Roles Of Peacekeeping

The Security Council (SC), as one of the six main organs of the United Nations (UN), is the principal organ responsible for maintaining international peace and security. In its history, the Council has acted on widely differing topics, adapting to the changing nature of threats to international peace and security. Given the SC’s role, it is important to understand the structure, rules, and governing principles that define its unique responsibilities and mandate. Article 24

1. In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, its Members confer on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and agree that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility the Security

While “peacemaking generally includes various measures to address and discuss on conflicts in progress and usually involves constructive diplomatic action to bring hostile parties to a negotiated agreement, peacebuilding aims to lessen the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by the method of strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management.” Contrary to other missions, peacekeeping operations have a military or international police presence in the field.

Conflict prevention

Conflict prevention is among the Security Council’s highest priorities. The Council may stop the outbreak of a conflict through agenda-setting, fact-finding missions, diplomatic initiatives, sanctions, peace operations, and peace enforcement. However, if a conflict breaks out, the Security Council may establish mission mandates and authorize the level and nature of resources for conflict prevention to the UN

Sovereignty is the power of a state to do everything necessary to govern itself, such as making, executing, and applying laws; imposing and collecting taxes; making war and peace; and forming treaties or engaging in commerce with foreign nations.

In his recent treatise revision, Prof. Ian Brownlie notes that "sovereignty and equality of states represents the basic constitutional doctrine of the law of nations. He further indicates that this basic doctrine is contextualized by three corollaries:

1. jurisdiction exercised by States over territories and permanent populations;

2. the duty not to intervene in the exclusive jurisdiction of other States; and

3. the dependence of obligations which emerge from the sources of international law.

From the Brownlie perspective, sovereignty is a tricky balance between one State exercising its jurisdiction or authority and parallel exercises by other States. It is important to note that there is no internationally recognized definition of sovereignty, which with its eventual conceptualization could prove as a solution to many current