UN failures and success

 UN FAILED RAWANDA

The independent report, commissioned by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, showed a UN

peacekeeping mission in Rwanda. The United Nations launched its peacekeeping mission for
Rwanda in October 1993 to monitor a cease-fire agreement between the Rwandan Hutu
government and the rebel Rwandese Patriotic Front. The mission, which was not allowed to use
military force to achieve its aims, was limited to investigating breaches in the cease-fire, helping
humanitarian aid deliveries and contributing to the security of the capital, Kigali. The mission
proved insufficient after the government launched the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 minority
Tutsis and moderate Hutus following the downing of the Rwandan president's plane on April 6,
1994.

The report faulted the United Nations in several key areas leading up to that date, including its
failure to act on a now-famous cable sent by the force commander, Canadian Lt. Gen. Romeo
Dallaire on Jan. 11, 1994 warning of the risk of genocide. The cable was received by Annan and
wasn't shared with the Security Council and didn't receive the follow-up such an important piece
of evidence deserved, the report said. In addition, the United Nations and Security Council
virtually ignored a groundbreaking assessment by the UN human rights investigator for Rwanda
who raised the possibility in August 1993 that a genocide might occur.

But the report points most of its criticism at how the United Nations - and in particular its
Security Council members - reacted to the killings once they started. There was little political
will within the council, particularly from the United States, to authorize a robust peacekeeping
force in the months after the failed Somalia mission, that left 18 Americans dead. After
rampaging killers in Rwanda killed 10 Belgian peacekeepers at the beginning of the genocide,
there was little will to keep the peacekeepers in place, much less strengthen their mandate.

 UN FAILURE IN BOSNIA

The UN’s failure in Bosnia and Herzegovina

At least two million people had lost their lives (both civilians and armed forces) and
another two million were forcefully displaced from their homes as result of the Bosnian
war.[2] The sheer act of violence showed the world how fragile peace is and that when
identity becomes the basis of a conflict, the integrity of the state and security of
individuals is threatened. The international community to date is haunted by the brutality
and barbarity that was witnessed during the course of this war. In July 2015, marking the
20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, the United Nations Security Council put
forward a draft resolution to officially condemn the massacre of the 8,000 Bosniak men
and boys as a genocide.
One of the most documented events during the war was the Srebrenica massacre in July
1995. Eight thousand young boys and men were massacred by the Serb forces and the
women and young girls were subjected to rape. This example became one of the focal
 points of the war since this area was designated by the UN in resolution 819 as one of the
safe havens to be disarmed and guarded by Dutch peacekeepers. Due to its demarcation
as such, 60,000 Muslims were believed to have sought refuge there. Forty-eight hours is
all that was required by the Serb forces to carry out their orders
As early as 1992, the UN had recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign nation-
state.[3] However, when the Croatian and Serb proxies were ambushing the Bosniaks
from all corners, it failed to condemn both Serbia and Croatia as aggressors in the war. A
parallel between the Bosnian war and Kuwait’s invasion could be drawn. Unlike the latter
case, wherein the UN invoked Chapter VII and condemned Iraq as the aggressor state
under resolution 678, the former perhaps was not even a blip on its radar.[4] As the
Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) community was being shelled and raped, and the fundamental
values of its inception were being violated, the UN failed to immediately deploy an
Emergency Peacekeeping Force to the country to halt the ongoing carnage. It found itself
unable to secure a lasting ceasefire between the two major warring parties, i.e., the
Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks
 Israeli occupation (1948-Now)

Ever since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, Palestinians have been fighting against what a
UN investigator once described as Israel’s ethnic cleansing.

At least 15,000 Palestinians were killed and some 750,000 out of a total population of 1.9 million
were forced to take refuge far from their homelands between 1947 and 1949.  More than 7,000
Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis have died in the conflict between 2000 and 2014.

Today Israel controls 85 percent of historic Palestine. It also imposes a crippling blockade on

Gaza and continues its construction of illegal settlements on occupied lands in defiance of
several UN resolutions calling for an end to those activities. 

The United States has also used its veto power several times to counter UN Security Council
resolutions that have condemned Israel’s use of force against Palestinian civilians.

 Kashmir dispute (1948-Now)

The ongoing confrontation in the disputed Kashmir region has become one of the greatest human
rights crises in history, marked by wanton killings, rape, incarceration of leaders and activists,
torture and disappearances of Kashmiris, despite several unimplemented UN resolutions over the
issue.

