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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
preferences of key actors interacted in intra-state peacekeeping environments in the early 1960s, and juxtapose the ensuing normative synthesis with the ideational attributes of the 1990s, which took shape in a different historical structural setting. Emerging normative basis on the eve of double ‘peaks’ The emergence of UN peacekeeping missions can be traced almost as far back as
This study explores the normative dimension of the evolving role of the United Nations in peace and security and, ultimately, in governance. What is dealt with here is both the UN's changing raison d'être and the wider normative context within which the organisation is located. The study looks at the UN through the window of one of its most contentious, yet least understood, practices: active involvement in intra-state conflicts as epitomised by UN peacekeeping. Drawing on the conceptual tools provided by the ‘historical structural’ approach, it seeks to understand how and why the international community continuously reinterprets or redefines the UN's role with regard to such conflicts. The study concentrates on intra-state ‘peacekeeping environments’, and examines what changes, if any, have occurred to the normative basis of UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts from the early 1960s to the early 1990s. One of the original aspects of the study is its analytical framework, where the conceptualisation of ‘normative basis’ revolves around objectives, functions and authority, and is closely connected with the institutionalised values in the UN Charter such as state sovereignty, human rights and socio-economic development.
In the early twenty-first century, children fathered by foreign soldiers during and after conflicts are often associated directly with gender-based violence. This book investigates the situations of children born of war (CBOW) since the Second World War, provides a historical synthesis that moves beyond individual case studies, and explores circumstances across time and geopolitical location. The currently used definitions and categorisations of CBOW are presented together with an overview of some key groups of CBOW. Specific conflict areas are chosen as key case studies on the basis of which several core themes are explored. These conflicts include the Second World War (1939-1945) with the subsequent post-war occupations of Germany and Austria (1945-1955). The Vietnam War (1955-1975), the Bosnian War (1992-1995), some African Conflicts of the 1990s and early 2000s, in particular in Rwanda (1994) and Uganda (1988-2006), are also examined. In the case studies, the experiences of the children are explored against the background of the circumstances of their conception. For example, the situation of the so-called Bui Doi, children of American soldiers and Vietnamese mothers is examined. The experiences of Amerasian CBOW who were adopted into the United States as infants following the Operation Babylift and those who moved as young adults following the American Homecoming Act are juxtaposed. The book also looks into the phenomenon of children fathered by UN peacekeeping personnel as a starting point for a discussion of current developments of the international discourse on CBOW.
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