UN Peacekeeping

and
Peace Operations

Background and Overview

1948-2012
1
 UN System
THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM

Budgetary Control
General Security
Some Direct Control Assembly Council

Direct Control
Secretary
General

High
Secretariat
Commissioner
for Refugees

UN Office of
Development Department of Other UN
Coordinator for
Program Peace-Keeping Departments
Humanitarian
Operations (DPKO)
Affairs (OCHA)
World Food
Program
Department of Field
Support
UN
Children’s
Fund

Other UN
Organizations
WATERSHED EVENTS
Somalia
Rwanda
Bosnia-Herzegovina (Srebrenica)
……….Kosovo, East Timor & Iraq

THESE MISSIONS CAUSED A COMPLETE REVIEW OF

UN PEACEKEEPING AND THE ROLE OF THE UN
 Evolution of UN Peacekeeping

• First Generation - Traditional Peacekeeping (1948-1990)

• Second Generation - Expanded Peacekeeping that
included peace enforcement operations (1990-1995)
• Third Generation - Expanded peacekeeping within the
limits of the UN’s ability. More complex, smaller in size
and focused on peace building. Generally this does not
include peace enforcement (Chapter VII) operations
(1995-1999)
• Fourth Generation - Expanded peacekeeping, but the
United Nations is taking on more peacbuilding activities.
Lead Nations and Regional Organizations conducting
peace enforcement operations.
 Traditional Peacekeeping
1948-1989

• Focused on separation of forces

engaged in inter state wars
• Cease fires and peace agreements
were common – usually under Chapter VI
• Generally an observe and report mission
with only use of force as self defense

UN missions did not solve conflict

These kinds of peacekeeping missions are still
useful today (Cyprus, India-Pakistan, Middle East)
 2nd Generation Peacekeeping
1989-2001
• After end of Cold War, UN peacekeeping began
taking on more robust missions.
• Peacekeepers were not trained and prepared to use
force, although use of force was often authorized –
Chapter VII
• These kinds of missions caused the UN Secretary
General to re-evaluate UN peacekeeping

Missions
UNPROFOR - Bosnia
UNOSOM - Somalia
UNTAC – Cambodia
 4th Generation Peacekeeping:
Peacekeeping to Peacebuilding
• Peacekeepers establish security conditions so
peacebuilding can begin
• More robust mission, usually under Chapter VII
• Requires integrated mission planning and all parts
of the UN participate

• Mission must take a

long term view
focused on resolving
the conflict
 UN Peacekeeping - Historical Perspective
• - First peacekeeping mission authorized by the Security
Council started in June 1948.
• - Between 1948 and 1988 there were 15 total missions.
• - Since 1989 there have been 47 new missions.
• Number of new missions established each year:
• 1989 - 3 1993 - 6 1997 - 4 2001- 0 2005- 1 2009 - 0
• 1990 - 0 1994 - 2 1998 – 3 2002- 0 2006- 1 2010 – 2
• 1991 - 5 1995 - 4 1999 – 2 2003- 0 2007- 3 2011- 3
• 1992 - 4 1996 - 2 2000 - 1 2004- 3 2008- 0
•

• - Currently there are 16 UN peacekeeping missions with a

troop strength 98,695 (May 2012) with 117 nations
providing military peacekeepers and a budget of $7.84
billion
 Department of Peacekeeping Operations
DPKO
US General
Peacekeeping
UN Missions in the field

Mine Action
Best Practices
Service
Unit

Policy Rule of Law

Military Affairs
Evaluation & Operations
and Training Security

Military Situation
Best Police Judicial
Planning Mine DDR Center
Practices Division Service
Service Action
Current Asia & Europe &
Military Africa I Africa II Middle Latin
Operations
East America
Force
Generation
 Peace Support Operations
• A broad umbrella of terms and action
– Key priorities post-peace settlement?
• Peacekeeping and its evolution since 1950s
– Changing role of international community?
• Who keeps the peace? And why?
– UN-integrated missions, regional actors
– Timor-Leste case study
• Peacekeeping/peacebuilding nexus
– Which institutions adopted?
– South Sudan case study
– Challenges and future direction
• Spoilers in peace processes
– Who are they? How to manage them?
 Peacekeeping
• Definition?
• Evolution and changing understanding and scope of
PKO
• Peacekeeping appropriate at 3 points on the
escalation scale (Ramsbotham, Woodhouse & Miall,
2008):
– Contain violence and prevent it from escalation to war;
– Limit the intensity, geographical spread and duration of
war once it has broken out;
– And to consolidate a ceasefire and create space for
reconstruction after the end of a war.
 Changing Peacekeeping
• Fluid categories
• PKOs emerged in the 1950s, in response to Suez
crisis in the Middle East
• 1st Generation PKOs: traditional and military focus
• 2nd Generation PKOs: Boutros-Ghali‘s 1992 ‘Agenda
for Peace’ – range of functions: military, police and
civilian components, yet failed optimism of the
1990s
• 3rd Generation ‘Peace Support’ Operations:
attempt to address root causes
 Generation of PSO
FIRST SECOND THIRD

