Responding to Crises: Are Current Policies and Practices the Answer?

RESPONDING TO CRISES: ARE CURRENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES THE ANSWER? Doubt is widely expressed whether the United Nations can cope with the large increase in peace-keeping demands that have been made on it in recent years. Experience shows there is every reason to believe that it can. But assuring that it does will require both administrative reforms and a new commitment of resources and purpose from member countries, including some of those now expressing doubts. Julian Harston Dans bien des milieux, on met en doute l’aptitude des Nations Unies à répondre aux demandes, de plus en plus nombreuses ces dernières années, d’interventions pour le maintien de la paix. Or, l’expérience montre qu’on a toute raison de croire l’ONU à la hauteur de cette tâche. Pour cela, cependant, il lui faudra non seulement se réformer sur le plan administratif, mais aussi compter sur un plus ferme appui et de plus vastes ressources de la part des pays membres, y compris de certains d’entre eux qui expriment aujourd’hui des doutes à son égard. efore dissecting the capabilities of the UN, I’d like to sions have been launched. Peacekeepers were usually sent to start by calling attention to Canada’s extraordinary cope with conflict between states. Today, peacekeeping B contribution to the UN in general and to peacekeep- forces are more often deployed to deal with civil conflict, in ing in particular. In 1948, Canada began its proud tradition which one or more of the parties are warlords. of participation in UN peacekeeping missions, starting with Some commentators have claimed that the UN is UNTSO (the UN Truce Supervision Operation) in the Middle unable to perform any tasks beyond “old” peacekeeping. East in 1948 and continuing through at least 30 other mis- The UN has demonstrated that it can do the job, and do it sions. I recall that when I worked with Kofi Annan at well, when it is given the right mandate, resources, organi- UNPROFOR (the UN Protection Force) HQ in Zagreb, when- zational structure and political support. There is no reason ever there was a problem, his first response was always: the UN should always be less well equipped than regional “Let’s ask the Canadians.” organizations to undertake these tasks. In addition, there is As a UN peacekeeping official I will concentrate on the no guarantee that there will always be a suitable and willing role of the UN—one of the main players—in responding to regional organization to carry them out. international crises. I come to this issue with some level of At the start of this new century, the United Nations must experience. I was the head of the UNPROFOR political unit be equipped—managerially, structurally and politically—to during its last ill-fated days, followed by a year in Belgrade meet both short and long-term demands. International emer- dealing with the Yugoslavs: a challenging, frustrating, and gencies will demand that we continue to respond through always interesting experience. I then served as representative humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping operations. of the Secretary-General and chief of the fourth peacekeep- Humanitarian assistance is essential, but it does not ing mission in Haiti. Now I find myself back in the Balkans address the root causes of crises. Similarly, peacekeeping, as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General. despite its intrinsic value, is often a holding action—an The founders of the United Nations could not have attempt to give warring sides breathing room in which to set- envisaged the number and the complexity of the conflicts tle their differences. It is crucial that we focus more inten- and crises we now face. In its first 40 years, the UN deployed sively on longer-term peace-building. Recent experience in 13 peacekeeping operations. Since 1988, more than 40 mis- Haiti shows just how difficult this is—a case of no money and POLICY OPTIONS 51 MARCH 2001 Julian Harston little co-operation from a country lacking politi- n the euphoric aftermath of the US-led and cians with any real sense of responsibility. Another I UN-sanctioned Gulf War in 1990 there were question for another day is: what are we to do unrealistic expectations of the capacity of the UN about failed states? to prevent, manage and resolve international con- The UN’s 50th flict. Many commentators on international affairs et me begin with humanitarian assistance. It said that the UN was belatedly fulfilling the anniversary L is essential that humanitarian assistance be dreams of its founders. The UN was given military turned into a delivered in accordance with certain principles. jobs that it was ill equipped to carry out in places First, it is intended for those “in need,” that is, like Angola, Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia. wake rather those who are unable to obtain for themselves The UN’s 50th anniversary turned into a the basic essentials of life—food, clean water, wake rather than a celebration. The performance than a shelter and