UN & Peacekeeping Flashcards
What were the origins of the UN Emergency Force?
In 1956, to facilitate the disengagement of British, French, and Israeli troops from Egypt following the Suez Crisis, a multilateral armed force dispatched to help keep the peace until a political settlement could be reached
What is the primary mandate of the UN?
Maintaining international peace and security
What are the caveats of the UN prohibition on the use of force?
- Prohibition against the use of force does not cover all situations
- Sovereign states can use force within their territory
What are the UN mandates on self-defence?
- Self-defense must be necessary and proportionate to the aggression
- When a state faces an imminent attack, it may have a right to act in anticipatory self-defence
What are the Security Council Powers on dispute settlement?
It can call disputing parties to resolve their conflict through peaceful means such as fact-finding, good offices, negotiation, arbitration and judicial settlement
It can compel compliance with decisions binding on member states
It may impose diplomatic and economic sanctions and authorise military force
It can delegate enforcement to regional bodies
What are the types of peace operations?
They range from small observation and monitoring missions to peacebuilding in conflict-afflicted societies
Usually small-scale under Chapter VI
What were peacekeepers initially intended to be?
Original role of peacekeepers was to serve as buffer forces and observers
What were the origins of the UNTSO?
Created in 1948 to monitor the ceasefires after the first Arab-Israeli war
What is the UNTSO?
Unarmed military observers
Still monitors ceasefire agreements in Lebanon, Golan Heights, Sinai
What are the five Peacekeeping Principles?
- UN-mandated missions
- Consent of parties
- Impartiality
- Voluntary troop contributions
- Minimum use of force
What is the UN Post-Cold War shift for peace missions?
Shift from peacekeeping to peace enforcement
What is Peacemaking?
Measures to address conflicts in progress and usually involves diplomatic action to bring hostile parties to a negotiated settlement
Involves negotiation, mediation, and democratic decision-making processes
How is Peacemaking different from Peacekeeping?
Unlike peacekeeping, peacemaking uses mutual dialogue to achieve fair agreement about how to solve the immediate problem, thereby removing the parties’ incentives to use violence
What does Peacekeeping mainly refer to?
The deployment of national or, more commonly, multinational forces for the purpose of helping to control and resolve an actual or potential armed conflict between or within states
Who authorises Peacekeeping missions?
Most peacekeeping operations are undertaken with the authorisation of, and are often led by, the United Nations (UN)
But regional organisations may also conduct peacekeeping operations, and in some cases single states have undertaken such operations as well
What are the characteristics of Peacekeeping forces?
Peacekeeping forces are normally deployed with the consent of the parties to a conflict and in support of a ceasefire
Peacekeeping forces are usually unarmed or only lightly armed and use the minimum of force necessary
What are the goals of Peacekeeping efforts?
Involves efforts to stop or limit the harmful symptoms of escalated conflict—direct violence (such as abuse or attack) or potential violence—and to establish sufficient safety to enable efforts toward preventing further violence
What is Peace Enforcement?
Refers to the use of military assets to enforce a peace against the will of the parties to a conflict when, for instance, a ceasefire has failed
What is the relationship between Peace Enforcement and Peacekeeping forces?
Peace enforcement often exceeds the capacity of peacekeeping forces and is thus better executed by more heavily armed forces
What is Peacebuilding?
Measures targeted to reduce the risk of relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities for conflict management and to lay foundation for sustainable peace and development
Transformation of social relations - repairing the systemic factors that were causing and exacerbating harmful conflict
How are Economic Sanctions and International Criminal Prosecution utilised?
In addition to military force, Security Council also uses non-military coercion
Sanctions on Iraq, al-Aqaeda and Islamic State
Criminal tribunals - esp. former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
What were the origins of peacekeeping?
League of Nations brought in to resolve territorial dispute between Colombia and Peru, 1933-34
Each side’s military forces were withdrawn and an internationalised force of Colombian troops under the Commission’s supervision remained
What was the fate of the territories of the Saar basin, formerly part of Germany?
Placed under the administration of the League of Nations for a period of 15 years
At the end of 15 years, a plebiscite was to be held to determine the final status of the Saar
An international police force, composed of soldiers from Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, and Sweden, was deployed to maintain order on the day of the plebiscite
What were the weaknesses of the League of Nations and its efforts at maintaining peace?