Period 1948 UNTSO and 1988 UNTAG

UNSCOB
Mandate Hybrid btw Ch.VI Right to Intervene,
and VII Agenda for Peace
Military Small, Lightly Up to 70000
armed
Budget Restricted From $230 million
to $3.6 billion
Cessation of Inter-state conflict;
Case of Deployment Oversee and assist the Also ongoing
implementation of Peace
Agreement
conflict
Length Long-term Shorten

Interpositional Forces\Monitoring Also actively Nation building

Charactheristics Pre-existence of Peace Transitional Authority
Agreements of Ceasefire SSR\DDR
Consent of Parties
Neutrality + Non Use of Force
 UN Integrated Missions:
Case-study of UNMIT, Timor-Leste

• All UN actors share vision and strategic objectives and plan

- does this really happen?
• Common workplan bet UNMIT and UNCT in Justice, SSR,
communications, humanitarian issues and HIV/AIDS
amongst others
• Example of SSR and Civil Protection Law in Timor-Leste
 Peacekeeping-Peacebuilding Nexus:
where are we heading?

UNSG Ban Ki-moon statement to the UNSC, 16 April 2010:

Peacekeepers are peacebuilders and they must “seize the

window of opportunity in the immediate aftermath of
conflict. They are the first to set priorities”
 Peacekeeping-Peacebuilding Nexus
• Recent debate within DPKO
• 10 of the current 16 UN PKOs are multidimensional
and mandated to perform a range of peacebuilding
activities
• Peacekeepers as ‘early peacebuilders’?
– ‘Articulate’ peacebuilding priorities;
– ‘Enable’ other actors to implement peacebuilding tasks;
– ‘Implement’ certain early peacebuilding tasks.
• UNIFIL MANDATE
• According to Security Council resolutions 425
(1978) and 426 (1978) of 19 March 1978,
UNIFIL was established to:
• Confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from
southern Lebanon.
• Restore international peace and security.
• Assist the Government of Lebanon in ensuring
the return of its effective authority in
the area.
• According to Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) of 11 August 2006,
UNIFIL, in addition to carrying out its mandate under resolutions 425 and
426, shall:
• Monitor the cessation of hostilities.
• Accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy
throughout the South, including along the Blue Line, as Israel withdraws its
armed forces from Lebanon.
• Coordinate its activities referred to in the preceding paragraph (above) with
the Government of Lebanon and the Government of Israel.
• Extend its assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian
populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons.
• Assist the Lebanese armed forces in taking steps towards the
establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of
any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the
Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL deployed in this area.
• Assist the Government of Lebanon, at its request, in securing its borders
and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of
arms or related materiel.
 Peacekeeping-Peacebuilding Nexus
Case-study: UNMISS, South Sudan

• UNMISS’s emphasis on local peacebuilding

• Establishment of platforms and portals for peacebuilding –
security, state authority and peace dividends?
• 35 County Support Bases (CSBS) and 10 state offices
• Reconstruction, Reintegration and Peacebuilding (RRP)
officers coordinating CSBs, supported by Human Rights,
Police and other
• Unprecedented depth and breadth of engagement – will
also impact on expectations
 Challenges-considerations on
peacekeeping-peacebuilding nexus

• Obsession with the state: Balancing act between national and

traditional authorities: promote principles of ‘hybrid political
orders’?
• De Waal’s notion of ‘political marketplace’
• Competition between organisations
• Short-term vs Long-term objectives?
• Integrated missions - shrinking of humanitarian space?
• Can the UN deliver real peace dividends along with its
presences?
 Spoilers
• Need to think about motivations to counter them
– Limited
– Greedy
– Total
• Different ways of dealing with them
• Onus on peacekeepers/monitors to identify type
and act appropriately
– Wrong action can strengthen spoiler’s position
– Need to think of process holistically when acting
 Spoiler Case Study - Rwanda
• Peace Accords signed, 1993 – wide-ranging provisions
• But, Habyarimana unwilling to fulfil obligations – why was he a
spoiler?
• CDR not involved in negotiations – been vetoed by RPF
• Burundian coup, obligations ignored, growing violence, incitement
of ethnic killing
• UNAMIR commander’s request for more support ignored
• UN misdiagnosed spoilers, threatened to withdraw - what CDR
spoilers wanted
– Paid little attention to actual situation
• Habyarimana assassinated after agreeing to implement, moderates
murderd, militias began killing Tutsis, Belgian peacekeepers killed
– UN response, reduced number of PK – Stedman calls it “appeasement
by inaction”
Motivations
 Questions for discussion
1. What is the difference and relationship between
peacebuilding and statebuilding? What are the risks of a
peacekeeping mission’s involvement in institution
building?
2. How can coordination between different sets of actors
involved in Peace Support Operations be improved?
3. Peacekeeping and Local Peacebuilding: How Intrusive
Should Peacekeeping Be?
4. Are peacekeepers early peacebuilders? Can they perform
peacebuilding roles?
5. Is it better not to intervene?
 Suggested discussion structure
• Divide into two groups that will tackle 2/3
questions each, building on different case-
studies