Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 1

Why United Nations Peacekeeping Fails, A Look Into the Failures

California State University Maritime Academy

Eric V. Garrard Jr

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 2

Abstract

This paper will take a deeper look into the failures the United Nations has encountered while conducting peacekeeping operations in the post-Cold War era and why ceratin operations failed while others are hailed as successes. The paper will also discuss current military peacekeeping operations as of October 2019. It will discuss the collective action problem with peacekeeping and troop contributions by region. This paper analyzes the failed operations, successful operations, rules of engagement, national origin of peacekeeper, collective security, and sexual malfeasance that impacts peacekeeping operations. Lastly, it will give solutions that the U.N. Security Council can use to make future operations more successful.

Key Terms

Rules of Engagement (ROE): What and when troops are allowed to do when engaged by an aggressor.

Contingent Troops: Troop force within a country or region that is able to conduct combat operations.

Policekeeping: Police forces sent to a country or region instead of combat troops, these are to promote security and public safety when a countries police force is nonexistent.

Areas of Responsibility (AOR): the area or region that the peacekeepers are responsible for and are operating.

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Introduction

United Nations Peacekeeping is authorized under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The

United Nations’ goal is to remain impartial and to stop the fighting. (United Nations, 2019). An ​ ​ important aspect to understand is Chapter VII of the Charter which allows the Security Council to send peacekeepers to a combat zone to prevent war crimes (United Nations Charter, 1945). ​ ​ However, seen time and time again the peacekeeping missions have been unsuccessful. Reasons such as lack of training, the national origin of peacekeepers, outdated equipment, rules of engagement, and malfeasance within the area of responsibilities are critical factors when analyzing U.N. Peacekeeping outcomes.

Peacekeeping cannot prevent nor end civil conflicts, it is only to prevent further loss of life (Autesserre, 2019). Peacekeepers are spread thin and cannot be in conflict zones where they ​ ​ may be needed. There are nearly 70,000 peacekeepers deployed worldwide (Autesserre, 2019), ​ ​ and among them, they are generally ineffective. With peacekeepers spread so thin within their area of responsibility, it makes it difficult for them to do their jobs successfully. The issue also stems from which nation the peacekeeper comes from and if it is an impoverished country then it is more likely that they have less training.

Peacekeeping has been seen in many civil conflicts, and the objective is to prevent the loss of civilian life. However, the UN is often there too late. When they arrive, their mission is to sustain peace in the region. (L. M. Howard, 2007). Often having to standby as innocent people ​ ​ are killed. A key issue are the rules of engagement as evidenced by absolute failures in Rwanda and Bosnia. Each of these cases has its own issues. In Rwanda and Bosnia, there were genocides

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 4 that killed over a million people in the 1990s. The U.N. peacekeepers were there to maintain order while the transition of power occurred.

The mission in Rwanda failed for a multitude of reasons and the withdrawal of troops led to the genocide. (Brattberg, 2012). When the genocide occurred it shocked the international ​ ​ community. The reason is because of the lack of Peacekeeper presence in the country. The withdrawal of troops caused things to be horrible. The repercussions can still be seen today. With the deaths of so many people, the question is how the international community let this happen?

The same can be said with Bosnia and Kosovo where thousands of people died as a result of ethnic ties that date back centuries.

Sexual malfeasance within the area of responsibility is another major issue. Cases range from sexual exploitation of minors to rape. These cases occur during so-called “peacekeeping” missions, yet these occur near peacekeeper’s encampments. (Westendorf & Searle, 2017). The ​ ​ initial issue is that these peacekeepers come from all reaches of the globe, where certain acts may be socially acceptable. However, for an international coalition, these acts of sexual misconduct can bring resentment towards the operation as a whole. This, in turn, will make it difficult for locals to gain the trust of the peacekeepers. For this reason, the issue has made headlines when a peacekeeper partakes in these activities. A way to circumvent this would be to train the soldiers before they deploy on operations.

The United Nations Peacekeeping Operations have been surrounded by many controversies and failure after failure with intermingled success. (Idriss, 2010). Peacekeeping ​ ​ Operations Somalia and Rwanda were both failures and very costly for the UN. This discusses two of the different operations one being a success in the Sinai and how it was the first one to be

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 5 successful. This established the way the Security Council believed operations would go in the future. The history of peacekeeping operations has changed since it was first used in the 1950s.

(Amrith & Sluga, 2008). The history is important because there are some cases that will be ​ looked into more in-depth. Without certain case studies, this would be very difficult to understand. The first successful UN Peacekeeping mission was in the 1950s, United Nations

Emergency Force (UNEF I). (United Nations UNEF I, 2019). With the first successful operation ​ ​ in the Siani, it gave the leaders of future operations the idea that it will be successful in the future. The next major operation was the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC) which was a failure following the detachment of Irish peacekeepers surrendering and being held as prisoners of war. (United Nations ONUC, 2019). The capture of these peacekeepers was the first ​ ​ instance of peacekeepers being taken prisoner.

The need to prevent genocide and other human rights violations is an important issue that the Security Council needs to keep in mind. (Sutterlin, 2003) The issue is when these events ​ ​ occur the United Nations is either too late or unprepared to prevent more atrocities from occurring. This was evident in the response that the U.N. had in the former Yugoslavia, where it was so mismanaged that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had to step in. This also is the first time NATO was used since its inception. Another example was in Rwanda where

U.N. troops were withdrawn from orders by their home countries.

Private Chauncy Chitete, a peacekeeper from Mali was killed in action (KIA) in 2018, when on operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). His death shocked the UN and his family for his heroic actions under fire he received one of the highest medals a peacekeeper can receive. (United Nations News, 2019). His death will be discussed in-depth in ​ ​

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 6 the paper to show what peacekeepers go through to make an attempt to stabilize a region. His death shows the lack of preparedness that the United Nations has when it goes on operations.

These attempts may be in vain due to the fact that they may die for nothing. This would tie into the Rules of Engagement (ROE) (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2019). Furthermore how they ​ ​ limit what the peacekeeper can do to defend themselves. These ROEs make it so the soldier cannot take action to prevent the loss of life within their ranks and those they are trying to protect.

United Nations Peacekeeping operations typically fail due to reasons that vary widely.

Peacekeeping often is doomed from the planning stages of the operation. These planning stages often take months to develop. And when the peacekeepers arrive they are often overwhelmed with what they are seeing in front of them. (Jett, 1999). Often, peacekeepers know who the ​ ​ “good” side is but are obligated to not take sides. This puts them in a predicament when they cannot protect those who need it and are just bystanders. During the planning stages of the operation, it is asked if the area is worth the risk of sending troops. (Jett, 1999).

Peacekeeping also has unintended consequences that are oftentimes not seen until contingent troops are in the country. These can range from the overwhelming costs of supporting operations or to the issues that arise with the locals. (Aoi, de Coning, & Thakur, 2007). The ​ ​ issues vary based on the operation. While most military operations end up costing the United

Nations millions of dollars it can give the locals have a sense of peace. In recent years the issue of sexual misconduct has been brought to light within the United Nations peacekeeping force.

Although this has been addressed, cases of misconduct still occur within the areas peacekeepers are present.

