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Eric Berg
Professor Frueh
PSCI 420
The United Nations is one of the most powerful intergovernmental
organizations in the world today. President FDR first coined the term “United
Nations”, meaning allied countries. The United Nations was founded in 1945 shortly
after World War II, replacing the unsuccessful League of Nations. The purpose of the
League of Nations was to prevent global wars. The League of Nations was ineffective
as World War II emerged, mainly due to lack of representation and ability. Leon
Gordenker describes the United Nations as more of a “clan” than a single
association. The core reason as to why the United Nations was formed was to
promote peace and provide security to prevent future wars from breaking out. As of
2011, the UN budget expenditures accounted for $6.9 billion. Within this clan are
many segments, the most important being the United Nations Security Council
(UNSC). The execution of the United Nations’ operations would not be possible
without the Security Council. The United Nations Security Council is one of six major
components of the United Nations and has the responsibility of international
peacekeeping and security. I will be examining the structure of the Security Council
and how it keeps the United Nations afloat. One of the main jobs of the United
Nations Security Council is peacekeeping: the active maintenance of a truce between
nations or communities, especially by an international military force. What
peacekeeping action has the Security Council provided in the past? The present?
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Exactly how effective has the council been in aiding other countries? What agencies
has the Security Council established to help solve international problems? These are
several of the main questions I will be discussing in the remaining section of the
paper. I will also be examining the United Nations’ role in peacekeeping and its
history, and link specific examples of what actions have taken place to facilitate
these needs. 1
Post Cold War era, the United Nations was appointed as the “World’s
Policeman”, with the task of managing problems related to international law. One of
the most important aspects of the United Nations is the Security Council. The United
Nations Security Council’s structure contains many policies, institutions and rules,
all with the intention of coordinating solutions for global governance. The UNSC’s
powers include establishing peacekeeping resolutions, establishing international
sanctions, and giving permission for the use of military actions. The UNSC is the only
organ allowed to issue binding resolutions to member states. There are currently
fifteen member states of the United Nations Security Council, five of them being
permanent seats (U.S., France, Russia, China and Britain). Under the rules of the
United Nations Charter, each member is awarded one vote and must engage in all
Security Council decisions. Each permanent member is allowed one veto on an issue
being voted upon. The United Nations is divided into three sections: the Security
Council, the General Assembly, and several specialized agencies. The Security
Council defines the operation and supports, the General Assembly then monitors the
decisions made by the council, and finally the specialized agencies act as the
Karen A. Mingst & Margaret P. Karns, “The United Nations in the 21st Century.”
(Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2012), 197.
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executor that the UNSC sends in to investigate the problem and solve it. Security and
international peacekeeping are a couple of elements that have further advanced
human efforts towards better global governance. Although the UN Charter does not
have an official section for peacekeeping, the United Nations has become the
primary source of the authorization of peacekeeping operations. The UNSC is called
upon when potential threats to peace or acts of aggression occur. One example of
this would be the UN’s Blue Helmets. The Blue Helmets are the soldiers of the UN’s
military force. The UN’s military force is not strictly traditional soldiers; it also
includes police, doctors, nurses, pilots and engineers. The Blue Helmets are the
soldiers that are actually deployed on the solid ground. The unit works alongside UN
Police and civilian colleagues with the duty of protecting personnel and property.
UN military personnel are needed in many situations: monitoring a disputed border,
monitoring and observing peace processes in post-conflict locations, provide
security across a conflict zone, protecting civilians, assisting in-country military
personnel with training and support, and assist in-combatants in implementing
peace agreements they may have signed (3). That being said, the most important
objective of the Blue Helmets is to protect civilians, which is the most common piece
of information stated in mandates. There are different types of Blue Helmet soldiers,
the most common being the infantry soldier, which is a soldier involved in combat.2
However, the type of soldier in greatest demand is an “enabler.” The most needed
enabler soldier is one of a skilled engineer that has the job of reconstructing
buildings and infrastructure. Other enabler specialists include transport companies,
Paul Williams & Alex Bellamy. “International Organization and Global Governance.”
(New York, New York. Routledge. 2014). 415.
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communicators, and medical personnel. As of September 2012, the Blue Helmets
had participated in over 60 missions, which is more than any other entity.
