Peacekeeping An Effective Method Of Conflict Intervention Essay

The United Nations fights for humanitarian issues through the use of peaceful dialogue between countries and leaders. The UN's powers of authorising peacekeeping, sanctions and force when absolutely necessary is given to it by the UN charter, an international treaty. They are limited by the fact that they cannot make their resolutions and policies the law, however the important conversations they start and ideas that are shared are influential upon the many powerful leaders who choose to listen.

Thesis: The role of the United Nations has changed from being primarily an international peacekeeping force to primarily a humanitarian organization.

Thesis: The role of the United Nations has changed from being primarily an international peacekeeping force to primarily a humanitarian organization.

Although in the past, Canada vastly supported the United Nations, a peacekeeping group, Canada’s rank in the UN Peacekeeping contributions chart has decreased from the 20th to the 21st century. Canada used to be ranked 8th in 1990 sending an average of 1000 forces, whether they be police, military experts, or troops. However in comparison to the other countries that provided thousands of Peacekeepers, in the year 2015, Canada was only ranked 68th sending a total average of 116 forces. From the major decrease of Canadian peacekeepers, it is observed that Canada has scaled back their role as a peacekeeping nation, allowing Canada to uncover its peacemaker within. Secondly, United Nations added an online mediation support tool called Peacemakers. Designed for use by peacemaking professionals, the tool consists of peace agreements, knowledge for guidance as well as material involving the United Nations mediation support services. Peacemaker is used to provide information on various topics revolving around peace mission. The UN’s efforts to try to resolve the worldwide conflict are presented through UN Peacemaker. The UN added peacemaker to inform others of peacemaking, showing that it is not just peacekeeping. Thirdly, the United Nations collects money from its members, Canada may be 9th in the top ten providers, however Canada used to

Prior to the outbreak of the genocide in April 1994, the United Nations had established the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda. UNAMIR forces consistent of just over 2,000 personnel, and was responsible for the supervision the transition from war to peace. Their responsibilities included ‘monitoring the ceasefire, assisting with demobilisation and mine clearance, and encouraging the facilitation of political and social conditions that would allow a transitional government to take control.1

A few of the hundreds of NGO’s operating in Afghanistan include the World Health Organization, World Bank, British Agencies Afghan group, and Afghans for Civil Society. While each of these organizations takes on the battle in a different way, they are all aiming towards the same goal at the end of the fight; Peace for the Afghan people. Some of these organizations decide to take on this battle by aiding with things such as health care, agricultural development, building programs, emergency relief, or school reconstruction. Despite the efforts of these NGO’s, many problems have arisen, making it hard to maintain ideal structural stability for the organizations working within the state. A main concern for humanitarians across the globe is the “blurred line” that has occurred as a result of the inability to decipher between aid workers, and military troops. This has caused the Afghan people to become vary, and can result in a lack of trust for those trying to administer support. Western governments have also proceeded to voice the idea of the ‘comprehensive approach’ to peacekeeping. This approach focuses on the idea that militaries, aid workers, politicians and civilians should all work together to provide ‘complex solutions to complex emergencies.’ ("Civil-Military Relations in Afghanistan”). The inability to disentangle the

The UN and the US government are accredited for deploring conflict situations as well as contributing humanitarian aid, and this is what these two organizations did in Rwanda and Darfur. However, the UN did not do anything to punish or prevent the genocides that took place in these two countries. The US government promised to support the peace talk’s agreement in Darfur and hold the perpetrators accountable for their acts. It never kept that promise since nothing has been done. So far, the UN’s Security Council has also failed in its peace keeping mission effeorts, and is instead pressuring Sudan with words only. No solid steps have been made to bring the wrong doers into justice (Shapiro).

If not blamed on ‘male nature’, the fault is on commanders and managers that did not efficiently implemented UNSCR 1325. But the persistence of SEA cannot be blamed on isolated cases, and underlying patriarchal values seems to be a valuable alternative explanation to the dominant discourse. The UN discourse in these peacekeeping missions clearly embodies characteristics of rape culture including biological explanation, women objectification, victim blaming and lack of accountability. This is associated with a general unwillingness to implement reforms, or cultural resistance. The UN has a tendency to blame its failure on states and individuals. But as shown previously, the UN has the ability to held UN civilians accountable and fails to do so. By ignoring the roots of the problem, namely its internal patriarchal culture, the UN only perpetuates the mechanisms that cause SEA; and allows SEA by peacekeeping personnel to some extent. Until the reforms aims at ‘ the dismantling of violence-producing masculinities’ (Enloe, 2005: 283) the problem of SEA will persist, undermining the organisation legitimacy and authority as an actor in women’s