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The sexual misconduct that has been brought to light in recent years has been seen as a success in the trust-building area of peacekeeping. In 2013 the United Nations issued a statement that sexual misconduct is one of the biggest issues and threats to all operations. (Westendorf & ​ Searle, 2017). That being said, it is still an issue that needs to be looked at and talked about ​ more. The issue is that how can peacekeepers attempt to keep the peace if the locals fear them.

All due to peacekeepers committing horrible acts of rape and sex trafficking.

The next issue is on global security, even though the peacekeeping force is meant to be an international force, they often comprise of troops from poorer countries while wealthy countries like the United States reap the benefits. Peacekeeping today is primarily taking place in

Africa. The United Nations has only been on two missions that were successful with the idea of global security in mind, these being in Korea in the 1950s and in Iraq in 1991. (Price & Zacher, ​ 2004). Along with this most operations that are not intended for international security do not ​ have well trained and well-armed troops. (Sutterlin, 2003). As seen in all current operations in ​ ​ the African Continent, where the majority of troops come from Angola, India, Pakistan, and

Bangladesh.

Peacekeeping is separated into different categories and is implemented for different reasons. Some are to provide a police force to a country or region that does not have one. The other is to provide security and to stand in between warring factions to prevent further loss of life, as seen in most genocides. Lastly, it is there to provide security for the smooth transitions of governments and elections after a conflict has been resolved. (Woodhouse & Ramsbotham, ​ 2000). This concept is a good idea, however, has inherent flaws that cause most operations to ​

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 8 fail. Because most troops do not care about the political situation and often just want to go home and enjoy time with their families.

The rules of engagement are limiting based on the mandate written, this is the use of force that peacekeepers are allowed to use. They often times are not allowed to take actions to prevent the loss of innocent life, even if the aggressors are directly in front of them. This is due to the fact that they must keep an impartial stance on all matters. This is one of the reasons why peacekeeping fails, the peacekeeper cannot take action to protect the innocent, yet their mission is to promote peace. Along with this they are bound by strict rules of engagement that prohibit the use of deadly force unless they are fired upon. (L. M. Howard & Dayal, 2018). This means ​ ​ peacekeepers are attacked by blunt weapons and cannot do anything to defend themselves.

The use of peacekeepers in civil wars has been a controversial idea and are only typically used where “ethnic cleansing” occurs, seen in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The issue is that by the time the contingent troops arrive the damage has already been done and thousands of people have died. (L. M. Howard, 2007). When they do show up they cannot take sides and must ​ ​ attempt to keep the sides apart until a peaceful resolution has been reached. Even then it is a difficult job to keep the people from lashing out due to the high emotions. This presents a job that most peacekeepers do not want to engage in, but must.

Lessons learned from the operations in the former Yugoslavia were that the United

Nations did not do a good job, so bad in fact that NATO had taken over control of the entire operation. This left a nasty scar on the U.N. as a whole. The operation was a disaster and did not prevent the Srebrenica Massacre from happening. (Ryngaert & Schrijver, 2015). This massacre ​ ​ could have been prevented if the United Nations had been proactive and stationed more troops in

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 9 the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This event was one of the last large massacres in the 20th ​ Century, killing nearly 9,000 people in a little under ten days.

Lessons that were learned from the Rwandan civil war and genocide were that the troops should not have been withdrawn and more should have been sent in to provide an adequate force.

This is an issue because four Belgian Peacekeepers were killed and within a few days, a large majority of troops were pulled out. Leaving about 400 troops to protect an entire country.

(Brattberg, 2012). This issue is still seen today with the scars of the genocide all over the ​ country. If more peacekeepers were sent in then it would likely have been less catastrophic, an estimated 500,000-1,000,000 people were killed.

Thesis Statement

The United Nations peacekeeping operations are fundamentally flawed and oftentimes ineffective. The primary causes are the lack of training U.N. peacekeepers receive, outdated equipment, personal malfeasance, and the rules of engagement.

Paper Discussion

This paper will discuss each of those through three case studies in which the operation failed, as well as one successful operation. It also discusses the different types of operations that occur today. The two primary types are police and military operations. The differences between the two are that policing is to lower the rate of crime and while military peacekeeping is there to stop the spread of violence throughout the country and to separate the different sides. The case studies will be the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and the United

Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Yugoslavia. The one successful operation is the

United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF I). This thesis discusses in depth both of the failed ​ ​

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 10 operations, what caused them to fail, and what the ensuing global response. This thesis will also discuss the sexual crimes that have been committed within the operations area of responsibility, and the United Nations response to these crimes. The paper will bring to light a recent death of a peacekeeper and how his actions were heroic and provide a template for peacekeepers’ behavior.

The paper will discuss the issues of outdated and undertrained troops. Offer a possible solution so that future operations will be more successful in the future.

As of October 12, 2019, there are fourteen peacekeeping operations worldwide, primarily in Africa and the Middle East. Of these military operations, there are three large ones in Africa where nearly 40,000 troops are. (United Nations, 2019.). The goals of peacekeeping are to be ​ ​ impartial to all parties, to keep all parties happy, and do not use force except when necessary such as for self-defense and protection of people the Security Council needs to be protected.

(United Nations, 2019). The issue comes from the last goal, only use force to defend yourself or people the Security Council wants protected. And even then, what is considered a “self-defense” situation?

What is Peacekeeping?

Peacekeeping is defined by the United Nations as a force to, “provide security and the ​ political and peacebuilding support to help countries make the difficult, early transition from conflict to peace.” (United Nations-6, 2019). This means that the missions are established to help ​ ​ ​ countries or regions through conflict. Potential missions are brought to the Security Council or up through the General Assembly if the Council believes that there is enough reason to send a military force. Under Chapter VII Article 39, “ The Security Council shall determine the ​ existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 11 recommendations.” (United Nations Charter, 1945). This means that the Security Council is the ​ ​ only one allowed to establish a peacekeeping mission. Each mission has its own mandate written by the Security Council and lays out all of the Rules of Engagement for the operation, as well as what peacekeepers are there to accomplish.

Types of Peacekeeping

The two different types of peacekeeping are military operations and policing operations.

This thesis will discuss military peacekeeping, however, police peacekeeping (policekeeping) is important and will be mentioned but is not the primary focus of this paper. One of the policekeeping missions is in Haiti (MINUJUSTH). This mission has 647 police officers from different countries to provide and enforce the laws in Haiti (United Nations, 2019.). This mission ​ ​ is only for policing and does not have military oversight. However, a police peacekeeper force can be used alongside a military force.

The second type is military peacekeeping operations, where there is a sizable military

(over 10,000 troops) presence. Of these, the focus will be on three of the largest. The United

Nations military peacekeeping force will be used to protect civilians, monitor peace post-conflict zones, and be a buffer to prevent the loss of civilian life. (United Nations, 2019.) ​ In November 2018, a Pvt. Chauncy Chitete of Malawi was killed in action during operations in the DRC. He was struck by gunfire while attempting to save his comrade, Cpl. Ali.

(United Nations News, 2019 “Sacrifice of fallen ‘blue helmet’ to be honored with UN’s highest ​ ​ ​ peacekeeping award,” 2019) His death struck the UN due to the fact that he was another ​ peacekeeper who was killed that year. He died fighting against the Allied Defence Force (ADF), a rebel group within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Pvt. Chiete was honored by

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UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2019 and posthumously awarded the Captain Mbaye

Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage. He is the second person to have received this award. He is survived by his widow.