Peacekeeping operations can be divided into three different types, depending on
what source initiated the mission and the type of personnel that carried it out. The
first type are UN-led operations, which would involve the blue helmets. The second
type are UN-authorized operations; these operations include types of situations that
can be delegated by other actors with the UN having control of the outcome. The
third type are non-UN operations. These operations are conducted by non-UN actors
involved in peacekeeping without the requirement of a mandate from the Security
Council. With the emergence of the Security Council, the number of operations have
increased, which has resulted in an increase in the required number of
peacekeepers. The UN peace operations have received criticism over the years for
not playing a big enough role in international issues. However, it has had an overall
positive effect on several of the world’s major conflict zones. The United Nations has
intervened in a countless number of issues, especially with regards to peacekeeping.
I will provide some background into peacekeeping and the role it plays in situations,
and investigate specific instances when the council has stepped in to assist countries
by performing peacekeeping operations.
One of the most important goals the United Nations Security Council has,
according to the United Nations Charter, is maintaining peace and international
security. The Security Council decides when and where peacekeeping operations
should take place. Many countries experience harsh times when their nation is in
crisis and needs the UN’s assistance. The UN prioritizes countries’ crises on a case-
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by-case or first-come-first-serve basis. There are many factors to consider when
designing a new peace operation: whether there is a cease-fire policy in effect and
the parties have agreed to devote their peace processes to a political settlement,
whether a clear political goal exists and if it can be reflected in the mandate,
whether there is a particular mandate in place; and whether safety of the UN
personnel can be ensured, meaning the parties have formally agreed to not
physically harm the UN personnel (3). The only way the Security Council can
embrace a peace operation is by having a Security Council resolution. The resolution
determines the mission’s mandate and size. The safety of personnel on a mission
must be closely monitored and supervised on a continuous basis by the Security
Council. This should include thorough periodic reports submitted by the Security
General. Under specific circumstances, the Security Council can vote to extend,
amend, or end the operation. Under Article 25 of the UN Charter, all UN personnel
must obey orders given from the Security Council. Other organs of the UN can make
suggestions to member states, but only the Security Council has the power to
override decisions in which member states must weigh in on an issue.
The first circumstance involving peacekeeping can be traced back to the
1940’s, which involved a conflict dealing with Kashmir and Palestine. This action led
to countries pulling their troops out of the 1956 Suez Crisis Egypt.3 The withdrawal
enabled the UN to maintain peace between East and West countries when tension
was high. Since the Cold War, peacekeeping’s role has stretched from stability and
security to forcing cease-fires in certain countries. The UN and some
M.J. Peterson. “International Organization and Global Governance.” (New York.
New York. Routledge. 2014). 230.
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intergovernmental organizations have deployed various types of peace operations
to help maintain cease-fire agreements, stabilize conflict situations to create an
environment conducive to peaceful settlement, help implement peace agreements,
protect civilian populations at risk in humanitarian crises, and assist in laying the
foundations for durable peace (Mingst/Karns, 113). Since peacekeeping operations
began in 1948, peacekeeping has become the UN’s greatest tool in international
peace and security.
The world is a dangerous place. Foreign countries sometimes need help from
outside their border to solve complex problems. This is where the United Nations
comes into play and attempts to create a more positive situation for lasting peace.
Peacekeeping can be traced back to the beginning of the UN and has proven to be
one of the most effective tools in making the transition from conflict to peace. The
strengths of peacekeeping include legitimacy, burden sharing, and the ability to
install and sustain troops globally, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to
advance multidimensional mandates (3). United Nations peacekeepers help make
the transition from conflict to peace much smoother by providing security and
political support. The UN website states that peacekeeping is based on three sound
principles: consent of the parties, impartiality, and non-use of force with the
exception of self-defense and defense of the mandate. Over the past two decades,
peacekeeping has made significant strides in the flexibility and the quantity of
operations. There are currently sixteen active peacekeeping operations on four
continents. Today, peacekeeping organizations are not only called upon to maintain
peace, but to rehabilitate the current state of a particular countries’ status. They
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seek to help the political side of the country, protect citizens, assist in disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration of former combatants, support the organization of
elections, protect and promote human rights, and attempt to restore the rule of law
(3). Although many peacekeeping committees are having success, it does not
guarantee that the mission will be accomplished every time. Peacekeepers dive into
the most physically and politically dangerous environments hoping to improve the
quality of the state, making their duties difficult and tough to manage.