Intended to prevent states from going to war, the final sanction was the threat of force
Ultimate authority rested on the mobilisation of world opinion
Belief that the threat of economic sanctions, alone, would be sufficient to deter states from aggression
How did the League of Nations react to Japan’s 1931 invasion of Manchuria?
Sanctions were not used, a Special Assembly voted that Japan should withdraw from Manchuria
When the Japanese refused and left the League of Nations, the League responded by reprimanding Japan
How did the League of Nations react to Italy’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia?
Limited sanctions were imposed, not applied by all member nations and did not include some key products such as oil
The League made no attempt to limit Italy’s ability to wage war, such as closing the Suez Canal to Italian shipping
Sanctions were dropped following the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1936
Leads to widespread belief that League of Nations unwilling or unable to use collective force to prevent conflicts
Why can peacekeeping possibly be counterproductive?
Peacekeeping, by allowing wars to end sooner, but less decisively, may leave issues to fester that would otherwise be resolved, eventually leading to repeated fighting that would not otherwise occur
Did the UN promote peace during the Cold War?
UN did not have a significant effect on relations between the superpowers
UN was virtually powerless when it tried to push a policy that one of the superpowers opposed
Did the UN promote peace after the Cold War?
Some successes but also many failures
NATO did not initially have UN support in 1999 when it went to war with Serbia over Kosovo
When the US could not get the UN’s permission to invade Iraq in March 2003, it simply ignored the UN
UN unable to check Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014/2022
What is the Right to Protect (R2P)?
Calls for initiating wars against countries that commit serious crimes against their own civilian populations
Goes well beyond peacekeeping and can only be implemented under UN auspices
Why is the Right to Protect (R2P) often not useful?
R2P is not likely to gain much traction, simply because it will be difficult to get the Security Council to sanction R2P operations, as occurred with Chinese and Russian opposition to intervention in Syria
What was the Srebrenica Massacre?
- Massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces
- Ethnic cleansing of 20k civilians
- Worst instance of mass murder since WWII
What was the link between the UN and the Srebrenica Massacre?
- Town designated a safe area by UN and protected by Dutch peacekeepers
- Dutch forces were under-supplied, underequipped and its superiors at the UN were unwilling to give it additional support
- In July 2014 a Dutch court found the Dutch government liable for deaths of more than 300 Bosnian Muslims
What was the link between the UN and the Rwandan Genocide?
- Following renewal of violence in April 1994, UN reduces its military presence
- With onset of genocide, UN Commander Dallaire requests reinforcements but is unsuccessful
- Reinforcements eventually arrive in June but only after 800,000 Tutsis are murdered
What is the Rise and Fall of UN Peacekeeping?
Until 2016 number of UN operations increases with 117k personnel deployed on 16 operations
Thereafter it begins to fall
UN peacekeeping missions have steadily reduced in number and size
Why did the number of UN operations begin to fall after 2016?
- Operations in Liberia, Haiti and Darfur end
- Budget cuts
- Security Council gridlock
Who constitutes the UN Peacekeeping demographics?
Early contributors mainly neutral countries (Ireland, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Austria), plus others such as Canada
Global South now provides most uniformed personnel
What are the gender-related changes in UN peacekeeping efforts?
- Shift from all-male peacekeeping units to greater female participation, including allfemale police units
- Focus on protecting women in postconflict societies
- By 2020, 1/3 of peace operations personnel were women
Why is there an increasing shift from UN to African-led operations?
Reflects decreased UN legitimacy and preference for regional peacekeepers
Occur under auspices of African Union (Somalia), ECOWAS (Liberia), and ad hoc coalitions
Where are NATO-led peacekeeping missions?
Deployed to Bosnia (SFOR) and Kosovo (KFOR)
EUFOR replaces NATO SFOR
Where are Russian peacekeepers?
Deployed to maintain Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan
What are the main preconditions for ceasefires?
Confidence-building measures and de-escalation
Line of Contact or basis for a demilitarised zone for ceasefires?
Demilitarised zone implies a long-term de facto division of the country
Line of Contact considered more of a transitional arrangement
