UN PEACE KEEPING FORCE

UN PEACE KEEPING FORCE

The UN Peacekeeping began in 1948 when the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of UN military observers to the Middle East. It helps the countries to navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.

Significance of Peacekeeping force

1. Assist countries: Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist countries to navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.
2. Multidimensional role: Peacekeeping operations looking towards maintaining peace and security, facilitate the political process, protect civilians, assist in the disarmament, and protect and promote human rights, and help restore the rule of law.
3. Serves as an impartial third party: Both international and domestic conflicts are subject to UN intervention. In order to lay the framework for resolving the issues that have generated armed conflict, the UN serves as an impartial third party.

1. Consent based: Only when both parties to a conflict consent to the presence of UN peacekeeping forces may they will be used. As a result, they may be used by disputing parties to stop a conflict from escalating and, in some cases, to engage in combat.
2. Proactive role: There is strong evidence that the presence of peacekeepers significantly reduces the risk of renewed warfare; more peacekeeping troops leads to fewer battlefield and civilian deaths.
   • For example: In 1988, the peacekeeping force received the Nobel Peace Prize.
3. Bring parties to negotiation table: There is also evidence that the promise to deploy peacekeepers can help international organizations in bringing combatants to the negotiation table and increase the likelihood that they will agree to a cease-fire.
4. Positive economic effects: They help to increase agricultural product due to conflict reduction. They also help to increase labour productivity and taxation capacity.
5. Protect human rights: They protect human rights since human rights protection and promotion is often part of the UN peacekeeping mandates, and a core focus of UN peacekeeping operations
6. Assisting Refugees: Assisting to return the refugees and displaced people, distributing relief aids and providing essential amenities are some of the major duties of the UN peacekeeping humanitarian workers.

Role of India in UN peace keeping

1. Historical

• Founding member: India has a long history of service in UN Peacekeeping, having contributed more personnel than any other country.
• Operations involved: India played a mediatory role in resolving the stalemate over prisoners of war in Korea in 1950s which led to the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War. The UN entrusted the Indian armed forces with subsequent peace missions in the Middle East, Cyprus, and the Congo (since 1971, Zaire).
• Served in various commissions: India also served as Chair of the three international commissions for supervision and control for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos established by the 1954 Geneva Accords on Indochina.

1. Troop contribution
   • Top troop contributor: India is a fifth largest contributor of troops in UNPKF in the world.
   • Sent first female contingent: Indian women have been deployed to UN peacekeeping missions. India made history in 2007 when it sent an entirely female contingent to a UN peacekeeping mission.
   • Funding: India has also been contributing to the UN Peacebuilding Fund.
2. Medical
   • Medical camps: Indian Formed Police Unit also organised medical camps for Liberians, many of whom have limited access to health care services.
   • Veterinary care: Indian veterinarians serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), stepped up to help cattle herders who were losing much of their stock to malnutrition and disease in the war-torn nation.
   • Training: The Indian contingent in South Sudan has provided vocational training and life-saving medical assistance, as well as carrying out significant road repair work.

Significance of India’s Contribution to UN Peace keeping

• Improve Indian military: Experience in multinational forces and campaigns. Peacekeepers from other countries can help Indian forces improve their skills and become the finest.
• Push to UNSC permanent membership: It will be beneficial for India to win a seat in the UNSC, which is an essential step toward India becoming a world superpower.
• Global reputation: India’s participation in UN peacekeeping troops aids in gaining political clout and cultivating a positive reputation among global citizens.
• Geopolitical: This would benefit India in various political and economic talks and treaties, particularly in situations when public opinion would be important.
• Trust Fund on sexual exploitation: India was the first country to contribute to the Trust Fund on sexual exploitation and abuse, which was set up in 2016.
• Strengthening ties with Africa: India’s UN peacekeepers have made a positive difference, especially in complex UNPKOs like MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo and UNMISS in South Sudan.

Emergence of China

1. Largest troop contributor: China has surpassed all other permanent members of the UNSC in terms of troop contributions to UN peacekeeping operations.
2. Funding: China currently ranks third in terms of regular budget contributions to the UN. Further, it is the second-largest funder of the budget for peacekeeping.
3. Assertiveness: Taking part in UN operations is a low-cost way for China to show that it is committed to maintaining international peace.
4. Selfish motive: China’s increased participation in specific peace operations with a self-serving goal is more worrisome for India.
   • For example: China objected to the deployment of UN forces in Guatemala and Macedonia because of the countries’ diplomatic links to Taiwan.

Challenges

1. Political issues

• Consent: Consent of host country, political stability of post-conflict scenario, political will of host country, and sufficient financial and logistical support from the UN headquarters impede the successful running of peacekeeping.
• North south conflict: The disagreement between the Global North and South on the purview and mandates of peacekeeping operations is the main difficulty currently facing UN peacekeeping forces.
• Funding: Lack of international financial support to peacekeeping or less support or no support from all UN member countries is another major political issue which makes UN peacekeeping operations so difficult.