His death as shocking as it was, shows that some peacekeepers will go above and beyond the call of duty to protect their comrades and civilians alike. As said by Harri Holkeri, the United

Nations representative on the Kosovo Missions, “Peace enforcement is a much more difficult kind of operation than peacekeeping.” Now, what does this mean? It means that actually enforcing the peace with troops is very difficult with rules of engagement that are so constrictive.

The U.N. can send troops and say they are “peacekeeping,” but if there is little to no progress then is the mission successful? Or is it that they are there so that is all that matters. With the establishment of peacekeeping under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, this allows for an international coalition to be formed with the approval of the five permanent members of the

Security Council. (United Nations Charter, 1945). This process can take time to approve a ​ ​ peacekeeping force and a force to be gathered, “UN peacekeeping missions are often slow to deploy. Over the last 25 years, UN peacekeeping missions have taken an average of ten months to reach peak deployment.” (Benson, 2019). This is an issue because in that average ten months ​ ​ to get ready the conflict has often gotten worse. This delayed response from the U.N. Security

Council passing a resolution to boots on the ground could take over a year.

Current Operations

Four current major operations that are occurring today are MINUSCA, MONUC,

UNMISS, and MINUSMA as well as one minor mission UNFICYP. These are to see and compare where the troops come from and how it may affect the mission. However, there are

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 13 other missions that are currently occurring. These four are missions are by far the largest in terms of troop deployment as well as police deployment.

The first operation that is still underway today is the United Nations Multidimensional

Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). This operation started on 15 September 2014 and has a contingent troop force of 10,833. (United Nations,

2019). This force is to establish and help the peace of a new government, as well as protect civilians from outside groups that want to change the government during these times. Of these troops, they primarily come from Rwanda, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. (United Nations 2019).

Most of them come from impoverished countries.

The next operation is the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo (MONUC). Established on 1 July 2010, and currently has a troop force of

15,113. Of these troops, the three major providers are India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The mission’s primary goal is to protect civilians and to keep the peace. (United Nations, 2019).

Third is the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali

(MINUSMA). Established on 25 April 2013. With a troop force of 12,543. The top three troop providers are Burkina Faso, Chad, and Bangladesh. The objective is to stabilize Mali (United

Nations, 2019). This is also the mission where Pvt. Chitete was tragically killed. As well as Chad has one of the lowest per capita GDPs of all of the troops deployed.

Last for the major current operations, is the United Nations Mission in the Republic of

South Sudan (UNMISS). Established on 8 July 2011, five days prior to being admitted to the

United Nations. There is a current troop population of 14,259, with the top three contributors coming from Rwanda, India, and Ethiopia. (United Nations, 2019).The mission composition is

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 14 interesting because of the number of troops from Rwanda. A country that over twenty years prior

th had one of the deadliest genocides in the late 20 ​ Century. ​ One of the minor operations, the United Nations Peacekeeping force in Cyprus

(UNFICYP). Established in March of 1964. There are currently 756 troops stationed on the island. Of these, the top three troop providers are The United Kingdom, Argentia, and Slovakia

(United Nations, 2019). With the majority of the troops coming from Europe it begs the question, why are these peacekeepers operating in Europe?

Lastly, a policekeeping operation that ended on 15 October 2019, MINUJUSTH a peace and justice mission in Haiti. Where nearly 1000 police officers were in the country to provide protection and justice to the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake. The mission was ended based on a U.S. initiative (“UN votes to shut down Haiti police mission,” 2019). This is ​ ​ interesting because it seemed like it would be a mission that would take a longer time to finish. A lot of the police officers came from less-developed nations, as has been a trend with peacekeeping as a whole.

Now the top providers have been identified, the question is, why are the majority of troops placed in Africa come from less developed countries? While the operation in Cyprus has two of the three providers coming from Europe? Reasons can vary, to countries wanting combat-trained troops, or the United Nations wanting experienced troops in an area that has more contention. Either way, the majority of peacekeepers come from countries that have a lower Human Development Index score and per capita GDP.

Interestingly, Rwanda, Bangladesh, and India are the largest suppliers of U.N. troops to

Africa. This seems to be the case in most of the missions where they are in the top three. This

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 15 makes things interesting due to the ties Rwanda has with the United Nations over twenty-eight years ago. The fact that they are willing to send troops to fight for the U.N. when the U.N. almost abandoned them. As seen in the chart below is the number of contingent troops deployed and the continent that they come from. During the 1990s the majority came from Europe and Asia. Less than a decade later the majority are provided by African states. This trend causes issues with training and deployment times for the Security Council to deploy troops.

(Providing for Peacekeeping, 2017)

Of these African and Asian regions are the primary providers to peacekeeping operations today. However, in the 1990s the largest providers was Europe, it was not until the early 2000s where the Asain continent began to surpass Europe.

Case Studies-Failures

The three case studies that will be looked into will give evidence on why peacekeeping fails. Two of these will result in the deaths of over one million people, they fail for many

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 16 reasons, mostly for the lack of clear ROEs. This coupled with the incompetence of the leadership on the ground. According to Dr. Mark Lagon, “The problem often is UN Security Council passes a resolution setting the parameters for what a peacekeeping mission can do it’s vague or too limiting.” (VOA News, 2010). Showing that the vague mandates and rules of engagement make ​ ​ it difficult for the forces to do their job. The U.N. has had difficulty preventing conflict from spreading, “the United Nations has, in reality, been singularly unsuccessful in taking the preventive steps that might arrest a conflict before it reaches the level of armed exchange.”

(Sutterlin, 2003, p. 13). This has been seen in the former Yugoslavia where the United Nations should have been prepared for the conflict to eventually flare-up. However, this never happened and they had to react and have a serious lag time that had serious ramifications.

Case Study One-Rwanda

The first case study to take a look at will be that of Rwanda, where the peacekeepers withdrew and nearly 800,000 people were slaughtered. In one hundred days at a “rate of 1,000 every 20 minutes” (Usborne, 1999). And where was the U.N. during this? They had mostly ​ ​ pulled out. On April 7, 1994, Belgian Peacekeepers were killed in the streets while protecting the

Prime Minister of Rwanda. This caused other states who had peacekeepers in the country to request to be withdrawn. By April 21 the force was reduced to two hundred and seventy. The initial size of the force was 2,165. (United Nations-5, 2019). This withdrawal of contingent ​ ​ troops lead to the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 people. Two hundred and seventy troops is not enough to prevent genocide. With being said French and Belgian airborne troops were sent in to withdraw French and Belgian nationals who were still inside the capital of Kigali. (United ​ Nations-5, 2019). These troops were only there to protect French and Belgian nationals, this was ​

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 17 seen as an issue because they could have done something to prevent the loss of some lives. The

United States decided to evacuate American Nationals overland and attempted to bring as many people with them as possible. Making them “honorary Americans” so they could have the protection of the U.S. Government. (Ghosts of Rwanda, 2004). This act likely saved thousands of ​ ​ ​ ​ people. However, the lack of response or intervention of the American government made it so the genocide could continue.

