United Nations Peace Operations Report Progress in All Regions

Overview

UN Photo, 27 September 2002

President Xanana Gusmão of Timor-Leste (l), UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Prime Minister of Portugal José Manuel Durão Barroso (r) at flag-raising ceremony at UN Headquarters, New York, marking Timor-Leste’s admission as 190th UN Member State

United Nations peace operations yielded major dividends for a number of countries in 2002. Highlights of the year included:

• The independence of East Timor, now renamed Timor-Leste, following two and a half years of UN transitional administration and the UN-organized popular consultation that preceded it;
• Progressive restoration of peace and security in Sierra Leone with UN support for the disarmament and demobilization of former combatants—leading to the dissolution of the armed rebel movement—and for the conduct of national elections;
• The establishment under UN guidance of the Interim Authority and the Transitional Administration in Afghanistan on the basis of the Bonn Agreement, which the UN helped negotiate;
• The successful completion of the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina after seven years of police reform, resulting in the creation of a restructured and effective national police force and State Border Service.

Ninety contributor countries

In all, the United Nations maintained 15 peacekeeping operations and 13 political and peace-building missions in 2002. They ranged in strength from a handful of international and local staff, to thousands of military, police and civilian peacekeepers. As many as 90 UN Member States contributed uniformed personnel to these operations. There were five peacekeeping missions in Europe, four in Africa, four in the Middle East and two in Asia and the Pacific. The UN also maintained a number of liaison offices to support peacekeeping work in the Balkans. Four UN peace-building support offices and nine UN political offices maintained roles in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and in Central America.

As of November 2002, some 44,000 military personnel and civilian police were deployed in peacekeeping operations globally. Working with these uniformed personnel were some 3,661 international and 7,962 local civilian staff. The work of the peacekeepers and peacebuilders covered a wide spectrum of needs, from disarmament and demining to legal reform and the protection of human rights, often under conditions of extreme physical hardship and danger. In the course of the year, 52 civilian and military personnel lost their lives while engaged in UN peace operations.

A snapshot of peace operations in all regions in 2002 follows.