1. Military issues
   • Personnel: It is identified that the low-capacity of the peacekeeping forces is a major military issue in UN peacekeeping operations. Peacekeepers are not combat forces. They merely monitor previously agreed-upon cease-fires and truces.
   • Human rights violation: Misconduct, human rights violation and abuse of military forces are also issues which challenge the UN peacekeeping operations.
     • For example: There have been several reports during UN peacekeeping missions of human rights abuse by UN soldiers, notably in Central African Republic in 2015.
   • Lack of understanding of local condition: The lack of cultural understanding of local conditions combined with an ineffective mission undermines efforts of local police and other services to re-establish the ‘rule of law.’
   • Obsolete model: But, most modern conflicts, whether in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda during the 1990s or in Syria and Iraq today are too messy and chaotic for the old model of peacekeeping to work.
2. Humanitarian issues
   • Lack of co-ordination: lack of co-ordination, commitment of civilians, political support while doing number of ancillary tasks at local or community level such as medical support, relief distribution, repairing basic infrastructure.
   • Lack of western support: Also, there is the lack of public support in Western nations for the costly and sometimes dangerous missions
     • For example: France leads the counterterrorism mission in Mali but is working to reduce its involvement and end the mission, in part because of domestic pressure and an upcoming election.

1. Other issues
   • Failure of Mission: The South Sudan operation costs $1 billion per year for 12,500 UN soldiers unable to avoid civil bloodshed.
   • Denial in decision making: A bigger challenge for troop-contributing countries like India is the denial by the permanent members of the Security Council to participate in “decisions of the Security Council” concerning the deployment of her troops, as provided for in Article 44 of the UN Charter.
   • Terrorist threats: The challenges faced by troops contributed to UNPKOs today include terrorist threats to the UN by non-state actors.
     • For example: In UNDOF, deployed on the Golan Heights of Syria, Indian UN military officers were the first to confront such challenges by the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group which took UN peacekeepers hostage in 2014.
   • Mandates have grown broad: Peacekeeping missions have been given staggering tasks and wide-ranging responsibility. At the same time, regional partnerships, though critical, are often unable to deliver the necessary political impact.
     • For example: The withdrawal from Afghanistan marks the end of an era, and for now the end of enduring stabilization operations in distant places
   • Armed conflicts are changing: Armed conflicts are changing rapidly in nature. Intra-state, rather than inter-state conflicts Engaging a changing profile of armed groups using terrorist tactics, including targeting of peacekeepers.
   • Weak correlation with rule of law: A 2021 study in the American Political Science Review found that the presence of UN peacekeeping missions had a weak correlation with rule of law while conflict is ongoing, but a robust correlation during periods of peace.

Reason for increasing fatalities of troops

1. Increase in conflicts: The level of violence in the world has increased throughout recent years.
   • For example: There are more conflicts than ever in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and significant portions of Africa.
2. Proactive role of UN: The United Nations is getting more involved in wars, and one of the things it has been promoting is to be more forceful in safeguarding people and preventing massacres.
3. Political and security situations: Both politically and in terms of security, the environment in which peacekeeping operations are taking place is deteriorating.
4. Threats from terrorist groups: Large-scale operations in Africa that aim to establish peace and stability are under danger due to terrorist or criminal organizations that support an unstable environment.
5. Issues in decision making: The issue of not allowing the troops and police of participating nations control enough say in the missions to which they contribute.
6. Discord between the law and custom: While U.N. Peacekeeping has the authority to enforce peace, its personnel deployed to overseas missions lack the necessary training to do so.
7. Increasing distrust: Increasing distrust in the global body such as the United Nations.

Way forward

• Adopt to changing needs: India believes that the international community needs to understand the quick changes taking place in the form and function of current peacekeeping missions.
• The mandates issued by the Security Council to UN peacekeeping operations must be grounded in local conditions and be in line with the funding allocated for the operation.
• Participation: It is essential that all nations that provide troops and police be actively involved in mission planning at all times and in all areas.
• Financial and human resources: Post-conflict societies need more financial and human resources to build peace.
• Resolving disagreement: The largest issue that the UN peacekeeping forces are currently experiencing is the disagreement between the Global North and South on the nature and mandates of peacekeeping operations.

India’s 10-point formula to address challenges UN peace missions face:

1. Clear and realistic mandates: Having “clear and realistic mandates” that are paired with sufficient resources is important for peacekeeping missions.
2. Mission directives: Countries taking part in peacekeeping operations must decide the agenda, not the Security Council.
3. Deploy sensibly: It is important to “deploy sensibly (carefully) with full understanding of their limitations” during peacekeeping operations.
4. All-out effort: “All-out efforts should be made to bring the criminals who committed crimes against peacekeepers to justice.”
   • To accomplish the objectives of operations, the leadership of a peacekeeping force must build confidence and ensure efficient cooperation with the host state.
5. Cutting-edge technology: Using cutting-edge technology in peacekeeping missions will help overcome security issues.
6. Collective efforts and performance: When assessing a mission, the military, civilians, and its leadership should all be taken into account.
7. To confront the threat posed to civilians by terrorist organizations: The primary duty to safeguard people from non-state groups operating on its soil rests with the host government.
8. Regional approach: For the purpose of ending violent conflicts and establishing collective security against global threats, a regional approach and UNSC backing are essential.
9. Exit plan: From the very beginning, peacekeeping missions should consider a “exit strategy.”