When the United Nations was first sent to Rwanda it was thought that eight thousand peacekeepers would be needed to bring peace to the region. (Brattberg, 2012) However, this was ​ ​ not the case, only 2,548 peacekeepers were allowed to join. The secondary issue with the majority of the force is “the UN also faced hurdles raising African troops for the mission. At the onset, only 1,428 troops had arrived and this helped to fuel violence further.” (Brattberg, 2012) ​ The reason that the 1,428 African troops helped fuel the violence was because they had other ethnic issues with those in Rwanda. This and the lack of troops is one of the reasons why the UN failed in Rwanda. The reasons why UNAMIR failed was due to one reason, the lack of contingent troops and the withdrawal of troops leaving the peacekeeper undermanned due to the

“withdraw troops, the UNAMIR force reduced from an initial 2,165 to 270.” (United Nations-5, ​ 2019) This reduction made it so that U.N. Forces could not be in the area where the Hutus were. ​ Since the targeted groups were the Tutsis.

Later the United Nations stated, “its handling of the Rwandan conflict a ‘failure.’ Then

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said of the event ‘the international community failed Rwanda and that must leave us always with a sense of bitter regret.’” (Brattberg, 2012). This came from the ​ ​ U.N. in 2000 nearly six years after the mass slaughter of the Tutsi population in Rwanda. This

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 18 lack of a response after years was likely the United Nations’ attempt to acknowledge they peacekeeping force failed. The issue is that nations can pull their peacekeepers if they feel that they are in danger. This is an issue that deals with the collective action problem and the ability to withdraw at any time. This being that it might be good for a countries peacekeepers to be pulled out, yet it is detrimental to the contingent force and the people who need to be protected.

However, the U.N. allows this to happen, but of all, at once then it reduces the force to the force to what was seen in UNAMIR.

In a 1999 Associated Press article it states, “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” (Associated Press, ​ 1999). The problem here is that the Secretary-General did not listen to his commander on the ​ ground. Where Lt. Gen. Dallaire could see the tension and heard the radio broadcasts, calling for the death of the Tutsis, months prior to the actual start of the genocide. The fact that Annan did not share this with the Security Council is something that is odd. Why did he not share this dispatch? It could be because it was not something that was seen at the time as important. If

Annan had listened to this dispatch and brought it to the Security Council more contingent troops would have likely been deployed to help ensure peace.

In the years following the U.N. passed a resolution that would allow the international community to act when there is a genocide that might occur or is currently happening. The issue was that the international community did not act in Rwanda, due to the unwillingness to participate in another bloody war. In the case of the United States, congress did not want to lose

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 19 more American service members in Africa. (Ghosts of Rwanda, 2004). This was an act that the ​ ​ ​ ​ United States and the Security Council should not have allowed. Years later the international community sends their apologies for the lack of response.

This was the major issue in Rwanda when the U.N. allowed most of the peacekeepers to be withdrawn. The five hundred that were left were not adequately equipped to prevent more deaths. One of those peacekeepers was Capt. Mbaye Diagne, who saved and protected nearly one thousand people. Tragically he was killed by a mortar shell during the fighting. His memory lives on with the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal, which was recently awarded to Pvt. Chancy

Chitete, for his heroic actions he took in November 2018.

Case Study Two-Bosnia

Kosovo and Bosnia. Failures in preventing the deaths of thousands of civilians. An operation that failed so bad that NATO had to step in and take control of the operation. One of the first full-scale deployments of NATO since its inception in 1949. They were sent into the region because of the lack of preparedness the United Nations had. This was seen when, “Once the Dutch came under fire, they formally requested NATO air support. But the top U.N. commander, French General Bernard Janvier, rejected the request.” (Rohde, 2015). This was ​ ​ when NATO became involved in the conflict and this began to show the cracks in the United

Nations peace plan. This lead NATO to eventually take overall operations in the region.

The issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Kosovo is that the U.N. did not do what they should have done with the former Yugoslavia’s demise on the horizon. A peacekeeping force should have been ready just in case things got out of hand. In which things did happen. The

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 20 issue was peacekeeping during civil conflicts is very difficult to do. Since peacekeepers are supposed to stay impartial and cannot engage. (L. M. Howard, 2007). ​ ​ The Srebrenica massacre occurred between July 11 and July 22, 1995. It occurred when mostly ethnic Serbs targeted against Bosniak men and boys, and the targeted rape of women, by the end of it thousands of people lay dead. After the massacre, the U.N. looked for someone to blame. They blamed the United States, Great Britain, and France for, “creating the ‘safe areas’ but then failing to deploy enough troops to defend them.” (Rohde, 2015). This was an issue ​ ​ because they were understaffed and lacked security. But the real issue came from the lack of support that troops operating in their AORs had. On multiple occasions, Dutch troops requested air support but were denied it, The Dutch blamed Janvier for blocking their close air support request. According to his former colleagues, Janvier blamed the Dutch for not fighting.” (Rohde,

2015). This tension between General Janvier and the Dutch troops caused many issues and made them have a lack of cohesion. This issue is what lead the Dutch peacekeepers to call for NATO air support. Even after General Janvier denied the request.

In the years since the Srebrenica Massacre, the United Nations has formally recognized its failure. They, “‘The United Nations has acknowledged its responsibility for failing to protect the people who sought shelter and relief in Srebrenica.’” (UN News-2, 2015). Since the U.N. has ​ ​ recognized that they are at fault for this they have yet to consider it a genocide. They, “The measure – which failed to pass with 10 votes in favour, four abstentions (Angola, China, Nigeria and Venezuela) and the Russian Federation voting against – would have further agreed that

‘acceptance of the tragic events at Srebrenica as genocide is a prerequisite for reconciliation.’”

(UN News-2, 2015). This shows that certain members on the Security Council believe that it

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 21 does not fit the definition of genocide and the resolution was not passed. However, under the definition of genocide being, “the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.” (Genocide | Definition of Genocide at Dictionary.com, 2019). Then ​ ​ ​ ​ the deliberate killing of the eight thousand victims of Srebrenica falls under the definition. This shows the complete disregard for those who were killed.

These are ethnic tensions that had kept under wraps when Yugoslavia was associated with the U.S.S.R. Once the pressure was lifted then the ethnic tensions that were suppressed for decades came out. Until they were able to be acted upon. This has been seen when decolonization happened. It is shocking that the Security Council was not there to prepare for such an eventuality.

Another issue was when the Royal Air Force and other states flew into BiH to bring in supplies. They were shot at on takeoff and landings. This would slow the time to bring in essential supplies. Often this would shut down the airport for hours at a time if they were unlucky then days. (Why RAF Pilots Had To Land Differently In Bosnia (1992 Documentary) | ​ ​ Forces TV, 2017) This was one of the issues during the Balkans Conflict because it made the ​ ​ introduction of supplies slow. Oftentimes closing the airfields around the country this a damaging effect on the local noncombatants.

In the case of the Srebrenica massacre it was so horrible that is “has haunted the Dutch political and military establishment ever since.”(Ryngaert & Schrijver, 2015). Since the Dutch ​ ​ military was supposed to protect the civilians in the Srebrenica region. And they absolutely failed to do so. This was on the heels of the Rwandan Genocide and the peacekeeping force that was outside of the town did not do anything to prevent this. A year after the Rwandan Genocide

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 22 it would seem like the United Nations would have something in place to prevent the deaths of more people. What came from the Srebrenica Massacre was the “most important impact on the

United Nations was that the massacre served as a trigger for the development of the doctrine of a

“Responsibility to Protect’” (Ryngaert & Schrijver, 2015). This means that it is now the ​ ​ peacekeepers responsibility to intervene and attempt to prevent a massacre or genocide. After the killings, there was a tribunal established to prosecute those who committed these atrocities against the Bosniaks.

