Evaluation of United Nations peacekeeping operations

¶ … United Nations Peacekeeping Operations:

The Prospects For Peace And Equitable Development In The 21st Century

The United Nations (UN) is a supranational body composed of constituent member states. As a multinational organization which espouses universal values, rights and responsibilities (as embodied in the United Nations Charter of Human Rights), the United Nations serves to safeguard human rights and security across the global community. Established in the wake of the Second World War, the United Nations was created to ensure that the horrors of that conflict never happen again. As such, the protection and promotion of human security is an important goal of the United Nations.

Accordingly, peacekeeping has been at the heart of United Nations global endeavors since 1948 and continues to be an important component of the United Nation's promotion of global security (the United Nations, 2008). Accordingly, the United Nations has established an arm to deal with human rights violations through the,

Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) is dedicated to assisting the Member States and the Secretary-General in their efforts to maintain international peace and security. The Department's mission is to plan, prepare, manage and direct UN peacekeeping operations, so that they can effectively fulfill their mandates under the overall authority of the Security Council and General Assembly, and under the command vested in the Secretary-General (the United Nations, 2008).

Seeking to evaluate United Nations peacekeeping and Development operations in comparative perspective, this research proposal aims to explore the successes and failures of the United Nations with respect to its global peacekeeping operations. Exploring both challenges and the successes of these operations since they began more than 60 years ago in the nascent state of Israel, the development of United Nations peacekeeping operations will be explored in depth. We aim to provide a thorough yet concise overview of forthcoming project and will be structured in the following manner. Beginning with a concise yet extensive analysis of the background for United Nations peacekeeping and Development, we will explore the United Nations and its conceptions of human security in a global world. Following a concise background we will discuss the reasons for undertaking the study, followed by a section on research aims and the scope of the study. An initial discussion of research findings will be followed by a concluding remarks and points for further analysis.

Background

The United Nations was created with the goals of ensuring that the calamity of the Second World War never occurs again through the promotion of peaceful diplomacy and the maintenance of international security regimes. As a multinational organization, the United Nations exists to promote peace and harmony on an international scale. More specifically though, the UN promotes cooperation and multilateralism in the following realms: international security, international law, human rights, social progress and economic development. Peacekeeping is an important initiative of the United Nations and the following will explore the UN's conception of security and how this conception has affected the structures and practices of the UN. Accordingly, what role does peacekeeping play at the UN?

At its very core, the United Nations was established to promote peaceful solutions to international problems through multilateralism and intercultural dialogue. Human security and the promotion of international peace have been important goals of the United Nations since its establishment following World War II. In recent times, the United Nations has extended its concept of global security to include not only the physical security of the person from armed conflict and war but also the security of the international system as well as of states. Additionally, individual security has been extended to encompass a security which transcends physical or geographic borders. This notion of security is based upon the idea of a shared humanity, irrespective of country of origin or geographic location.

The development of UN peacekeeping forces is undeniably the most pronounced aspect of this desire to promote security on a global scale and United Nations Peacekeepers have been involved in a variety of situations since its establishment from Israel to Cyprus and Rwanda to East Timor. Peacekeeping is an important objective of the United Nations and peacekeeping operations exist throughout the world to protect human security and the lives of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. While UN peacekeeping operations have at times been mired in controversy, this UN initiative exists to ensure a common standard of peace across the globe.

Accordingly, UN structures and practices have evolved over time to encompass a far-reaching conception of human security. From a structural perspective, the United Nations has developed a variety of institutions to promote international security including the aptly named Security Council, a plethora of UN mandated international peacekeeping missions (UNAMIR in Rwanda was perhaps the most infamous in recent memory) and organizations such as UNICEF and the UNRWA in Israel/Palestine.

Another recent attempt to promote international human security, irrespective of political borders and geographic frontiers has been the establishment of the United Nations International Criminal Court. Current incarnations of this international body include the International Criminal Court in Liberia and the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia. These institutions work directly to promote a common human rights standard across the globe and try perpetrators of violent crimes and crimes against humanity. By promoting human security through a variety of endeavors and bodies, the United Nations has evolved both in scope as well as in substance to promulgate a shared sense of humanity.