Should We Place Greater Faith in the UN as a Means for Handling Global Conflict - Essay Example

Should we place greater faith in the UN as a means for handling global conflict? Faculty Table of ContentsI. Introduction II. United Nations Organisation III. Peacekeeping Process IV. UN role in Handling Global Conflict V. Conclusion VI. References I. Introduction The paper is about United Nations organisation, its operations, global conflict handling and peacekeeping process. The first section of the paper provides an overview of the UN and its operations. In the next sections the Peacekeeping processes and UN role in handling global conflict is discussed. II. United Nations Organisation The history of United Nations Organisation started with the wartime alliance in January 1, 1942. Its official existence came on 24 October 1945. This was the time the Charter had been approved by countries like China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States and by a majority of other signatories. The official language of UN is Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. There are 192 United Nations member states. It headquarters in New York City. The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was first used in the "Declaration by United Nations" of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. (UN Website) Since 1948 there have been 60 Peacekeeping operations. At present scenario there are 16 peacekeeping operations going on across the world. There a force of around 66,921 as Military personnel and civilian police. 106 Countries are contributing military personnel and civilian police while number of International civilian personnel is 4,475, Local civilian personnel are 7,996 and UN Volunteers are 1,762. The total number of personnel serving in peacekeeping operations is 81,154. Since 1948 there have been approximately two thousand and four fatalities in peacekeeping operations. This fatality figure includes only military and civilian police, civilian international and local personnel in United Nations peacekeeping operations. There approved budget of the UN operations from July 2004-30 June 2005 is about $4.47 billion. There was $3.55 billion worth of approved resources for the period from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. The estimated total cost of various UN operations are around $36.01 billion 1948 to 30 June 2005. About $2.64 billion worth of outstanding contributions was available for peacekeeping as of 31 July 2005. The term “peace enforcement” is coined by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghalis which he has used in his proposal “An Agenda for Peace” for the creation of peace enforcement units. The term was immediately adopted by media groups and the general public to describe UN operations in Somalia and Bosnia. The operations were not of the kind proposed by the secretary-general but the term had been referring to that only. III. Peacekeeping Process and UN Peacekeeping is an ongoing process. When it comes to maintaining peace in world, there are several issues over which two states or within in any state any conflicting situation may arise. This conflicting situation may lead to armed conflict. The primary objective of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces employed at any area is to maintain or re-establish peace in an area of armed conflict. The activities of UN range between the states and within the states depending upon conflicting situations. It acts as an impartial third party. It prepares the ground for a settlement of the issues that have provoked armed conflict. Peacekeeping is defined by United Nations as a way to help countries torn by conflict creates conditions for sustainable peace. (UN Website) The responsibilities of peacekeepers range from understanding the causes and grounds of conflicting issues to monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas. Peacekeepers assist ex-combatants in implementing the peace agreements they may have signed. We distinguish between two kinds of peacekeeping operations - unarmed observer groups and lightly-armed military forces. The latter are only allowed employing their weapons for self-defence. Altogether, 14 UN operations have been carried out. They are evenly divided between observer groups and military forces. The observer groups are concerned with gathering information for the UN about actual conditions prevailing in an area, e.g., as to whether both parties adhere to an armistice agreement. The military forces are entrusted with more extended tasks, such as keeping the parties to a conflict apart and maintaining order in an area. The secretary-generals peace enforcement proposal was specifically related to enforcing cease-fires, rather than using force for a variety of goals short of full-scale enforcement, but this distinction has long since fallen by the wayside. (Baoulden;2001) IV. UN role in Handling Global Conflict There are various types of issues on which conflicting situations may arise between two groups, states or within any state. In a global scenario these conflicting issues are of flowing types: Escalation of Long-Standing Disputes or Rivalries Separatism Black Market Control Bad neighbourhood effects War on Terrorism In late 1990’s the majority of serious warfare were results of long standing disputes which resulted into armed raised conflicts as compared to the new issues. Many of the incidences were result of separatism where people from ethnic groups attempted to gain or tried to maintain their separation form the central authority. Central authorities being unwilling to accept it resulted into conflicting and armed war kind situations. The black market controls were the serious issues impacted the socio-economic conditions of various countries in the world. There was rise in the black marketing of various commodities and assets through illicit trades. The black market of drugs and diamonds flourished and global arms trade became increasingly privatized. Four new conflicts were broken out in late 1990’s. These were armed conflicts in