The mountainous region is divided between India and Pakistan, who have both claimed it in full
since gaining independence from British colonists in 1947. 
The rebellion by several Muslims groups in India-administered Kashmir, who seek either a
merger with Pakistan or independence, has gained momentum after 1989. At least 68,000
people have been killed by Indian security forces since then.

 Cambodia violence (1975-1979)

After the end of the US-Vietnam War and the Cambodian civil war in 1975, the Khmer Rouge
regime took control of Cambodia turning it into a socialist country, by using the policy of ultra-
Maoism.

The regime carried out genocide between 1975-1979, killing some two million people, nearly 25
percent of the country.

The Vietnamese intervention ended genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime. The United Nations
recognised the Khmer Rouge regime, while ignoring concerns of human rights violations.

 Somali civil war (1991-Now)

Since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre by the Somali Rebellion in 1991, the decades-
long civil war has raged between rival clans in the country.

The UN peacekeeping mission, UNOSOM, which was set up in December 1992 to facilitate
humanitarian aid to people trapped by civil war and famine, has since failed because of the lack
of government to communicate with and repeated attacks against UN officers.

 Darfur conflict in Sudan (2003-Now)

Rebels in Sudan’s western region of Darfur rose up against the government in February 2003,
saying Khartoum discriminated against non-Arab farmers there.

Some 200,000 people have been killed in the conflict since then, while 4.4 million people need
aid and over 2.5 million have been displaced

However, four years later, the UN decided to send 26,000 troops for a resolution in Darfur. 

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al
Bashir in 2009 and 2010 on charges of war crimes and genocide in his drive to crush the Darfur
revolt.
  Iraq invasion (2003-2011)

More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the US-led
invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain’s leading polling groups.

The intervention and regime change sought by the US left Iraq with civil and economic
instability, and vulnerable to terrorism by Daesh in the coming years. 

UN Resolution 1483 attempted to legitimise the invasion that was carried out under the false
assertion by the US and the UK that the Saddam regime was in possession of Weapons of Mass
Destruction.

 Syrian civil war (2011-Now):

The Syrian regime launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters who took to the streets in
March 2011, with its leader Bashar al Assad saying he would “relentlessly fight terrorist
groups”— referring to the pro-democracy protesters.

The regime released imprisoned Al Qaeda members, right after the protests turned into an
uprising, who later formed the backbone of leadership in Daesh, which spread to Syria in 2014
from Iraq.

Several foreign countries are involved in several conflict areas across Syria. In the year that
followed, the UN Security Council tried to pass several resolutions to address the conflict,
but Russia utilised its veto power at least a dozen times to protect its ally, Assad. 

Syria's conflict alone had, by the end of last year, pushed more than 6.3 million people out of the
country, accounting for nearly one-third of the global refugee population. Another 6.2 million
Syrians are internally displaced.

 South Sudan (2013-Now)

South Sudan became an independent country in July 2011, separating from Sudan. 

The country has been experiencing a civil war between President Salva Kiir, from the Dinka
ethnic group, and former vice president Riek Machar, frin the Nuer ethnic group.

In the civil war, at least 382,000 people have been killed, according to a State Department-
funded study.
  Rohingya Crisis, Myanmar (2017-Now)

On August 25, 2017, Myanmar launched a major military crackdown on the Muslim ethnic
minority, killing almost 24,000 civilians and forcing 750,000 others, including women and
children, to flee to Bangladesh, according to the Ontario International Development Agency
(OIDA).

China stood behind Myanmar on the Rohingya crisis by blocking efforts for the Rohingya in the
UN Security Council.

The 10 most controversial resolutions of UN

The Condi & Sergei Do-Nothing Iran Resolution: 1835

Relations between the United States and Russia deteriorated dramatically after the United States
sided with Georgia in its conflict with Russian troops over the breakaway republics Abkhazia
and Ossetia. In the midst of the standoff, the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report
concluding that Iran had not complied with U.N. demands to cease its enrichment of uranium
and that it could not verify whether Iran’s nuclear program was peaceful. Such reports typically
serve as a trigger for sanctions. Moscow made it clear it was not prepared to support a U.S. push
for imposing new measures against Iran. But in an effort to demonstrate that relations between
the two powers were not irreparable, then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to put forward a resolution reiterating each country’s
support for existing U.N. agreements on Iran’s nuclear program, but including no new measures.