The United Nations should have been prepared with the eventuality. Since other former

Soviet states had slowly broken apart the U.N. should have been ready to intervene in the case the break up was violent. The issue with Yugoslavia was the underlining ethnic tensions that were present and unknown to the international community at the time. These ethnic tensions were then exploited and violence ensued.

The biggest issue with this is that it two high profile massacres and genocides to change the stance of the peacekeeping community. Prior to this, it was the mission to not get involved.

However, after the deaths of an estimated 805,000 people they had to do something to change their image.

Case Study Three-Somalia

The United Nations Operation in Somalia II. Where two American UH-60 helicopters were shot down in the Battle of Mogadishu and nearly sixty peacekeepers were killed in combat operations. It was said from someone within the U.N. as, "the greatest failure of the UN in our lifetime" (Henderson, 2015). This operation was very costly and all contingent troops were ​ ​

th removed in 1995. Making this one of the worst operations in the 20 ​ Century. ​

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 23

Violence against western peacekeepers had occurred prior to the Battle of Mogadishu and was not uncommon. However, “UN forces continued to be attacked by any number of the

Somali factions in Mogadishu (and not just Aideed’s militias), and although none of these attacks were individually costly, the cumulative casualty total became a matter of concern.”

(Government of Canada, 2018). This began to concern many countries that provided troops. The ​ Battle of Mogadishu was one of the worst cases where the American peacekeepers were pinned down and had to be evacuated by Pakistani peacekeepers. (Government of Canada, 2018). This ​ ​ was interesting due to the fact that Pakistani peacekeepers were killed a few months prior.

June 5, 1993, Pakistani peacekeepers went to a storage area to inspect weapons and ammo that were out of the hands of the enemy. Something sparked and the enemy combatants killed twenty-four peacekeepers. (United States Institution of Peace, 1994). This would be the ​ ​ first large event that should have lead to a total reconsideration of the operation. Along with these reconsiderations, the ROEs should have been changed to protect the civilians as well as the peacekeepers. This was made difficult due to the fact that, “militias would use women and children as human shields when attacking UNOSOM II forces and incite them to hurl rocks, grenades, and Molotov cocktails at the UN troops.” (Government of Canada, 2018). This made it ​ ​ difficult for the peacekeepers to do their job as well as putting innocent people in harm’s way.

Resulting in two helicopters shot down and dead American pilots to be paraded around in the streets. This caused the United States to be hesitant to intervene in Rwanda due to the fact that U.S. troops were killed and paraded throughout the streets of Mogadishu. This event also got other western countries to start the process of withdrawal, “the sheer brutality of their opponents began to influence opinion in some of the contributing countries. Belgium, France, and the

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 24

United States all indicated that they would withdraw their contingents.” (Government of Canada,

2018). This result weakened UNOSOM II and made it difficult to enforce the peace. This resulted in the force to be removed in 1995, one month before their mandated withdrawal.

Analysis

Each of these missions failed due to multiple factors, the lack of a response from the

Security Council, the lack of a response from the international community, unknown ethnic tensions, and the restrictive ROEs as prescribed by the mandate. These all made these operations failures and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

th Of all of these cases that occurred at the end of the 20 ​ Century two resulted in the deaths ​ of nearly a million people. Where it was thought that genocide of that scale would not and could not happen after the Holocaust. However to end the century two of the largest genocides occurred. In Rwanda and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since these two tragedies the United

Nations has addressed the issue and passed a resolution that allows peacekeepers to prevent genocide in its tracks. According to the United Nations, “These tragedies pressed the need for a collective response that would protect populations by either stopping the escalation of on-going atrocities or accelerating or prompting their termination.” (United Nations 4, 2019). This is the

th stance of the U.N. after the end of the 20 ​ Century. However, it is also stated, “it may not always ​ be possible to clearly determine whether an activity falls exclusively under a preventive or a responsive approach. In fact, a State’s responsibility to protect its populations from atrocity crimes.” (United Nations 4, 2019). This shows that even though it is their official position to respond, the U.N. can only respond if the state has done everything in its power to prevent it.

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 25

This makes the U.N. statement confusing and contradictive due to the fact that if the state has a failing government then the response will be slow.

Case Study-Success

The two cases that will be discussed that are considered successful operations are the ones in Sierra Leone and Burundi. These are not without issues of their own, however, in both of these, they are filled with lack initial competence. By the end of each of these operations, they slowly became successful with the disarmament of rebel groups to the establishments of strong governments. What sets these two cases apart from the three failures mentioned are the leadership and professionalism of the troops sent in.

Case Study One-Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone, from 1999 to 2005. This mission was one of the first successful

th peacekeeping operation in the late 20 ​ Century. It was to help establish peace during the ​ country’s civil war. Helped remove child soldiers from service and helped removed thousands of weapons from service. (Henderson, 2015). This is a very important case due to the fact that it ​ ​ showed if done properly with the proper leadership then the mission is more likely to succeed. If the secretary-general is competent in their actions then the international community is more likely to join in on the cause.

That being said, an estimated 300,000 people died in the fighting and close to six thousand peacekeepers died protecting the civilians. It has been hailed a successful mission, however, “its efforts have not been without criticism.” (World Peace Foundation-2, 2019). This ​ ​ is due to the death toll of the civilian populace as well as the high number of peacekeepers that died during the mission. However, seen with the mission in Burundi, Rwanda, and Somalia there

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 26 was a high death toll. This is due to the fact that ethnic tensions in Africa have been high since decolonization in the 1960s and 1970s.

When the mission started in 1999 it was not successful, it, “faltered initially, it eventually became what is widely acknowledged as one of the UN's most successful peacekeeping missions.” (Bernath & Nyce, 2002). This is due to the leadership of the contingent troops as well ​ ​ as the well-trained peacekeepers. This is due to the British mission in the region, “British forces repelled the RUF advance and then remained in Sierra Leone to clear the path to peace.” (Ucko, ​ 2016). This was in a two year period, from 2000-2002. During this time the British troops ​ pushed off Revolutionary United Front militia forces. They were one of the primary aggressors during the conflict in Sierra Leone. After this, the peace was seen more where British troops were. This is one of the reasons why the UNAMSIL mission was so successful.

The disarmament of rebel forces in Sierra Leone was very successful and made it easier to enforce the peace, “75,000 soldiers had been disarmed and demobilized by 2002, but progress was initially variable during UNAMSIL’s deployment.” (World Peace Foundation-2, 2019). This ​ ​ is very important because 75,000 rebel soldiers had been taken from combat roles. This would make the will to fight from any others less. The main groups that were targeted for disarmament were the Revolutionary United Front and the Civil Defence Force. (UN Peacekeepers, 2003). ​ ​ This was because they were the two largest groups of combatants. However, once these combatants were taken care of the fighting began to slow.

The last important thing to come from the UNAMSIL mission was the establishment of a new government that could be trusted and were effective in preventing conflict from sprouting up. (UN Peacekeepers, 2003). This was important to establish because it showed the

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 27 international community that the people could be trusted. With the new government in place, it was able to prevent conflict. However, the conflict continued until 2014 with high a death toll.

