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.

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).

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

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.

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.

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

Sierra Leone had been considered a fragile state even before its civil war from 1991-2002, this is because it had “weak capacity and will to provide security and deliver services to its population” (Pickering, 2009, p20). The decade during the civil war was overwhelmed by huge human rights abuses, lack of coherent governments, weak social security structures and masses of violence (Evoe, 2008, p2).. A number of peace efforts were generated by international institutions, none of which were extensively effective throughout all of Sierra Leone. Despite these difficulties, the intervention in Sierra Leone is considered a noteworthy success for the United Nations peacebuilding mission. The main objective of peacebuilding missions is to ‘rebuild’ failing and weak states (Cubitt, 2013, p91) and to “prevent violence from recurring in countries that are just emerging from civil conflict” (Paris, 2002, p637). The UN mission in Sierra Leone is widely regarded as an example of successful peacebuilding in a war torn country. The mission facilitated a transition from, a failing state to a moderately peaceful state. This mission is held as an example of successful intervention, and is often used as a means to justify the benefits of UN peacebuilding and peacekeeping missions.

I will shed the light on the Security Council which is the keystone of the United Nations system of collective security, and its role in maintaining international peace and security by settling disputes pacifically under chapter VI of the UN Charter and by taking action regarding threats, breaches, and acts of aggression under chapter VII. I will then discuss the several options that Nation states had resorted to in the past to intervene in order to protect civilians. And I will finally highlight the notion of the responsibility to protect which emerged in 2001 and its implication on populations under

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

Bertram looks at the successes and failures of new UN peacekeeping, such as the successes in El Salvador and Cambodia and the failures in Somalia and Angola, and argues that the UN needs to do a better job at determining where peace can be built. She also argues that the UN must stop blurring the lines between traditional peacekeeping doctrine and new peacekeeping practices in order to effectively accomplish their goals. Bertram notes in her essay how these things are crucial in assuring the success of UN peace building. She also emphasizes how crucial success is by noting how much small failures can deter member states from acting as peace builders in UN

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

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

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

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