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1 A history of UN peacekeeping The history of UN peacekeeping is intertwined with the evolution of the concept and practice of these operations. In this research study, the term ‘concept’, in the context of peacekeeping operations, refers to agreed-upon UN principles regarding the objectives, principles for success, and managerial and organisational aspects of the operations. The term ‘practice’, on the other hand, refers to the actual implementation of the operations and the political conduct of the states with regard to those conflicts where the decision is
conflicts’ have we, as journalists, hoped to bring to light? That expression is used a lot with regard to the DRC. But what ‘neglect’ are we talking about when, in terms of budget, the DRC has the largest UN peacekeeping mission and hundreds of active national and international NGOs? I understand how the language of emergency, crisis and neglect appeals to the communications people at emergency medical NGOs, and I make no judgements about the relevance of its use – these are
this is legal, since 2006 ( Daccord, 2018 ). The British Red Cross also admitted ‘a small number’ of sexual harassment or abuse cases in the UK ( Gillespie et al. , 2018 ). This sits in a longer international context, including the controversies around UN peacekeeping forces, starting with Cambodia in 1993, encompassing Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, DRC and Haiti, which led to the UN concluding in 2013 that the biggest risk in peacekeeping
for failure). UN peacekeeping operations have been used in a similar way, as have international criminal tribunals. All suggest that something is ‘being done’, but in most cases these processes do little to stem the tide of ordinary human suffering. Think of the treatment of refugees trying to enter Europe today. A second function of humanitarianism is in reinforcing the sense that order, and non-violence, is the natural equilibrium in international affairs. The breakdown in order, the chaos and the dying and killing that comes through
are not contracted by either donor governments or operational humanitarian agencies to protect the wider civilian population ( Singer, 2006 ). In some contexts, the government insists on humanitarian agencies travelling with military escorts as a condition of access to particular areas ( Bradley, 2016 : 148). Where UN peacekeeping forces are present, UN agencies (and sometimes international NGOs) may travel to unsecure areas under their escort, as
-raped several foreign women, singling out Americans and forcing the foreigners to watch. They also carried out mock executions, beat and robbed people and looted the compound. Throughout the attack, those at the compound appealed unsuccessfully for help to the UN peacekeeping force stationed less than a mile away, as well as to the US and other embassies. Eventually, South Sudanese security forces rescued all but three foreign women and around sixteen staff. Reports of the incident first became public only a month later, when several victims spoke with an Associated Press
June , www.rescue-uk.org/press-release/irc-statement (accessed 27 September 2020 ). Jennings , K. M. ( 2019 ), ‘ Conditional Protection? Sex, Gender, and Discourse in UN Peacekeeping ’, International Studies Quarterly , 63 : 1 , 30 – 42 . Kagumire
diplomatic correspondence, which includes official governmental exchange of letters, professional reports to the organisation on the concept and practice of different operations, and published official literature such as the United Nations’ periodicals and yearbooks. A different corpus of sources is the official documents of states which had specific influence on a particular peacekeeping operation. The outline of the book Chapter 1: A history of UN peacekeeping offers a brief review of United Nations peacekeeping operations from 1947 to 2014. The purpose of this chapter
further UN involvement.54 Then when a few months after the deployment of UNAMIR, in February 1994, the Belgian Government recommended the enlargement of the force, commentators again suggest this was rejected by the UK and US, both of which objected to the increasing cost of UN peacekeeping. Alan Kuperman writes of this decision: ‘The United States and Britain blocked this initiative citing the costs of more troops and the danger that expanding the mission could endanger peacekeepers’,55 and Melvern claims that the US and UK ‘adamantly opposed’ the Belgian plans to
. New York: United Nations. Dharmapuri, S. 2013. “Not Just a Numbers Game: Increasing Women’s Participation in UN Peacekeeping.” In Providing For Peacekeeping No. 4. New York: International Peace Institute. Enloe, C. 1989. Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. London: Pandora. —— 2004. The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in the New Age of Empire. Berkeley: University of California Press. Gender Advisory Team. 2010. “Annual Progress Report.” UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Department of Field Support. Hall, N. 2009