The "We Command You to Stop Killing Your People … Please" Resolution: 1706

In August, 2006, the U.N. Security Council passed this little-remembered resolution authorizing
the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan, to use "all necessary means"
to protect Darfuri civilians. But the resolution, which was championed by the Bush
administration, required the consent of the Sudanese government to be implemented.

"Well, I think there’s a chicken and egg situation here," then-U.S. ambassador John Bolton said
after the vote. "I think once the resolution is passed, the consent may be forthcoming more
rapidly than people think."

 On July 31, 2007, the Security Council passed resolution 1769, creating a hybrid United
Nations/ African Union peacekeeping force that has been handicapped by a confused command
structure and a shortage of advanced military hardware, such as attack helicopters.

The Pick Your Terrorist Resolution: 1530

In the hours after al Qaeda-inspired militants bombed a Spanish train in June 2004, in Madrid,
killing 191 people, Spain’s President José Maria Aznar mustered universal support in the
Security Council for a resolution condemning the armed Basque separatist movement, ETA, for
carrying out the attack. The Spanish initiative, taken three days before Spain’s presidential
election, showed how easy it is to bend the will of the council when a member is confronted with
a national tragedy

The "Trust Me, He’s a Terrorist" Resolutions: 1267 and 1390

Resolution 1267, passed after the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, imposed a
series of travel and financial sanctions on members of the Taliban-controlled government of
Afghanistan for refusing to surrender al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to stand trial for the
embassy bombings. After the September 11 attacks, the council expanded the list of targets to al
Qaeda and affiliated groups, setting the stage for the United States, Russia, and other countries to
propose the inclusion of hundreds of individuals on a U.N. terror list.

Garad Jama, a Somali-born U.S. citizen who lives in Minneapolis, said his life was destroyed
by the appearance on U.S. and U.N. terror lists. A year later, in August 2002, Jama was removed
from both lists. "My life has been trouble," Jama told me then. "I have never had any connection
with any terrorism."

Dick Marty, a Swiss investigator for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
denounced the U.N. blacklisting as a "flagrant injustice" that failed to meet basic human rights
standards. He said the council’s activities constituted a "dangerous erosion of fundamental rights
and freedoms." European governments have been struggling for the past decade to revise the
resolution and increase due-process protections

The Genocide Rescue Brigade That Never Was Resolution: 912

In April 1994, as Rwandan extremists unleashed the largest mass killing operation in modern
history, the Security Council reached agreement on Resolution 912, which called for the
reduction in the size of an already under-equipped U.N. peacekeeping force. In a compromise,
the United States allowed the resolution to include a provision that stated the council’s
willingness to consider any recommendations by then Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-
Ghali concerning the size and the mandate of the mission. Eight days later, Boutros-Ghali
appealed to the council to reverse its decision, saying the U.N. mandate was insufficient to
confront mass killings. But the United States blocked any decision by the council to expand the
mission.

"The international community, together with nations in Africa, must bear its share of
responsibility fro this tragedy," then U.S. President Bill Clinton said in a 1998 tour to Rwanda.
"We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee
camps to become safe havens for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their
rightful name: genocide.

The Bosnian Unsafe Haven Resolution:  819

In 1992, the Bosnian Serb Army ethnically cleansed large swaths of north eastern and central
Bosnia, forcing more than 100,000 civilians to flee to enclaves. On April 16, 1993, the U.N.
passed Resolution 819, creating a "save haven" in Srebrenica, but then failed to muster enough
forces to protect it. It compounded the problem by setting up other safe havens. The site would
later become the site of the worst mass murder in Western Europe since World War II. Even at
the time of the resolution’s passage, Bosnians had little doubt as to the fecklessness of the
gesture. Bosnia’s U.N. ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Sacirbey, immediately
denounced it as a cynical and meaningless act

The Iraqi Collateral Damage Resolutions: 661 and 687

These resolutions played a central role in the defeat, containment, and ultimate overthrow
of Saddam Hussein, showing that U.N. resolutions can have extremely sharp teeth.
But  Resolution 661 of 1990, which imposed a comprehensive economic oil embargo, inflicted
such extreme hardship on ordinary Iraqis that it has since been politically impossible to rally
support for comprehensive embargos

Resolution 687 of 1991, known to U.N. diplomats as the Mother of All Resolutions, set the terms
of Hussein’s military defeat in the first Gulf War and required he destroy the country’s weapons
of mass destruction. (A decade later, the U.S. and Britain cited Iraq’s alleged violation of this
resolution as the legal justification for their overthrow of Saddam Hussein, against the objections
of other council members.