Case Study Two-Burundi

Burundi (ONUB), where the country was in a deep civil and ethnic war. Where the Hutus and Tutsis were at it again. The conflict started when the Burundian military committed a coup d'etat and assassinated the president. (World Peace Foundation-1, 2019). The peacekeeping ​ ​ forces that were sent there were able to take charge of the situation and were able to prevent the loss of more lives. (Henderson, 2015). The fear was that there would be another ethnic cleansing between the Hutus and Tutsis. Especially after the Rwandan Genocide. Having known this the

United Nations was prepared to send peacekeepers into a conflict that was could have been another Rwanda. During the conflict, “the Burundian military and numerous Tutsi and Hutu armed groups killed an estimated 300,000 Burundians, and displaced more than 500,000.” World

Peace Foundation, 2019). This high death toll makes the post-Cold War conflicts in Africa to be one of the most devastating. Due to this, the United Nations had to step in and send a contingent troop force to the country.

The start of the mission started out very poor, “a substantial proportion of UN troops were captured and disarmed by rebels in 2000.” (Olonisakin, Gompert, Oliker, Stearns, & Cran, ​ 2008). This capture and disarmament of the peacekeepers was seen as another defeat and loss to ​ the United Nations. During this, “Rebels have taken more than 300 United Nations troops hostage.” (Perlez & Wren, 2000). At the time this was the largest peacekeeping force that was ​ ​ captured since the Irish peacekeepers were captured in the DRC during the Congo Crisis in the

1960s. It then showed that the U.N was not able to protect their own troops let alone the civilians

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 28 they were charged with by the mandate. The capture of these contingent troops made the U.N. seem weak at the time, especially after their many failures in the previous decade. This caused more distrust of peacekeeping.

Along with this, the government of Burundi forced its citizens into ethnic-based camps.

This was an issue both for human rights and health. The issue stems from the lack of health workers that were allowed in the area to provide much-needed care for those who were ill. Since

“These camps are breeding grounds not only for disease and death but also for long-term resentment. Security conditions remain poor, and humanitarian workers have limited access to the camps because the workers' safety cannot be guaranteed, as evidenced by the 12 October

1999 killing of nine people on a UN mission.” (globalsecurity.org, 2019). Due to this, it made it ​ ​ difficult for humanitarian workers to go and provide the assistance that was needed. Plus, since their security could not be guaranteed this discouraged other U.N. organizations from conducting missions in the region.

Once the mission and the country helped reestablish a government the conflict slowly died down. The U.N. helped with, “recommendations had not been realized but expressed confidence the new government would address them soon.” (Hull, 2005). This would show that ​ ​ at the time the U.N. felt that the new government that had been established was going to be strong and could handle the situation well. This was also seen when, “the United Nations was mulling several options to create a body that can advise and support the new government the same way the old commission did.” (Hull, 2005). This was in response to the U.N. wanting to make a group to allow the people to trust their new government.

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This along with the assistance of the African Union allowed for the somewhat smooth change in the government system. However, “In Africa, nearly half of countries coming out of war slip back, so Burundi will require some support to go alongside the peacekeeping operation.”

(Hull, 2005). This is because the countries that have come out of a conflict have difficulties keeping the legitimacy of their country. This was not the case after the peacekeeping force left.

Due to the fact that the United Nations did their job and did it well, unlike in Rwanda with a similar ethnic makeup of Rwanda, however, there was a high civilian death toll from the fighting.

Analysis

Of the two successful cases identified above both started out very poorly for the United

Nations. What caused these to change from absolute failures in the beginning to successful operations were their leadership and skill and professionalism of deployed troops. However, these two operations had high civilian death tolls from prior to the deployment, about 600,000 for both. While the number of civilian deaths was high it is to be expected during a civil conflict.

The leadership on these two operations was crucial to their success. When troops have good leadership they more likely to complete their missions with greater success. Unlike in the failed missions mentioned above the leaders on the ground were able to operate with the contingent forces they had. This coupled with the skill and professionalism that the peacekeepers had made it so the operation was successful. This brings the question of why there were so many deaths. Simply put the will always be a high death toll when there is civil conflict. As seen in many civil conflicts around the globe.

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Once the peacekeepers and Security Council were able to establish a government in both countries it allowed the military forces of those countries to slowly take over operations as well.

This makes so the peacekeepers will spend less time on the ground conducting combat operations and more time training the military and stabilizing the region.

Why peacekeeping does not work

The primary reasons that peacekeeping does not work in most cases are the strict rules of engagement, peacekeeper origin, lack of participation from major powers, and sexual misconduct of peacekeepers while on operations. This was seen in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Somalia. The nature of the conflict also determines whether the mission is successful or not, with civil conflicts being the most difficult to conduct operations. The main mission of the peacekeepers and the mandate is to not take sides and to stay out of the affairs of the warring sides.

The rules of engagement under the mandates written are often vague. Under Chapter VII of the U.N. Chater was written to deal with interstate conflicts, it does not specify anything about peacekeeping. This means that when there is a need for a peacekeeping operation the mandate is written for each operation. This makes it so the operation has to limit what is allowed to do while deployed. Limiting peacekeepers’ ability to act when they see acts of violence against a person or other peacekeepers is contradictive of what their mission is.

Often the operation will fail before it has been deployed, “the UN’s process of deciding where to intervene, the mandate given the peacekeeper, who is chosen to lead and participate in the PKO, and how the mission is planned.” (Jett, 1999, p. 35). These will be the determining ​ ​ factors in whether the operation fails or not. If the leadership is poor then it is likely to fail from the moment the contingent troops are landed in the country. This could be because of the low

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 31 morale the troops may have when they realize who their leadership is. Who is chosen is very important because it will be a determining factor in how effective the peacekeepers are. If they are from a country that has a lower Per Capita GDP or Human Development Index Score (HDI) then it is more likely they will not be effective in their mission. This is because it is likely these troops will have a lower standard of training compared to western militaries such as the United

States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. While the United Nations would likely prefer to have troops from these countries it is nearly impossible. This could be attributed to the collective action problem where what is good for the individual may not be beneficial to the group.

The issue with the lack of participation from the United States, the United Kingdom,

France, Germany, and the Russian Federation that this is not an old concept. When the League of

Nations was the primary peace organization after the First World War members could decide if they wanted to participate, “the second cause of the failure of the League of Nations that had to be overcome was the nonparticipation of major countries, especially the United States.”

(Sutterlin, 2003, p. 3). This issue was seen when Nazi Germany invaded and annexed territory. ​ The League of Nations decided not to act.

The next issue is that there is nothing within the United Nations Charter that has to do with peacekeeping. This means that with each new operation there are, “no provisions within the

UN Charter for peacekeeping operations, the legal basis for each operation is the mandate given to it.” (Jett, 1999, p. 39). Prior to each mission, there must be a new mandate written. This makes ​ ​ it so that each mission cannot have similar ROEs. The mandate will also give a specific number of troops and resources for that mission. This means that if the mission is planned to be

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 32 understaffed then that is what will happen until it is changed. This was seen in Rwanda when the number of peacekeepers was suggested to be higher than it actually was.

