The Negative Aspects Of UN Peacekeeping

More than 60 years has passed ever since the Security Council authorized “the deployment of the first group to UN military observers to the Middle East to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors” in May 1948, United Nations set up the first peacekeeping operation--United Nations Truce Supervision Organization to monitor cease-fire. A year later, the Security Council expanded UNTSO functions .Though UN peacekeeping operations dated back to 1948; the lessons of today are being learned through experience after the Cold War.

According to UN definition, peacekeeping is “one among a range of activities undertaken by the United Nations to maintain international peace and security throughout the world .” Therefore, peacekeeping

Due to the Cold War pressure some intrastate conflict was suppressed. Peacekeeping operations at the beginning of Cold War are usually because the United States and Soviet Union could not reach an agreement so a substitute—peacekeeping to was invented.

During the Cold War the United Nations undertook a relatively small number of peacekeeping operations; the UN peacekeeping operations during this period often refer to stabilize areas of Cold War competition. The intrastate conflict was less common during the Cold War; the peacekeeping operations are mainly about settling the interstate conflict. States emphasized more on sovereignty rather than the enforcement of human rights. In 1980s, requests for peacekeeping have increased. The goal of peace operations began to change from observing cease-fires to facilitating political transitions

The end of Cold War has changed the international environment for UN peacekeeping profoundly. the end of superpower ideological conflict. The rise of intrastate conflict after the end of Cold War has complicated the application of peacekeeping operations and also the principles that underpin the peace operations. The nature of peacekeeping has changed significantly. The number of wars between states has declined, but intrastate conflicts states have multiplied, causing suffering throughout the

I chose these cases because I wanted how the UN responds to the internal conflicts before and after the Brahimi Report. I selected Rwanda since it was often criticized for UN inaction; peace operation in East Timor on the other hand was considered a success. By examining these two cases of UN operations and what made a failure or a success.

In the 1990s, the UN has completed some successful peace operations over the world. For example, UN Operation in Mozambique (ONMOZ), the UN mission separated and demobilized combatants, monitored a cease-fire, and oversaw a transition to a democracy that remains in place. In Macedonia, where the UN mission gave the Macedonians needed time to establish democratic institutions and, eventually, to join the European community. All these examples have showed the importance and effectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations.

However UN struggled in Bosnia, Somalia, Angola, and Sierra Leone. “By 1995, the catastrophes in Angola, Somalia and Rwanda had prompted many states to re-evaluate the value of peace operations and the nature of their contribution to them ”UN inaction in the face of genocide in Rwanda was suffered from criticism and probably the lowest point in the entire history of UN peacekeeping operations.