The "You Say Territories I Say Des Territoires" Resolution: 242

As if the Middle East conflict weren’t complicated enough on its own, the Security Council
approved Resolution 242 — which introduced the "land for peace" formula in 1967, right after
the Six-Day War — with an ambiguous translation. In English, the resolution calls for the
"withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict," which Israel
interpreted to mean it could give back some, but not all, conquered territories in a final
settlement. The French version says that Israeli is obliged to withdraw from "des territoires
occupés," which the Arabs interpreted as requiring Israel give up all the land it seized in the 1967
Six-Day War. The meaning of the resolution has never been fully resolved

It has also provided material for countless university dissertations, books, and papers with
ponderous titles like "A Case Study in Diplomatic Ambiguity," and "A Legal Reappraisal of the
Right-Wing Interpretation of the Withdrawal Phrase with Reference to the Conflict Between
Israel and the Palestinians." The ambiguity reflected an inability of the council to agree on
language defining the fate of Arab territories. "This situation could lead to real trouble in the
future," then Secretary of State Dean Rusk would later recall.

Opinion: the United Nations' lengthy mission in Haiti has featured serious controversy,
including an outbreak of cholera and a poor response by the organisation to events
The United Nations' mission in Haiti is coming to a close. Known as MINUSTAH, the 13 year
mission has been marred by controversy involving allegations of sexual abuse and human rights
violations. Operations began in 2004 when widespread violence forced then President Aristide
from power. While the mission is credited with stabilising the country, particularly in the
aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, there has been much criticism of the use of force in the
restoration of law and order.

However, its most controversial legacy relates to the disastrous outbreak of cholera in 2010. It is
now estimated that around 10,000 Haitians have died and over a million have been infected as a
result of the outbreak. Cholera is a deadly disease and proved a major cause of mortality during
the famine in Ireland. 

When the UN was blamed for the outbreak of cholera in 2010, it looked like a deliberate attempt
to discredit its mission in Haiti. International experts who blamed the UN for introducing the
disease to Haiti were initially ignored

This was disingenuous given the organisation’s role in what its own report referred to as an
"explosive outbreak".

Evidence was overwhelming that Nepalese soldiers, who were part of the UN peacekeeping
mission in Haiti, infected the local water supply. Although Haiti had been ravaged by natural
disasters from earthquakes to hurricanes, cholera was not present there prior to the outbreak in
2010.

The mission was also controversial because of allegations of sexual abuse and the use of
excessive force by peacekeepers in attempting to restore law and order in the favelas of Port au
Prince. The failure to respond in a more constructive and contrite manner to the cholera outbreak
has discredited the work of the UN as a whole. 

UN’S SEXUAL ABUSE PROBLEM:

An academic paper published in December by the journal International Peacekeeping suggests

that Badeau is one of many poor Haitian women struggling with the long-term emotional and
financial consequences of raising a child born from a peacekeeper father. The women were poor
to begin with and find themselves even worse off now. Of the 2,500 community members
interviewed by the researchers about living in towns with peacekeepers, 10 percent raised –
without prompting – the issue of children fathered by the soldiers. The notoriety of the many
nicknames for these children suggest both their prevalence and stigmatization, the researchers
said.

Haiti is just one of many countries where peacekeepers have raped women and girls, or sexually
exploited them in exchange for food or support. My colleagues have also reported on rape by
African Union forces in Somalia, French and UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic and
UN troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While the UN can investigate allegations of
sexual abuse and rape, peacekeeper accountability is up to the country that sends the troops. As a
result, prosecutions have been rare even after media coverage and outrage.

An Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed in 2017 that more than 100 United

Nations (UN) peacekeepers ran a child sex ring in Haiti over a 10-year period and none
were ever jailed. The report further found that over the previous 12 years there had been
almost 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and other UN
personnel around the world. AP found the abuse to be much greater than originally
thought. After the AP report, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, urged all countries
to hold UN peacekeepers accountable for any sexual abuse and exploitation. As early as
2004, Amnesty International reported that under-age girls were being kidnapped, tortured
and forced into prostitution in Kosovo with UN and NATO personnel being the customers
driving the demand for the sex slaves. The UN's department of peacekeeping in New York
acknowledged at that time that "peacekeepers have come to be seen as part of the problem
in trafficking rather than the solution"