This can be seen in one country that has sent some of the most peacekeepers into harm’s way since the 1960s. This country is Ghana, the country has sent almost 90,000 troops as contingent peacekeepers. (Kwesi, 2007). Ghana has provided many troops to peacekeeping ​ ​ operations, many would think that there would think there is a financial benefit to the country.

However, this is not the case, “a generally accepted perception in Ghana that ‘if peacekeeping was an exportable commodity, Ghana would have been a rich country by amassing a huge amount of money from it.’” (Kwesi, 2007, p. 133-134). The fact that Ghana is willing to send troops into harm’s way with very little financial compensation is interesting. It seems like there is very little to gain from the practice. But, the troops that are sent into combat zones gain two things from it, relative combat experience and respect from their home country.

The issue can also be from collective security, where all members of the United Nations have an obligation to provide military or police if requested upon by the Security Council. This is also an issue when countries do not want to provide troops, but only want to provide money.

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 33

As seen in this chart below where the top contributions come from the United States.

(Providing for Peacekeeping-2, 2016)

This makes it so the Security Council has to draw troops from less desirable countries.

Making the collective action problem real in this case where states are not willing to risk the lives of their troops for the sake of others. As seen in Rwanda where the American Congress did not want to send more troops to Africa. Especially after the deadly Operation Gothic Serpent, where sixteen Americans lost their lives in Mogadishu, Somalia. As well as other peacekeepers in Somalia, this was due to the fact that the entire troop base was not in line with each other.

Where the peacekeepers did not want to work together to obtain the goal that they needed to accomplish.

This was also seen in Bosnia and Herzegovina when General Janvier refused to allow

NATO assets to conduct fire missions over the country, in an area that was under U.N. protection. This issue was to protect his own image as well as follow the U.N. mandate. Instead

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 34 of acting in a way that would preserve the lives of civilians. Seen in the resolution that the U.N. refused to consider the Srebrenica Massacre a genocidal act. They wanted to preserve their own image. Due to this idea of self-preservation of public image the collective action problem is seen.

Where it might be good for one member it is not good for the entire operation or organization.

This was seen in Rwanda as well where the peacekeepers from the majority of countries were withdrawn to protect themselves instead. Because of this, the genocide was allowed to continue for the Hundred Days of Killing. This was seen when the United States refused to send in a troop force due to fears of another Operation Gothic Serpent. (Ghosts of Rwanda, 2004). Because of ​ ​ this lack of a response from the international community, the atrocities were allowed to continue.

The next issue is that former colonial powers do not want to get involved in their former colonies due to the possible hatred the locals may have towards them. As was the case in

Rwanda where the ten Belgian peacekeepers were kidnapped, beaten, and killed. While they should not have former colonial powers on missions they could provide equipment and other means of support. This would be the training of predeployment forces on how to conduct combat operations and how to behave while on deployment.

With the idea of the composition of the peacekeepers on operations today, you see very little U.S. and Russian troops in the areas. On one operation there is a U.S. Colonel who partakes in these operations. (E. Howard, 2019). This is one of the only U.S. soldiers to be working for ​ ​ the United Nations in a peacekeeping capacity. Because of this, it begs the question, why does the United States not provide more peacekeepers. The reason can possibly stem from the U.S. involvement in UNOSOM II as discussed in Case Study Three under failures. This is because the

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 35

United States does not want to send more troops on a mission where it could be a failure. Since this was a major failure to the United States as well as the U.N. As seen in the table below.

(Providing for Peacekeeping-3, 2016)

As seen in this graphic number of personnel from the United States and the Russian

Federation is nearly zero. This makes it difficult to have a peacekeeping force that is truly international if two of the five members of the Security Council barely send troops. This trend is also seen with the United Kingdom and to a lesser extent France. China has risen in the number of personnel they provide yearly. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States and United

Kingdoms’ involvement in peacekeeping operations has slowly declined.

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Sexual misconduct has observed in peacekeeping operations for many years and has been brought to light in recent years. As of July 2018, there were seventy sexual misconduct allegations. (United Nations-5, 2018). This issue has been taken more seriously since the ​ ​ peacekeepers are there on a professional mission. The issue stems from having a multinational force who have different ideas of what is right. Some cultures it is okay do to certain acts while other said acts are horrible to do. Since the start of peacekeeping, “sexual abuse has been perpetrated by the very people sent to restore or keep the peace.” (Freedman, 2018). Showing ​ ​ this has been an issue since the inception of peacekeeping. Due to this, it is a major problem for any modern mission.

Civilians that are protected under the U.N. mandate should not be subjected to the possibility of sexual abuse in exchange for protection or supplies. However, it does happen and when it does, “we are looking not only at gross violations of human rights but at the perversion of an international system to prevent crimes against humanity.” (Kent, 2007, p.44). This is ​ ​ because the peacekeepers are there to prevent human rights violations, while it has happened in the past the United Nations has taken measures to prevent these from happening. Unfortunately, these acts of sexual exploitation do still occur.

Peacekeeping’s main mission is to promote and bring peace to countries that are not stable. Since the missions are to promote peace and the international community look, “to those peacekeepers to enter armed conflicts or fragile states with the mandate to protect locals, and, at the very least, we should expect them to ‘do no harm’” (Freedman, 2018). The goal is to do no harm yet the peacekeeper commits one of the acts more harm. It damages the image of the

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 37 peacekeepers and the United Nations as a whole. Since the position of the U.N. is to not allow this then why does it still happen?

The official position of the United Nations is a zero-tolerance policy. Where members on operations can and will be punished for these acts. In 2013 the U.N. put had an, “investigation declared sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) ‘the most significant risk to UN peacekeeping missions, above and beyond other key risks including protection of civilians.” (Westendorf & ​ Searle, 2017). The reason why this is a significant risk to all peacekeeping operations is that it ​ undermines the mission. If peacekeepers have a reputation for sexual malfeasance while deployed then it is difficult to build rapport with the locals they are protecting. In 2017 the

Associated Press released an article about a case of rape that occurred while the U.N. was on a mission in the DRC, it says, “a delegation from the U.N. was paying a visit, and her grandmother had left her in charge of her siblings. That was the day, the girl says, that a Pakistani peacekeeper slipped inside their home and assaulted her in front of the other children.” (Larson & Dodds, ​ 2017). This case was seen in the U.N. and there was an uproar to hear about a fourteen-year-old ​ girl who was raped by peacekeepers. The mission in the DRC is responsible for the majority of the cases that have occurred since 2017. (Larson & Dodds, 2017). From this one mission, the peacekeeper’s image has been damaged. Since this, it makes the concept of foreign peacekeepers untrustworthy.

From the cases that have occurred in the DRC, a majority of the victims are abandoned by their families and friends. (Larson & Dodds, 2017). This makes it difficult for the victim to heal and move forward from the event. The person is oftentimes afraid to seek help from U.N. troops or police since they believe it might happen again. Former American Ambassador to the

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United Nations Nikki Haley called for countries to hold their troops accountable for their actions as well as, “‘countries that refuse to hold their soldiers accountable must recognize that this either stops or their troops will go home and their financial compensation will end.’” (Lederer & ​ Dodds, 2017). This threat shows that the United States is serious about these allegations. And ​ this must stop if the U.N. wants to be successful in future operations. Because of this stance as well as her suggestion of cutting off aid to these countries that harbor these perpetrators it could cause serious harm to the countries economy.

