions in the Congo,[22] Haiti,[23][24] Liberia,[25] Sudan,[26] Burundi, and Côte d'Ivoire.[27]

In response to criticism, including reports of sexual abuse by peacekeepers, the UN has taken steps toward reforming its operations. The Brahimi Report was the first of many steps to recap former peacekeeping missions, isolate flaws, and take steps to patch these mistakes to ensure the efficiency of future peacekeeping missions.[28] The UN has vowed to continue to put these practices into effect when performing peacekeeping operations in the future. The technocratic aspects of the reform process have been continued and revitalised by the DPKO in its 'Peace Operations 2010' reform agenda. The 2008 capstone doctrine entitled "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines"[29] incorporates and builds on the Brahimi analysis.

In 2013, the

NGO Transparency International released a report critical of UN Peacekeeping anti-corruption guidance and oversight.[30][31]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Our history". United Nations Peacekeeping.
  2. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1957". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  3. ^ Paul F. Diehl, Peace Operations (Polity Press, 2008), pp. 34–36.
  4. ^ Year: 1948), UN Security Council (3rd (1964). "Resolution 50 (1948) /: [adopted by the Security Council at its 310th meeting], of 29 May 1948". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "International Day of UN Peacekeepers, 29 May".
  6. ^ General Assembly Resolution 1000 (ES-I)UN Doc A/RES/1000 (ES-I) of 5 November 1956 Establishment of the UNEF Archived 19 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ISBN 978-0-14-317269-7
    .
  8. ^ 1950s United Nations Peacekeeping http://www.un.org/events/peacekeeping60/1950s.shtml
  9. ^ "ONUC".
  10. ^ "United Nations Security Force in West New Guinea (Unsf)".
  11. ^ Baczko, Adam; Dorronsoro, Gilles. "United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan (UNGOMAP)".
  12. ^ RAND Corporation. "The UN's Role in Nation Building: From the Congo to Iraq" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  13. ^ Human Security Centre. "The Human Security Report 2005". Archived from the original on 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2007-02-08.
  14. ^ Harsch, Ernest (April 2004). "The world reflects on Rwanda genocide". UN. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  15. ^ Feil, Scott (April 1998). "Preventing Genocide How the Early Use of Force Might Have Succeeded in Rwanda". Wilson Center. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
  16. S2CID 154818651. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2011-08-26.
  17. ^ "Srebrenica Report Blames UN". BBC. Nov 16, 1999. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
  18. JSTOR 20045500
    .
  19. ^ "Darfur Resolution Historic Failure". Human Rights Watch. September 17, 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
  20. ^ "Annan acknowledges UN failure to protect in Darfur". Sudan Times. December 9, 2006. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
  21. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  22. Washington Post
    .
  23. ^ "UN troops face child abuse claims". BBC News. 2006-11-30.
  24. ^ "108 Sri Lankan peacekeepers in Haiti to be repatriated after claims they paid prostitutes". International Herald Tribune. 2007-11-02.
  25. ^ "Aid workers in Liberia accused of sex abuse". International Herald Tribune. 2006-05-08.
  26. ^ Holt, Kate; Hughes, Sarah (2007-01-04). "UN staff accused of raping children in Sudan". Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2007-01-04. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  27. ^ "UN staff accused of raping children in Sudan". BBC. 2007-05-28.
  28. ^ "Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations". United Nations.
  29. ^ UN Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines PDF pbpu.unlb.org/PBPS/Library/Capstone_Doctrine_ENG.pdf
  30. ^ "Corruption & Peacekeeping: Strengthening Peacekeeping and the United Nations" (PDF). Transparency International. October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
  31. ^ Gladstone, Rick (October 9, 2013). "Peacekeeping by U.N. Faces New Scrutiny on 2 Fronts". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2013.

Further reading

External links
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