One of the dangerous environments the United Nations Security Council has
devoted quality time to is the nation of Rwanda. Fighting between the Hutu and the
Tutsi tribes broke out in 1990 on the border of Rwanda and Uganda. In June of 1993,
the UNSC established the United Nations Observer Mission for Uganda-Rwanda
(UNOMUR) located on the Ugandan side of the border with the purpose of
confirming that no Rwandan military reached Ugandan soil. Their involvement led
to a peace agreement later in the year. The facts of the treaty entailed a democracybased government and paved the way for a new transitional government until
elections. The treaty also called for the care of refugees and the reintegration of both
sides’ military. In October 1993, the UNSC instituted another agency, the United
Nations Assistance for Military Action for Rwanda (UNMAR). The purpose of this
agency was to force the sides into implementing the peace agreement and
monitoring the transitional government. Although the UN was making progress in
the conflict, by October 1994 half of Uganda’s population was reported dead. The
other half of the population either fled to a neighboring country or was internally
displaced. The United Nations responded with a humanitarian appeal that raised
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$762 million dollars, enough to make the daunting task of rebuilding the country
possible. The UNMAR continued to aid the refugees and provide the maximum
amount of security possible, but Rwanda supported terminating the mission, stating
that the UNMAR did not prioritize their countries’ needs, which resulted in the
UNMAR officially leaving the mission. In 1996, a meeting was organized dealing with
Rwanda and the United Nations Development Programme, which encouraged
international donors to pledge $617 million to the rebuilding of the country. The UN
continues to assist the refugees in any way it can.
Another occasion in which peacekeeping took place was the conflict in Sierra
Leone. This conflict dates back to 1991, when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
initiated a war near the border of Liberia with the goal of overthrowing their
government. The first year of the war, the Sierra Leone army defended the
government, but eventually joined the other side in overthrowing the government
during the second year. Having taken control of the government, the RUF continued
its relentless attacks, aiming their frustration at civilians. In June 1998, the United
Nations established the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNOMSIL). The mission’s objective was to diffuse the violence and manufacture a
new army for the country. The formation of the UNOMSIL drew a lot of positive
attention, although the rebels continued their pursuit in gaining more than half of
the country. In the aftermath of the rebel attacks, the UNOSMIL tried a different
approach, a means of communication. The agency wanted to come in contact with
the rebels to figure out exactly what they desired. After much negotiation, the rebels
came to an agreement that called for the extermination of hostile actions and to
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form a government of national unity. With the new peace agreement in effect, the
Security Council expanded the UNOMSIL to 6,000 military personnel to assist the
new government in carrying out the peace agreement proposal. By 2002, the
UNOMSIL had made significant progress, disarming more than 75,000 rebel fighters,
which brought an end to the war. With the war ending and the political platform
stable, the UNOMSIL helped deliver the first free and fair presidential and
parliamentary elections in the history of Sierra Leone. The UNOMSIL executed
almost all of the Security Council’s visions: it assisted more than half a million
refugees and internally placed persons back to Sierra Leone, helped the government
recuperate their power, trained thousands of police personnel, and improved the
quality of police stations (3). Although the UNOMSIL made a huge impact in
reconstructing the country, Sierra Leone experienced new struggles with the school
system and their economy. In an effort to fix these issues, the UN launched the
United Nations Office for Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) with the goal of uniting a more
peaceful environment, implementing the millennium goals, and restoring human
rights. The UNIOSIL is still active in Sierra Leone today and continues to be an
additional support source for the country.
One of the current operations that the United Nations Security Council is
involved in is providing relief from the earthquake that devastated Haiti. The death
toll from the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 tallied up to more than 22,000
deaths, including 96 UN peacekeepers. This earthquake took a major toll on the
nation’s already sketchy economy and infrastructure. To help this disaster, the
Security Council approved the Security-General’s request to increase the force of the
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United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The MINUSTAH was
originally established in 2004 when President Bertrand Aristide was exiled from
Haiti due to an armed conflict that spread to almost every city in the country. The
reason for the increase in the MINUSTAH personnel was to support the immediate
recovery, reconstruction and stability efforts in the country (3). After the
Presidential elections of 2011, MINUSTAH was continuing to fulfill the original
mandate of stabilizing the environment, promote political process, to strengthen
Haiti’s Government institutions and rule-of-law-structures, and to promote and
protect human rights (3). As result of the MINUSTAH’s dedication to Haiti, the
Security-General concluded that for the first time in Haitian history, there had been
a peaceful transition of power from one democratically elected president to another
from the opposition. The mandate of Haiti has been extended and UN peacekeepers
are still active in assisting Haitian citizens.
Another current operation the United Nations Security Council is dealing
with is the corruption in Syria. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
(UNDOF) was originally created in 1974 due to the tension between Syria and Israel.