In order to understand the concept behind peacekeeping we have to first look at the history of this UN term and how it got established. The initial kick-off year was 1948 (un.org) when the Security Council deployed troops to the Middle East in order to observe the region. It was the outcome of the creation of the state Israel and the rest of the land piece was given and left over to the Palestinian Arabs. The Arab society and the Arab Nation leaders did not accept this division which caused the conflict. At first the UN sent only observers and peaceful troops to the region

With the construction of international organizations, such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), humanitarian aid has reached the most desperate of people and developing nations have been enabled to grow their domestic economies at a greater rate. However peace in volatile countries has remained difficult to achieve due to the slow reaction timing of UN member states. With the Genocide in Rwanda, the international community didn’t recognize the crimes against humanity that were being committed until it was too late for them to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. Despite this, the UN and its branch committees, with other Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) have been able to address several other

For a mission to be peacekeeping, the UN needs to be invited by at least one side, and more commonly two. The forces on a peacekeeping mission are usually lightly armed in order to prevent them from acting aggressively, while also confirming its role as a peacekeeper that is neutral. The main role of the peacekeepers is to act as a buffer and report when a country violates a ceasefire. The peacekeeping force enters after the conflict has started and its mission is to fulfill the mandate provided by the council. Lately peacekeeping missions have focused more on aid and state building rather than just preventing conflict. Recently there have been calls for the UN to move from peacekeeping to peace enforcement in some situations. Peace enforcement usually requires a larger, better, and heavier equipped force that won’t just keep the peace, but enforce it if it has too. With peace enforcement, the UN would like to stop more conflicts before they start because the threat of a large UN force being called in might make some countries question going on the offensive in a war. For a peace enforcement mission to be successful, the orders and mandate given must be very clear to the troops so that they can respond in war in real time and not be held up in bureaucracy. Peace enforcement also doesn’t require the force to be impartial or to find the aggressor, but to work in the most efficient way possible to end the fighting.

Today I read “U.N. Condemns Sex Abuse by Peacekeepers in Africa” by Mary Bowerman and Oren Dorell. This article was published on January 13th, 2016 on USA Today. This article was about how U.N. peacekeepers are going to the Central African Republic and having sex with underage girls. Bowerman and Dorell go on to talk about how the sexual violence by peacekeepers is a violation of human rights and must be investigated. I chose to read and analyze this article because the title intrigued me. The words sex abuse and peacekeepers should mean completely opposite things. Sex abuse is a terrible crime and peacekeepers are supposed to be people that work to preserve the peace. This article shows that there are problems in Africa regarding the people

However, accountability can be separated into two distinct areas by regarding whether or not the issue concerns operations involving UN peace-keeping. The second topic of the committee, “Strengthening Compliance and Accountability in Field Missions with Special Regard to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Cases,” focuses on PKO’s and relates directly to the already explored issues and events concerning Topic 1. A specific challenge that impedes PKO reform is the UN’s secondary status with regard to peacekeeper authority. In cases of PKO misconduct, perpetrators look towards their particular Member-State in order to defer allegations. In many instances, cases of Sexual Exploitation & Abuse (SEA) during PKO’s that have been referred to the perpetrator’s home country result in a lack of prosecution and a disappearance of the matter altogether—such as when Sri Lanka decided not to prosecute its peacekeepers involved in a three-year child sex ring in Haiti. Similar circumstances were present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where refugees have been raped even within a UN peacekeeper protected camps. In itself, by allowing such corruption, the UN has harmed those who they had wished to aid in the first place.

Peacekeepers have been deployed into regions in conflict with the purpose of creating conditions of lasting peace. They are mostly stationed in areas of Africa and the Middle East, but they are also stationed in Haiti and in Europe. Some of the conflicts they try to remedy include human rights violations, environmental damage, and child abuse. For the most part, peacekeepers are a huge help in stabilizing a country or region in conflict and are beneficial to the public. However, some peacekeepers abuse their power as a result of minimal supervision. There have been reports of peacekeepers using excessive force, being corrupt and sexually abusing civilians. In the case of excessive force, the peacekeepers don’t always act out of malice,

The United Nations, with its rigid moral and political limitations against force, has become a benchmark of peace and a social achievement of modern times. From war torn Europe, the United Nations developed from five major powers with an initial goal to prevent the spread of warfare through peaceful means and to establish and maintain fundamental human rights. Through the past fifty years, this organization has broadened its horizons with auxiliary organizations from peace keeping missions to humanitarian aid, to economic development. However, in a modern example of ethnic cleansing, the UN faces new a new role as a bystander as its power is bypassed by NATO forces. The UN, however, promises to be an