Albania and Kosovo, in the Balkans and Congo (Brazzaville) and Guinea-Bissau in Africa. These were the regions where the warfare had been already beset. In particular regions the new warfare was result of the bad neighbourhood’s conditions. These conflicting situations resulted in on going serious armed conflicts throughout the contemporary period. War on terrorism has been the most burning issue of the century. It has increased in many folds and hampered world peace and economy. Still the conflicts over the war on terrorism are increasing. London bombing, 9/11 and several other terrorist attacks have acted as a reason to response against ‘agents of global terrorism’ by country specific. The forcible ousters of Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001 and Saddam Hussein led Baathist regime in Iraq was result of the same. During Iraq War 2003 the behaviours of US towards UN has been highly criticised and it was told that US could have gained more by investing in UN organisation and supporting the vision of the organisation. The commitment and supportive efforts and contributions of the international community are crucial if peacekeeping is to reach its full potential as one of the main instruments for the maintenance of international peace and security. (General Assembly Report:2001) There was two main reason of the same issue. One was the support to United Nations should be there by all the member countries and second if other nations also follow US in using their dominance and ascendancy that there will be a complex situations of power rise which may cause serious impact on the world peace keeping processes. The tasks of global governance have grown more varied and complex in this age of globalization. While problems of war and peace remain front and centre, the group underlined the need to address the many causes of insecurity in a more holistic fashion. The growing gap between the world’s rich and poor, the ongoing destruction of the environment, and the continuing violation of human rights all pose moral challenges in and of themselves, but they are also now very much linked to international peace and security. (Manor;1999) There are various other issues than the power raise threat in the world community in front of UN. As stated by Romulo, UN has a bigger role in conflict management and peace building of the world. "The UN must be committed to peace missions for a period necessary to establish new and effectual governmental institutions in war-shattered states." According to Romulo the focus on doing as many work as possible in as much little time has been impacting the stability and peace keeping process in a long term as the re-rise of the conflicting situations are very common. The entire effort can be in vain once the conflicting situation reverts back and again results into armed conflicts. The peace missions and peacekeeping processes should not be transitory. UN troops require full support from the world community for the peace enforcement operations. The UN troops if lack in resources or number will have risk of losing in the situation. In this case the parties involved in the conflict will correctly calculate that UN troops will be unable or unwilling to respond with force to violations or provocations. In these kind of situations in any operations States withdraw their troops which enhances the under support situations to the UN troops V. Conclusion Peacekeeping operations require appropriate mandate, political support, resources and timely response. If not provided this basic support any organisation in the world will fail to achieve its objectives. UN has resolved many war conflicts and successfully established peace in various parts of world. It is large, neutral and committed organisation which is consistently doing its effort. It requires more support and authority in terms of maintaining its operations and establishing peace worldwide. VI. References Manor, Adare;1999, Global Governance: Defining the United Nations’ Leadership Role County Limerick, Ireland June 13-18, 1999 retrieved on 10 September 2006 from http://www.stanleyfdn.org/reports/UNND99.pdf Peace Enforcement: The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia. Contributors: Jane Boulden - author. Publisher: Praeger. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 2001 Romulo to UN: RP Has Big Stake in Global Peace; RP Has Big Stake in Global Peace, Romulo Tells UN. Newspaper Title: Manila Bulletin. Publication Date: September 24, 2004. Page Number: NA. COPYRIGHT 2004 Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp.; COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group Boulden , Jane The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia. Praeger: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 2001 United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. Magazine Title: UN Chronicle. Volume: 42. Issue: 3. Publication Date: September-November 2005. Page Number: 74+. COPYRIGHT 2005 United Nations Publications Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects, Implementation of the recommendations of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations and the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations Report of the Secretary-General, Fifty-sixth session, Agenda item 89 2001 retrieved on 9 September 2006 from http://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations/docs/a56732e.pdf Global Conflict Trends, Global Conflict Trends graphs include information through the year 2005, Measuring Systemic Peace (Last Updated April 2006) retrieved on 10 September 2006 from http://members.aol.com/CSPmgm/conflict.htm#method http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1988/un-history.html accessed on 10 September 2006 http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/bnote010101.pdf accessed on 10 September 2006 http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/bnote.htm accessed on 10 September 2006 http://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations/docs/a56732e.pdf accessed on 10 September 2006 Read More