The situation resulted in the UNSC issuing the Agreement on Disengagement
between Israeli and Syrian forces, which ordered an equal separation of both sides
and for their military forces to remain idle. The recent increased tension in Syria has
affected the UNDOF dramatically. The military actions of the Syrian Arab forces and
armed forces of the opposition have made the process of executing tasks of the
mandate difficult. There have been violent acts committed by the Syrian Arab armed
forces aimed at United Nations peacekeepers, destroying essential assets owned by
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the workers. This caused the withdrawal of the Croatian army, which then caused
other countries that contributed to the UNDOF to withdraw due to safety risks. The
violence aimed at the UN workers had many very skeptical about keeping the
agency in effect in Syria, and had the UN debating on whether to keep supplying the
UNDOF. The Security-General assured the Security Council that even thought they
had faced some dilemmas during the process, it was essential that the United
Nations Security Council provide the resources that were needed to satisfy the
mandate. The UNDOF quickly enlisted all the help it could get, forcing the agency to
appeal to member states to send in back up troops to improve their military force.
By June 27, 2013, the Security Council required both the Israeli and Syrian Arab
Republic to seriously consider the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement,
reiterating that there should be no military personnel present on either side, and to
cease the Syrian domestic conflict immediately. The council also stressed the need
to upgrade the safety and security of UNDOF personnel, and eventually gave in to
the Security-General’s demands of bringing in reinforcements in the military, as well
as to implement additional mitigation measures to enhance its self-defense
capabilities, including maximizing strength and improving its self-defense
equipment (3). Finally, the Security Council requested that the Security-General
provide a detailed report composed of the new improvements made in the UNDOF
to fulfill the mandate. The UNDOF continues to be involved in Syria today, and is
currently demonstrating how effective it can be with all the new additions funded
by the Security Council.
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Today, the UNSC is involved in sixteen operations on four different
continents, and faces a major up-hill battle in providing security and safety to other
countries’ issues. There are many future challenges the UNSC must encounter:
changing threats versus the limits on the UN’s role, changing norms and challenges
to sovereignty, and the need for leadership versus United States dominance.
International peace and security are both relevant when a states’ security and the
defense of state’s territorial integrity are triggered by external threats or attacks
(Mingst/Karns, 154). Karen Mingst and Margaret Karns believe that the UN is in
need of a humanitarian intervention regarding the concept of human security– the
security of beings in the face of many different kinds of threats has begun to take
hold. To achieve exceptional peacekeeping and prevent future conflicts, we need to
eradicate poverty and reduce the inequalities exacerbated by globalization, promote
sustainable development and greater respect for human rights norms, and address
the growing security threats posed by poor health and environmental degradation
(Mingst/Karns, 154).
Peacekeeping is important to international law in that it is the foundation of
all international related activities. These activities that involve the help of countries
outside of its borders requires an external relationship, which could be from past
peacekeeping operations.4 I have always heard about the “volunteers” that travel
the entire world to help people in poor countries, or provide security in chaotic
situations, but never knew what organization or what personnel was responsible.
After completing the research on peacekeeping, I now know that the UN is
Leon Gordenker. “International Organization and Global Governance.” (New York,
New York. Routledge. 2014). 211.
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responsible or has some kind of involvement in almost every international situation,
and I can identify the agency elected by the United Nations Security Council to carry
out a specific task.
In conclusion, the UNSC and peacekeeping go hand-in-hand in dealing with
international law. One of the most important duties of the Security Council is
peacekeeping, a technique of providing security and stability to a country in need.
The United Nations Security Council is the basis for peacekeeping. The UNSC has
formulated a plan and decided which personnel would mesh best with the given
situation in every operation that has been conducted. The League of Nations was
unsuccessful, but that does not mean that the United Nations will fail. The UN
corrected the problems the League of Nations had experienced. The
intergovernmental organization was founded in 1945 and continues to improve and
develop their structure effectively. The United Nations is given the title of one of the
most powerful organizations in the world today, which requires is a huge
responsibility. The UN is there to assist if a country’s economy has been wrecked, or
if a country’s citizens have turned against the government. The UN provides aid
during natural disasters and offers advice to countries in need of assistance. The UN
is always present and aims to deliver comfort and help in an always changing and
dangerous world.
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Bibliography
1. Gordenker, Leon. International Organization of Global Governance: The UN System.
New York, New York. Routledge. 2014.
2. Mingst/Karns. The United Nations in the 21st Century. Boulder, Colorado. Westview
Press. 2012.
3. (Unknown Author) “United Nations Peacekeeping.” Accessed January 2013.
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/peacekeeping.shtml