medical care—because of either natu- of the UN in field operations doomed former ral calamity or man-made disaster. It is not Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The celebration. intended to feed military personnel, unless they widespread conclusion was that the UN was inca- are being demobilized, and it is not intended to pable of conducting peacekeeping operations. The UN’s enrich the ruling or commercial classes. When former Under-Secretary-General for Second, humanitarian assistance must be Peacekeeping Bernard Miyet was appointed, he performance in delivered in a strictly impartial way. was told by a number of people that he had field operations Organizations must not select their beneficiaries secured an international sinecure, as the organi- on the basis of ethnic origin, religious persuasion, zation would never again be actively engaged in doomed former or political affiliation. Children, of course, may be peacekeeping. given priority, and programs should recognize the Those difficult missions were flawed in con- Secretary- particular needs of women in disaster situations. ception and inadequate in execution. In the Third, if governments are unable to provide words of the Brahimi report on UN Peace General Boutros for the humanitarian needs of the victims of dis- Operations (available at http://www.un.org/ asters, they are under strong moral obligation to peace/reports/peace_operations/): Boutros-Ghali. allow humanitarian organizations to do so. In It should have come as no surprise to anyone fact, gaining access to victims is a major chal- that some of the missions of the past decade The widespread lenge in day-to-day fieldwork, and in recent con- would be particularly hard to accomplish: they conclusion was flicts has become part of the strategy of the war- tended to deploy where conflict had not resulted in ring parties. If the UN and other international victory for any side, where a military stalemate or that that UN players cannot reach the victims, we are funda- international pressure or both had brought fight- mentally impaired in doing our work. It is impor- ing to a halt but at least some of the parties to the was incapable of tant and tragic to note that since January 1994, conflict were not seriously committed to ending 177 UN civilian staff members have been killed the confrontation. United Nations operations thus conducting in the field and some 240 have been taken did not deploy into post-conflict situations but hostage or kidnapped in places where the blue tried to create them. peacekeeping flag failed to protect them. Only three culprits Those who had been eager to give the were brought to justice by their national govern- United Nations expanded responsibilities, operations. ments for the murders of UN staffers. including key members of the Security Council, Interaction between the political and were now among the loudest critics of the organ- humanitarian spheres must improve. Since the ization. They did not avoid the politics of blame, start of the last decade, major humanitarian but neither did they own up to their fair share of operations have been mounted in the midst of responsibility for the UN’s failures. In addition, armed conflict in different areas around the many Western politicians and the international world, but the political and humanitarian agen- media seemed unable to recall the other UN suc- das are often at odds. cesses of recent years—in Mozambique, Namibia The impact of the global media on humani- and, to a degree, Cambodia. tarian assistance is another complicating factor. The price of failure was a crisis of confidence Sensational coverage of major humanitarian within the Security Council and a significant crises certainly helps to secure funding for decline in commitment to United Nations peace- much-needed assistance, but it also distracts keeping. In July 1995, 67,269 troops were attention from already “forgotten” emergencies deployed in UN missions as compared with only and creates competition between immediate and 24,657 troops in July 1996. long-term assistance. In response to the reduction in peacekeeping 52 OPTIONS POLITIQUES MARS 2001 Responding to crises and in light of the financial crisis afflicting the the value of UN peacekeeping. Nevertheless, the organization, the UN encouraged other institu- UN has become a more cautious bride. Brahimi tions, mainly regional organizations, to take a even comes close to suggesting that in certain more active role in the maintenance of interna- circumstances the Secretary-General can, and tional peace and security. This policy was also should, say no. After a few based on the logic that regional peacekeeping As the United Nations begins another era of operations might be more effective because they broad engagement in peacekeeping, it may be years of have a greater stake in resolving conflicts close to asked: Have we learned the lessons of the recent unpopularity, home and a greater sensitivity to the needs of past? Can the United Nations do better in the warring factions.

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