Dubai International Academy Model United Nations 2024

Forum: The First General Assembly

Issue: The question of strengthening peacekeeping forces in harsh political
climates
Student Officer: Muhammed Mert Ozen
Position: Deputy Chair

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Introduction
United Nations backed peacekeeping forces have been an important yet controversial
topic in modern politics. Founded in 1945, United Nations peacekeeping forces, under
the jurisdiction of the Department of Peace Operations (DPO), is tasked with protecting
and monitoring a war torn country in order to ensure peace and prevent conflict. Since the
United Nations itself does not possess an army, peacekeeping forces are often volunteers
from member states of the United Nations. Following a peace agreement, factions
involved may request peacekeeping troops from the United Nations in order to maintain
and monitor the enforcement of a peace agreement. Since peacekeeping forces often
come from many different states, the United Nations is less likely to side with any one
faction.

The United Nations peacekeeping operation has been a crucial actor in shaping the
aftermath of a conflict.

There has been criticism towards UN peacekeeping forces. Firstly, there has been
instances in which UN peacekeeping forces have participated in crimes such as sexual
assault and theft (as seen in kosovo).

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Furthermore, UN peacekeeping forces have also been criticized due to incompetence.

For example, United Nations peacekeeping forces could not acts of violence taking place
(rwandan genocide and srebrenica massacres are an example)
Finally, another viewpoint of the UN peacekeeping forces is that they are simply too
weak. The United Nations relies on the goodwill of member states; if no state chooses to
participate in peacekeeping, then there will not be sufficient resources to maintain a
peacekeeping region. In addition to this, peacekeepers for the United Nations lack
property authority to retaliate or defend a settlement incase of attack. An instance of this
can be seen in bosnia when dutch battalions of the untied nations failed ot protext a city
which subsequently resulted in the srebrenica genocide.

In conclusion, there are many outstanding perspectives on United Nations peacekeeping

forces. Whilst some may argue it ultimately benefits the beneficiary, others think that
these peacekeeping forces are simply too uncoordinated to fulfill an objective, and
finally, there is in fact an opinion that the United Nations peacekeeping framework
should be strengthened in order to provide peacekeeping missions more autonomy over
its purpose.

Definition of Key Terms

Peacekeeping
Peacekeepers protect civilians, actively prevent conflict, reduce violence, strengthen security and
empower national authorities to assume these responsibilities. This requires a coherent security
and peacebuilding strategy that supports the political strategy.
Peace agreement
A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or
governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties.
Genocide
the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with
the aim of destroying that nation or group.

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Reconciliation
Restoration of friendly relations
UNDPO
department of the United Nations charged with the planning, preparation, management and
direction of UN peacekeeping operations

]
Key Issues
Lack of resources allocated for United Nations peacekeeping effort
As mentioned above, United Nations peacekeeping troops were often unable to
prevent conflict and maintain peace due to lack of resources.

One example of this can be seen when United Nations peacekeeping troops were
unable to prevent the genocide of bosniaks done by the serbians.

The srebrenica region was systematically targeted by the army of Serbia during the
second half of 1992 and the beginning of 1993. Since it was an enclave of Bosniak
government control, humanitarian assistance was denied by the Serbians who
controlled the surrounding regions. Due to the appalling treatment of Bosniak
people in Srebrenica, and their neglectance, the United Nations attempted to
establish a garrison to monitor the region and protect non combatants of violence.
The establishment of this garrison was called United Nations Protection Force
(UNPROFOR)This garrison however, was not only incharge of srebrenica, but
numerous cities and towns in Croatia and bosnia.

However, this was largely unsuccessful in 1993 because they lacked proper
support from United Nations member states. Since UNPORFOR had no clear
authorization for protecting the region, they were unable to fight against serbian
forces.

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In February of 1994, UNSC resolution 819 declared the town of srebrenica as a

‘safe zone’ that was free from armed attack or any other hostile act. The force
responsible for defending srebrenica was now allowed to use self defense if
confronted with an attack. Furthermore, this allowed UNPROFOR to negotiate a
treaty for the bosnian forces within the town to disarm whilst the serb forces
threatened the city to withdraw.

The UNPROFOR garrison within Srebrenica was composed mainly of the

dutchbat (dutch battalion). They were tasked with enforcing peace in the area.
However, due to a lack of resources, they did not have high fighting strength. As a
result of this, the Serbians, who sensed these weaknesses, invaded the safe zone in
1995. The United Nations peacekeeping troops there were unable to defend
civilians because
1) They lacked the strength to successfully fight back
2) They were specifically tasked to protect themselves in case of attack, not
civilians.
Henceforth, the serbian forces overwhelmed the city and committed acts of
genocide against the bosniaks ask living in that area.

