|
| A NOTE ON MONITORING CEASEFIRES AND PATROLLING BUFFER ZONES |
|
A soldier peers through a set of binoculars from an observation post. This is the classic image of UN peacekeeping. Observing and reporting on truces or ceasefires and the maintenance of buffer zones or demilitarized areas remain important functions of peacekeepers.
Early UN peacekeeping missions in the Middle East, and on the India-Pakistan border, for example, deployed military observers to monitor ceasefire agreements and investigate and report violations. Interpositions of UN peacekeepers to permit and maintain a separation of opposing forces as in the Sinai and on the Golan Heights in the 1970s applied military tactics to preserving peace. The first-ever UN preventive peacekeeping force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (UNPREDEP) performed crucial border monitoring and observation functions as part of an attempt to forestall any spillover of conflict from neighbouring countries. |
| Prepared by the United Nations Department of Public Information | Back to Index |