| Certain factors are critical for the success of any UN peacekeeping operation. The international community must diagnose the problem correctly before prescribing peacekeeping as the treatment; there must be a peace to keep; and all key parties to the conflict must consent to stop fighting, and to accept the UN role in helping them resolve their dispute and to the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission. Members of the Security Council must agree on a clear and achievable mandate. Deployment must proceed quickly.
The international community has to be prepared to stay the course. When the UN Security Council authorizes a mission, it also summons the Member States to support the United Nations politically, financially and operationally in addressing that specific situation. Real peace takes time; building national capacities takes time; rebuilding trust takes time.
Some key issues currently facing UN peacekeeping include:
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- Personnel: Finding troop contingents for burgeoning peacekeeping operations—and increasing the participation by “northern” countries—remains a major concern. However, a larger challenge is meeting demands for the recruitment of thousands of skilled police officers and civilian staff with expertise in justice, civil administration, economic development or other specialized fields. UN peacekeeping must also secure other capabilities such as tactical air support, field medical facilities and movement control operations.
Ideally, these personnel would have some knowledge of the language, culture and political situation of the country concerned. They also must be available for deployment on short notice. DPKO has, for example, started to develop a standing police capacity. The UN places a high priority on training and building rosters of rapidly-deployable, qualified staff. All personnel must embrace a “duty of care” for the host populations, and management—both military and civilian—must be held accountable for the conduct of all those who serve. Those found to have committed sexual misconduct, for example, are subject to disciplinary action, repatriation and prosecution where laws are found to be broken.
- The need to restore basic services and government: In the past, international donors have been reluctant to pay for civil service salaries or basic office equipment in local administrations. Currently, however, there is a growing consensus on the need for the UN to shore up basic state services, including the judiciary, civil administration and public utilities and to return post-conflict societies to normality and stability as quickly as possible.
- Law and order: The UN has included the rule of law as a critical part of mission planning and has made considerable progress in establishing a capacity to support activities by police, judiciary and corrections in ongoing operations.
In post-conflict societies, a judicial system—legal frameworks, courts, judges and prosecutors, prisons—must be able to render independent and fair justice at an early stage. If the local police force has lost credibility with the population, it may be necessary to deploy a temporary international force or to undertake a comprehensive retraining programme. The situation may call for a tribunal dedicated to redressing past war crimes, or for a truth and reconciliation commission.
- Elections and restoration of democracy: Several peacekeeping missions have been mandated to conduct or support the local organization of elections. Elections are not a quick fix, however, and the UN has learned the importance of creating the right conditions first, including an acceptable level of security, a legal framework, a transparent voter registration process and a constitution drafted and accepted by all parties.
- Security: A secure environment is crucial for the success of a peacekeeping mission. A peacekeeping operation may require large numbers of troops in the initial period of the mission to provide stability and security until a credible local police force can be built up and ex-combatants demobilized.
Following the unprecedented attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003, Secretary-General Kofi Annan ordered a review of the entire United Nations security system. As a result, all elements of the UN security system are now organized under the Department of Safety and Security, and security of field missions has been bolstered.
- Collective action: The United Nations, through the Security Council, has provided a forum for the countries of the world to decide together how to respond to threats to peace and security. The contentious diplomatic prelude to the Iraq war inspired the Secretary-General to appoint a high-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, to come up with new proposals for collective action. He then submitted his own agenda for change in his 2005 “In Larger Freedom" report, focusing on the links between development, human rights and security as key bases for tackling global problems. Some of these proposals were endorsed at the September 2005 World Summit, where world leaders acknowledged the value of UN peacekeeping and agreed to establish a Peacebuilding Commission as a forum for international players to work out a common strategy for countries emerging from conflict, to ensure they do not lapse back into war.
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