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NAMUNC III
“Reforming
UN Peacekeeping Operations” Peacekeepers are those who follow and enforce the Security Councils decision, but it is the Security Counsel, as laid out in the United Nation’s Charter, can “take such action by air, sea or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace.” Peacekeeping troops serve to maintain ceasefires, oversee elections, help build up governments and infrastructure, and the protection of food supplies. Because of the different types of jobs that peacekeeping troops do, some wish to split the group into different categories with different names that better describe the job. The issue of peacekeepers does not enter into the debate over national sovereignty because peacekeepers enter an area only with the agreement and support of the nation that is being aided. The main job of a peacekeeping troop is not fighting. In fact, the first armed peacekeeping force was not deployed until 1956 in Egypt to keep a space between Egypt and Israel so that fighting would not continue. This interception at the Suez Canal remains the largest mobilization of Peacekeeping troops on the record. Since the conception of the program in 1948, 61 peacekeeping missions have been undertaken, of which 16 still continue today. The number of peacekeeping missions rose greatly over the years; in 1948 there were two while in 1990 there were over twenty. The cost of these combined peacekeeping operations is rising. An issue for countries who provide troops and support might be cutting down costs of missions. The United Nations in general is going towards a time in which reform seems imminent and one place that reform must occur in is Peacekeeping troops. Missions have become more complicated in the post-Cold War era making some very difficult to satisfactorily achieve them and leave. Therefore corruption and other abuses have been reported coming from inside the peacekeeping operations; some law violations have been committed by peacekeeping troops and how to effectively deal with and prevent these violations is still not completely solved. Also, some countries complain that peacekeeping troops do not have any idea about the culture of the country they are working in and therefore disrupt local life. In March 2000 Kofi Annan commissioned a
committee, headed by former Algerian foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, to write
a report on how peacekeeping operations could be improved and how the troops
could be used more effectively. This report, commonly called the Brahimi report,
advocated that a group must have a clear and specific mandate and make sure that
adequate resources are committed to an operation for its swift conclusion. Many
reforms suggested by this report are already being implemented, but perhaps more
drastic changes are needed, or your country may believe that a different road
should be taken in regards to the peacekeeping missions. Sources
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