The following analysis provides an overview of the challenges facing one of the three reform initiatives undertaken for the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) in the UN’s Peace and Security architecture: “The Safety and Security of Peacekeepers.” The A4P reforms address strategic and operational challenges impacting the work of UN peacekeeping and are aimed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of peace operations.
Premise: In the year 2000, then Secretary General Kofi Annan had convened a High-Level Panel to revise the United Nations peace and security architecture. The Foreign Minister of Algeria, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi had been requested to chair the Panel and along with other experts from around the world, the team was to present a set of specific and practical recommendations to assist the United Nations in improving peacekeeping activities for the future. The Brahimi Report came at a crucial time, particularly after the highly critical analyses of United Nations Peace Keeping operations in Rwanda and Srebrenica.
Almost two decades later, amidst the Trump’s administration’s calls to slash funding to the United Nations, including peacekeeping, the revision of peace operations is back in focus. On March 28th 2018, Secretary General António Guterres’s remarks to the Security Council’s high-level debate on ‘Collective Action to Improve UN Peacekeeping Operations’ stressed three major challenges.: 1) Insuring the safety and security of peacekeepers 2) conducting independent reviews of all peacekeeping missions 3) launching a new approach to sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers to ensure support for the victims and end impunity to prevent future cases.
Safety and Security of Peacekeepers: Action for Peacekeeping
Although peacekeeping is not in the original Charter of the United Nations, it was introduced three years later in 1948 to serve as a platform for an impartial military force and to confront threats to the international peace and security architecture. Opposition towards peacekeeping missions has gained further ground since the cholera outbreak in Haiti (2010), which was found to have been triggered by the UN peacekeeping mission stationed in the country. The epidemic afflicted nearly 800,000 people and claimed the lives of more than 9,000 Haitians. Today, Haiti remains home to one of the highest number of cholera cases in the world. Equal in severity are the cases of sexual violence committed by peacekeepers, particularly in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other conflict zones which act only to further decrease their platform as a peacekeeping force.
In his address to the Security Council’s High Level Panel on peacekeeping operations, the Secretary General pointed out that 59 peacekeepers had died by malicious acts in 2017, a sharp increase since 2016, when the figure was 34. To counter these irregularities as well as to reiterate the safety and security of peacekeepers, key areas towards improvement were addressed. Gaps in command and control, in equipment and training, as well as ‘cultural insensitivity’ were acknowledged to increase the vulnerability of peacekeepers. Another reason given for the attacks on UN peacekeepers was that they were ill equipped to operate in complex high-risk environments, with constant pressure from non state actors and armed groups with access to sophisticated weapons. Focusing on performance issues, strengthening training and reviewing medical support for UN missions were essential to “refocus peacekeeping with realistic expectations.”
According to the Secretary General, some of the issues spoken during the High Level Panel Discussion are already being addressed. Measures have begun to be implemented to improve the preparedness of peacekeepers. Independent reviews of peacekeeping missions aimed towards addressing performance issues and refining priorities are also being organized with the idea that when peacekeepers are well equipped and trained they can be proactive instead of being reduced to defensive posturing. These efforts are critical, but require Member States to share all burdens, risks and responsibilities. For key strategies to come into fruition, a collective engagement was emphasized, requiring the mobilization of all partners and stakeholders to support peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations. The overall goal is to sustain peace, prevent conflict with more effective political engagement.
Mr. Guterres’s words in the address given to the High Level Panel on Peacekeeping reiterate that “a peacekeeping operation is not an army, or a counter-terrorist force, or a humanitarian agency. It is a tool to create the space for a nationally-owned political solution.”
Bibliography
“The Brahimi Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations.” Journal of International Peacekeeping 6, no. 4–6 (2000).
Secretary-General’s Remarks to Security Council High –Level Debate on Collective action to improve UN Peacekeeping Operations. United Nations. March 28, 2018
Secretary-General Apologizes for United Nations Role in Haiti Cholera Epidemic, Urges International Funding of New Response to Disease | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.” United Nations. December 1, 2016.
Secretary-General’s Remarks to Security Council High –Level Debate on Collective action to improve UN Peacekeeping Operations. United Nations. March 28, 2018
