Peacekeeping nations
One of the bodies that are responsible for peacekeeping across the globe is the United Nations, which is viewed as an essential peacekeeping juncture. By mid-two thousand and four, the DPKO was managing over sixty thousand individuals in seventeen field operations who served in military and civilian capacities. Even though the entity has been striving to improve its ability to support the processes that are associated with peacekeeping on a global scale. The demand concerned with the peacekeeping has strained the organization’s capacity to the threshold. The analysis of these challenges is the basis of this essay. It will examine why it isn’t straightforward for peacekeeping operations to establish a peace that lasts. To enhance the comprehension of the essay, a case study will be provided.
The conventional approach of UN peacekeeping was developed during the Cold War, which was seen as a means of resolving conflicts between nations. They did this by deployed of unarmed or semi-armed military personnel between the pugnacious parties (Inter-Parliamentary Union Interparlementaire, 2004, 1). The fall of the Berlin Wall caused the rise of several conflicts, especially intra-state conflicts, which triggered a shift into multidimensional peacekeeping operations that incline on the implementation of a peace agreement between the parties involved in the civil war. This comprehensive peace agreement has led to the increment of the civilian component of the integration missions of the peacekeeping operations that has dependence that is rising in terms of the work of these civilians (Autesserre, 2019, 1). These experts are retrieved from several fields, including the rule of law, child protection, human rights, and gender, to mention a few facets.
Harsh conditions in nations Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina made the United Nations intervene. The United Nations Peace Operations then issued a report in the year two thousand, which came to be known later as the Brahimi Report that criticized the conduct of the UN peace operations thereby, demanding alterations (Inter-Parliamentary Union Interparlementaire, 2004, 1). This report also underlined the consent in which the involved parties in terms of the mandate and adequate resources were viewed as minimum requirements for the success of the integrated mission. Reforms for increasing the levels of peacekeeping were eventually implemented, including the establishment of a pre-mandate mechanism of financing alterations (Inter-Parliamentary Union Interparlementaire, 2004, 1) that enable the availability of the adequate resources when it came to the start of new integrated missions.
When one hears the term peacekeeping, their immediate thoughts float towards the United Nations. This entity is the cornerstone of peacekeeping operations that are in place, which are vital for the creation of lasting peace in societies that are war-torn (UNU-Merit, 2016, 1). Since the first deployment of peacekeepers in the year nineteen forty-eight, the international systems have encountered several alterations with the occurrences of new actors, as well as challenges that have played critical roles in the evolution of their mandate.
With time, the challenges have become enormous, which has threatened the international community. It is up to the United Nations, among other entities, to devise strategies that can be implemented to ensure that peacekeeping operations create lasting peace in the international community (UNU-Merit, 2016, 1). This has prompted several events such as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers that are designed to provide innovative analysis, as well as offering solutions to the challenges that are associated with the diminishing peacekeeping operations implementation.
In the United Nations, peacekeeping operations are categorized and designed into mission integration and coordination activities. These integrated missions are intended to accelerate a system-wide tactic to the United Nations commitment in countries that are undergoing conflicts (Guéhenno, 2008, 69). One of the strong suits of the United Nations is that they have the capability of incorporating a mixture of military, police, and civilian competences under a unification form of leadership that supports the fragile peace process (Guéhenno, 2008, 69). It is vital to keep in mind the fact that this entity’s peacekeeping operations are deployed with the amalgamation of external factors.
These factors have varying agendas and mandate, not to mention different time zones. Managing an integrated mission has challenges that are incorporated with the need to ensure that there is some extent of collaboration between the United Nations and other non-United Nations actors that are present during the conflict and post-conflict facets. An excellent example of a case study of the challenges that are faced by the United Nations operations is UNIFIL, which is a peacekeeping mission that was deployed in the year two thousand and sixteen. It is also one of the longest-running peacekeeping missions that are associated with the United Nations. It is also referred to as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
One of the challenges that is associated with this integrated mission is that it is one of the most expensive peacekeeping missions that is located in the region. In this region, the political and humanitarian situations continue to get worse. The ability to predict the future is hard, creating challenges for the new UN Secretary-General on how to steer the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). This is because of the need to reconcile two core values of the United Nations, as well as the expenses involved in the coordination of the mission, among other factors.
Whereas, the peacekeeping operations have led to peaceful transitions which in turn creates a platform for the rebuilding of functioning states in several nations such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. The DPKO needs to ensure that there is political support from the hosting countries. This can be difficult in nations such as Sudan, Haiti, and the Central African Republic. The balance that needs to be reached in terms of the State consent for the deployment of mission in such nations and the international duty to protect civilians has become hard to realize.
There is also the issue of the crisis of confidence that has been looming in this entity. The limitations that the DPKO faces, such as limitations in their budget, prevent the association from meeting the expectations that are required. Another ethical and workplace ailment that has befallen them is that of sexual is conduct, which has tarnished their reputation, as well as those of the countries that are involved, including the Troop Contributing Countries, also referred to as TCC (UNU-Merit, 2016, 1). This is why DPKO needs to get fully engaged with the UN system when operating in given nations. This feat requires an efficient method of dialogue and communication between the member states of the UN and the association itself. A productive relationship should also exist between UNCT, the UN County Team, and the integrated mission that is to be implemented (UNU-Merit, 2016, 1). From the above analysis, it is safe to state that peacekeepers are always facing evolving threats over time.
Another case study on the difficulties that are faced by peacekeepers such as the United Nations in this day and age is on the UNU event that took place in two thousand and seventeen on the challenges of peacekeeping in the twenty-first century (United Nations University, 2017, 1). The discussions ranged from the nature and scope of peacekeeping that encountered shifts with the expansion of mandates, as well as the need to respond to the nature of the changing conflict. These integrated missions by the United Nations have tried to implement several innovative reforms such as the increment of the protection of civilians to the deployment of the use of force beyond self-defense (United Nations University, 2017, 1). Even though such initiatives were put in place in this case, numerous challenges, including hostility to the forces of UN peacekeeping, continue to be a bother to the objectives of the entity.
The misconduct of some of the assigned peacekeepers continues to be a contributing factor to international condemnation even though it is deemed an area of priority by the new Un Secretary-General. This case study is a clear indication of the UNU conversation series and how it aspires to foster audience participation. Individuals were encouraged to participate and engage with the speakers during these conversations (United Nations University, 2017, 1). This way, several issues that needed to be addressed were addressed, and the best way to move forward realized.
In conclusion, peacekeeping operations that are implemented by organizations such as the United Nations have several challenges, such as the expenses involved in sustaining the integrated missions. Other problems have been addressed in association with factors such as geographical locations. It is vital for peacekeeping organizations such as the United Nations to establish solutions for these challenges for lasting peace to be realized.