The events leading up to the bosnian genocide demonstrate the ineffectiveness of

the United Nations peacekeeping effort and so attracted alot of criticism from the
outside world. If the United Nations allocated more resources towards the
srebrenica region, and if they allowed United Nations peacekeeping troops to
defend civilians, this could have possibly prevented the deaths of civilians in
srebrenica.

Inherent self interest of states within conflicts between nations

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Oftentimes, the state will act based on its self interest. An example of this can be
seen in the tragedy of the Rwandan Genocide.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda was created 1993 to enforce
the stipulation of the Arusha Accords.

There were many reasons for the events leading up to the genocide.
Firstly, the Rules of Engagement significantly restricted peacekeeping troops
within the region to intervene in a violence to protect civilians- this caused many
civilian deaths.

Secondly, there was a divided mandate. Originally there to enforce the stipulations
of the arusha accords, soon the United Nations had to also start humanitarian
support towards civilians because of the unanticipated increase in violence, which
the United Nations was not expecting.

Finally, States were concerned with their own national interests in the region.
United Nations peacekeeping troops within the region were poorly funded and
lacked resources to properly maintain a mandate simply because states were not
willing to commit the peacekeeping efforts. When violence broke out, all of the
states were focused on evacuating their citizens. States also began to withdraw
their troops from the region because they feared that conflict may get out of hand
and result in casualties . For example, Belgium withdrew after the death of 7
Belgian soldiers. Italy and Canada also withdrew due to security reasons. France
was more interested in protecting their interested in the region rather than
preventing the rwandan gencodie, this is because they continued to support the
tutu led government before the during the genocide

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Overall, the rwandan genocide assistance mission was a massive failure due to the
states own self interests rather the United Nations humanitarian interests.

Major Parties Involved and Their Views

Consensus of the P5

All of the P5 share the view that peacekeeping is necessary to maintain peace and
prosperity within a region. Although some of the P5, such as Russia and the USA, have
opposing views on political issues worldwide, they are still willing to cooperate with one
another. All of the P5 agree that the United Nations peacekeeping effort should be more
robust and encourage the United Nations to actively improve peacekeeping efforts. It is
also important to recognize that each of the P5 has always participated in peacekeeping,
or abstained from participating due to national interests.

Rwanda and Bosnia

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Considering both Rwandas and Bosnia's history with peacekeeping, both states believe
that the United Nations should strengthen the peacekeeping framework in order to
prevent escalation of violence between two parties and to ensure the enforcement of two
rules. Since both states were victims of genocide, they adress the issue of strengthing the
peacekeeping efforts seriously.

Development of Issue/Timeline

Date Event Outcome

UNPROFOR 1992-1995 United Nations peacekeeping Mostly a failure of the United

troops tasked to protect Nations peacekeeping forces to
civilians living in certain parts enforce demilitarization in safe
of bosnia and croatia zones, subsequent genocide of
bosniaks living in srebrenica.

UNAMIR 1993-1996 United Nations peacekeeping Violence broke out, States

troops deployed to enforce the abandoned the peacekeeping
arusha accords. cause; resulted in the rwandan
genocide.

UNMIK 1999-2008 United Nations peacekeeping Largely successful. Evidence

mission responsible of sexual abuse done by United
Establishment of civil Nations peacekeeping troops in
administration in kosovo, the region, murder and theft
promote peace between was also common.
ethnicities living in the region
and reconstruct infrastructure
in kosovo

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Previous Attempts to Solve the Issue

Brahimi Report 2000
The Brahimi Report, which was spearheaded by Algerian diplomat Brahimi, brought
forward several changes to reform the United Nations. For example, rules of engagement
was altered so that it allowed the UN peacekeeping troops more authority and
authorization over peacekeeping missions, this was done due to the limitation of the rules
of engagement of the UN which caused the Rwandan genocide. In addition to this
change, a greater emphasis was placed on reviewing current missions, their effectiveness,
and evaluation regarding whether or not they may require additional assistance. Mandates
for Protection of Civilians was brought as a requirement in any future peacekeeping
missions. A Standby Arrangements System was created. This system had a pool of troops
and resources ready to be immediately deployed to a conflict zone. This decreased
response time in deploying emergency peacekeeping troops in a conflict.

Possible Solutions
Adapting United Nations peacekeeping to modern politics

With the advancement of new technology, such as drones and satellite imagery, can be
beneficial for the use of sharing intelligence to peacekeeping troops and keeping them
aware of any threats. Another consideration should be the training of United Nations
peacekeeping troops- should they all be trained collectively to be up to standards? Each
country has a different intensity of training, as a result the quality of troops may differ
from each country- this is inconsistent. Finally, another consideration should be the
accepted use of allying international organizations related to the region, this will allow
for conflict to be defused quicker.

Bibliography

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https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/historical-background.shtml
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brahimi-Report
https://www.britannica.com/event/Srebrenica-massacre
https://studycorgi.com/the-united-nations-strengths-and-weaknesses/
https://betterworldcampaign.org/mission/kosovo-unmik

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