The fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was given to soldiers serving the United Nations in its efforts at securing peace might appear as an anomaly. One of the stipulations of Alfred Nobel for the ideal recipients is that they should have done the most or the best work for the "abolition or reduction of standing armies". But the award needs to be seen in light of world events at that time. It reinforces the universally accepted idea that the United Nations peacekeeping forces operate in the spirit of the Nobel Prize, that they exist to prevent hostilities, and to pave the way for peaceful solutions to emerge in conflict areas by the use of negotiation and persuasion instead of violence.
The cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States and the resultant nuclear arms race were realities the world faced in the decades following the Second World War, causing global insecurity and fear of catastrophic annihilation. In this insecure climate, the new technique of peacekeeping came about as an alternative to war and conflict. A "practical reassessment of the realities of international peace and security has ... emerged. Sixteen peacekeeping operations and countless good offices missions by successive Secretaries-General have been the backbone of this effort", said then Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in his Nobel Lecture, calling the peacekeeping operation "the United Nations' most successful renewal".
The role of UN peacekeepers has since evolved into a more "interventionist" nature; troops are generally available for dispatch to troubled areas on a voluntary basis and upon the approval of the UN Security Council. They can be stationed in areas where a ceasefire has been established but a formal peace treaty is still being finalized. Comprising both lightly armed troops and unarmed observers, they represent non-partisan authority and can help greatly in diffusing volatile situations by their mere presence.
Advocating the route of "consensus, conciliation, good offices, diplomatic pressure and non-forceful, cooperative peacekeeping", Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar saw the evolution of peacekeeping as a useful, practical indication of how international authority could be built and sustained. Using soldiers as "catalysts for peace rather than instruments of war", he characterized peacekeeping as the exact opposite of military action against aggression, and non-fighting soldiers of peace as a symbol of international authority providing "an honourable alternative to war and a useful pretext for peace".
United Nations interventions using observer groups date back to 1948, when the armistice between Israel and the Arab States was placed under international observation. The first full-fledged UN peacekeeping force—United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF)—was established in 1956 with contributions from ten nations to supervise the retreat of foreign troops from the Suez Canal area. Subsequently, in 1967 and again in 1974, peacekeeping forces monitored and defused hostilities in the Middle East. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)—the most extensive operation in that region—was created to monitor events on the ground after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978, assisting in the maintenance of peace during the Israeli withdrawal and helping the Lebanese Government re-establish its authority. Reduction of tension in that region has come with a heavy price: nearly 250 UNIFIL personnel have lost their lives.
In the Congo, UN peacekeeping missions played an important role in containing a raging civil war after its independence from Belgium in 1960. The United Nations again paid dearly in this operation, as it lost its dynamic Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, in a plane crash. Peacekeeping has been an ongoing process also in other regions where fundamental causes of conflict remain, such as the Indian subcontinent and Cyprus, but where international intervention has contained hostilities.
"In conflict situations, it is ... vitally necessary that there are openings where real negotiations can be initiated. In the opinion of the Nobel Committee, the United Nations peacekeeping operations contribute precisely to this", said Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, in his presentation speech in January 1989, further citing the "mobilization of troops from countries all over the world as a tangible expression of the world community's will to solve conflicts by peaceful means".
"The Committee believes also that the peacekeeping operations and the way they are carried out contribute to making the ideas which were the very reason for the establishment of the United Nations a reality. This year's Peace Prize should therefore also be regarded as a recognition of the whole organization—the United Nations. The Prize gives expression to the hope we all place in the United Nations." In his concluding statement, he lauded the role played by young people in the UN peacekeeping forces, whose contribution "makes the realization of the United Nations aims possible in a positive way". |
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