Sexual exploitation of minors was brought to light in the early 1990s and since then it has gotten worse. The issue is that when the victim has been interviewed the person conducting the interview does not have experience with children. (Child Rights International Network, 2019). ​ ​ Due to the often the issue is fixed and the victim does not receive what they need. Often the victim hits, “Other barriers to child victims’ access to justice include the fear of reprisals, of not being taken seriously, and the lack of opportunities.” (Child Rights International Networks,

2019). This could be fear of reprisals from the local government or other peacekeepers. This then shields the accused offender making it so they do not receive the justice they deserve. This was seen in Haiti during the UNSTAMIH mission.

In the operation in Haiti (UNSTAMIH) Sri Lankin peacekeepers were found guilty of sexual exploitation of nine minors while they were in the country from 2004 to 2007. (Lederer &

Dodds, 2017). This was found out and while the United Nations addressed the issue the country of origin did not address the issue, “Sri Lanka never jailed any soldiers implicated in the abuse yet the country was allowed to send troops to other U.N. missions.” (Lederer & Dodds, 2017).

This shows that even if the U.N. acted the country will not do anything. This is where it needs to

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 39 change. One of the children involved in this horrible act stated, “he slept with as many as 100 soldiers, averaging about four per day.” (Lederer & Dodds, 2017). What these peacekeepers did ​ ​ to this young child was not appropriate and causes this integrity of the mission to be questioned.

This should not have happened and the peacekeepers should have known that this was something wrong. Yet it did not happen. Acts like this are not the only ones. Along with the ones in the

DRC many others have occurred.

Sexual misconduct is a serious threat to all operations. The issue stems from the fact that peacekeepers have different morals and it is possible to act upon them. It undermines all operations and destroys the trust they are attempting to build. This along with causing unnecessary fear for the locals in a situation that is already dangerous. It also undermines the entire peacekeeping mission, this makes it so the organization loses trust with the contingent forces on the ground.

A possible solution to this is to introduce an education program for peacekeepers teaching them right from wrong. This would help train them to know how to act while overseas.

The next possible solution would be to have the offending soldier be imprisoned and tried for their crime right away. As well as establish a support system for the victims. Lastly, make it so the country that is supplying the peacekeepers have to pay for the acts that their peacekeepers commit. Making it so both parties are held accountable.

Policy Recommendations

First, I would recommend that the United Nations Security Council look at the failed operations in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Somalia and analyze what caused these to fail. This would make the Security Council consider the rules of engagement as well as the viability of private

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 40 military contractors. This has been seen in recent years, “The embrace of a private security contractor marks a shift for the United Nations, which has relied on governments to supply peacekeepers to protect U.N. staff.” (Lynch, 2010). The fact that the U.N. has brought in Private ​ ​ Military Contractors (PMCs) shows that they have very little faith in untrained forces. This could change the way peacekeeping is conducted by limiting the burden caused by sending troops into a region. The only burden would be the financial one, where countries would pay for the PMCs.

This begs the question of how to hold these contractors accountable for their actions.

This would be to have a similar mandate as peacekeepers do today when it comes to the ROEs as well as holding them accountable in the International Criminal Court. This would lower the likely-hood of misconduct occurring while on mission. This and holding the company accountable for the actions of their employees would make it so they would be held to a higher standard. Since these companies are profit-driven they could provide services to the United

Nations at a lower overall cost, since the contract would be granted based on the lowest bid.

While police would be provided by member states for policekeeping missions.

Second, I would suggest that the Security Council rewrite all of the mandates when it comes to peacekeeping and have them looked over by military organizations such as NATO.

Making it so that peacekeepers are allowed to defend themselves when it comes to violence against the group. This would help prevent the deaths of peacekeepers when they are vulnerable and are restricted by the mandate and ROEs. What I would suggest is a change to make it so that if attacked by weapons, including blunt objects, an attack on the mission. Making the person subject to a retaliatory attack by contingent troops or subject to arrest by police forces.

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This as well as allowing forces to conduct combat operations to stop the fighting. This would seem like it goes against the idea of peacekeeping as a whole, however, preventing the spread of conflict would be the goal. Preventing civilian casualties would be the highest priority, but this could not be guaranteed. Holding the peacekeeping troops accountable while in combat would help prevent this. After the fighting stopped redeploy peacekeepers and police forces into the region to stabilize it and prevent more fighting. At this point, peacekeepers would be there to prevent further spread of violence. This would be controversial but would be successful when the fighting drops to a low point.

Third, I would suggest that the Security Council look past their own organization and use actual military organizations like NATO and the African Union to provide military forces. With properly trained troops and a combat-ready force, the Security Council. could deploy troops to hot zones sooner. This would hold all peacekeepers accountable by their organization as well as the ICC. Similar to that of the first suggestion. Having a professional military and command structure would help eliminate the issues with untrained and underperforming troops.

Fouth, I would recommend that all contingent troops going on a deployment receive training that would help them identify and prevent sexual misconduct while on operations. This would be mandated by the Security Council and would provide military and law enforcement personnel to train these predeployment forces. The training should occur six months prior to deployment and ensure that every member of the force has been trained adequately.

Holding those who were trained properly accountable for their actions and have a zero-tolerance policy where troops accused would be relieved of duty. Following an investigation to find the truth, if found innocent they soldier would be redeployed to a different

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 42 region. However, if found guilty they would have to face trial in the International Criminal

Court. As well as having a system in place to help victims move past what happened and to help them financially if their families have abandoned them. If the perpetrator is shielded by their home country than that country should lose any financial support and have sanctions put in place until the perpetrator is tried in the international courts. This would make it so they could not go back home and hide.

Lastly, in my opinion, Belgian peacekeepers should not have been allowed to operate within their former colony of Rwanda. Due to the fact that they were openly targeted during the operation, kidnapped and murdered. (Ghosts of Rwanda, 2004). In reality, no former colonizers ​ ​ ​ ​ should be allowed in their historic colony for peacekeeping. Because of possible historic tensions that have occurred prior. Examples would be the former Belgian Congo, French Africa and

Indochina, and the British colonies throughout Africa. This would be due to the fact that anticolonial sentiment may still be present almost seven decades after colonization. This, in turn, could put the peacekeepers at risk and could be targeted.

These post-colonialism anti sentiment feelings are a major issue for peacekeepers that find themselves in former colonies. Targeted attacks against these troops that are there for peaceful operations. As mentioned previously with Belgian peacekeepers in Rwanda, this is what sparked the western forces to withdraw from all operations. This could be an issue in the future with the lack of options if a peacekeeping mission had to be activated with little time.

Conclusion

Peacekeeping is a complex topic that has many different issues within it and this can lead to operations failing as soon as it is thought of and the mandate is written. If successful there will

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 43 be casualties and loss of life throughout. Unfortunately, civil conflicts will continue to occur and it will be up to the Security Council to act accordingly if it seems that the conflict is a global security issue. Peacekeepers will be held to strict rules of engagement making it so they cannot act if they see violations of human rights. This makes it difficult to conduct operations if there is a constant pressure to follow the rules of engagement. Peacekeepers like Pvt. Chauncy Chitete of

Malawi will continue to fall in battle protecting those who have lost everything to war.

Running Head: U.N. Peacekeeping 44

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