UN Peacekeeping Operations Today, Can the Needs be Met?

René Mbuli, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UNHQ, New York

Developed in 1948 as an instrument to respond to the post-World War II inter-state conflicts, for example by monitoring the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours,United Nations Peacekeeping Operations have evolved over the years as conflicts kept occurring. Traditional peacekeeping operations were generally limited to the monitoring of ceasefires and to the stabilization of situations on the ground; but with the changing nature of post-Cold War conflicts, peacekeeping operations have shifted from dealing with inter-state to intra-state conflicts and civil wars, as well as engaging in more complex tasks to ensure sustainable peace and prevent a relapse into war.

Peacekeepers today perform a broad range of activities, which include:

· civil and political affairs
· civilian policing
· human rights monitoring and protection
· election observation
· humanitarian relief
· security sector reform
· mine actions
· disarmament
· demobilization and reintegration of former combatants
· public information

Whether involved in Cyprus, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or El Salvador, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has helped enormously in preventing conflicts, driving peace processes and leading war-torn countries on the path to sustainable peace.

Even though DPKO has not always delivered the required results, as shown by its failure to prevent the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 or to deal with the complex crisis in Somalia in 1993, it still remains an indispensable and important international tool to deal with the complex conflicts of today. According to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) statistics, in 2009 the UN had 15 peacekeeping operations led by DPKO with over 116,000 personnel, 82,000 of whom are military observers, about 11,000 police personnel, 6,683 international civilian personnel, close to 15,000 national civilian staff and more than 2,260 UN Volunteers. Nevertheless, some of the DPKO failures have been linked to the challenges it faces, and many observers have begun questioning the UN’s ability to meet the needs of the present peacekeeping demands.. UN operations encounter a myriad of challenges such as agreements on clear and effective mandates, difficult coordination between UN missions and other UN bodies, or limited human and financial resources. Other challenges include managing scandals such as sexual abuses or illegal diamond transactions by UN peacekeepers, supporting ceasefire agreements between parties and designing exit strategies, as well as managing transitions from peacekeeping to post conflict peace-building, protecting civilians and providing a safe corridor for humanitarian relief. DPKO constantly has to review its modes of operation to ensure that these challenges do not result in further failures.

The cost of peacekeeping operations has risen precipitously, thereby requiring greater vision for future operations. In this regard, while building on the August 2000 Brahimi report, the UN developed new strategies (as reflected in the New Horizon non-paper) in order to deal with future peacekeeping challenges and meet the demands. The non-paper recommended the need for a clear political strategy and more cohesiveness among the parties constituting the peacekeeping units.

DPKO and the Department of Field Support (DFS) highlighted the need to build the capacity of UN peace- keepers, member states and regional partners to speed up mission deployment. This would allow the design of mandates that reflect achievable objectives, it would make these objective clearer and strengthen consultations with the Security Council and contributing countries on proposed tasks affecting their personnel before planning documents are issued. In short, they highlighted the need to render the entire deployment process more fluid.

Another important issue today concerns the need to deploy robust peacekeeping bodies to effectively protect civilians. If these recommendations and more are put into practice alongside increased resources, the UN will be able to coordinate coherent and integrated ways of dealing with pre- and post-conflict situations around the world.

Photo © UN Photo/Marie Frechon