RIDGE POLITICAL REVIEW
  • Home
  • Domestic
  • International
  • Opinions
  • Economics
  • Local
  • About
  • Contact
  • All Articles

All Articles

A Defense Of Offensive Peacekeeping

5/19/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture

By Albert Wu

The UN has been successful for decades since its creation, solving conflicts, providing humanitarian aid, and solving poverty. The United Nations was an organization created after the failure of the League of Nations after World War 2. After seeing so much violence and terror in the period of World War 2, the world wanted to eliminate war and create eternal peace throughout the world. To do this they decided to create a global multinational organization in which all of the problems that existed within the League of Nations did not exist. However, before the UN could actually start their mission, they needed some sort of army. The army they built up was named the UN Peacekeepers. The UN Peacekeepers was a military force made from the donations of all the countries among the organization. Its mission was to settle conflicts around the world and to protect civilians in danger. The peacekeeping organization has been growing immensely. The organization has received a huge increase in money since the 1990s, with its funding growing by almost four times(1). The amount of personnel serving the UN peacekeepers have also grown immensely with the total count of military, civilian, and police staff at 124, 000 in 2010(2). This growth should mean that operations will go more effectively right?

Wrong. Despite the huge growth in budget and troops of the UN peacekeepers, recently, they just have not been able to work productively and efficiently in their peacekeeping missions. In the recent decades, peacekeepers have done poorly and ineffectively in missions. Two of the most prominent examples that show this are their failures in Rwanda and Bosnia. In Rwanda, U.N Peacekeepers stood around and did nothing to defend the Tutsis, as Hutus came in and started massacring Tutsis. Due to the Peacekeepers ineffectiveness, the Rwandan genocide costed the lives of 800, 000 Tutsis(3). In addition, the Bosnian failure, shows the UN peacekeepers’ inability to be effective. In Bosnia, the UN declared multiple safe zones where Muslims could stay safe in, however, after declaring the safe zones, UN peacekeepers just stood by as they allowed Serbs to enter and slaughter thousands of Muslims(3). Thats not all. Not only did Peacekeepers fail to be effective, they ended up being captured and used as hostages. This just further shows how weak and ineffective the organization is. Now, you must be wondering how exactly the UN Peacekeepers could have failed with their increased strength and budget.

Despite their high amount of troops and high supplies, peacekeepers are still unable to carry out their missions effectively. Being a peacekeeper is a very dangerous job as peacekeepers are sent to areas of high conflict and risk. Thus, the death and injury rate for this job is quite high. Foreign Policy reported that,  “The Sudanese government and rebel groups are trading accusations over responsibility for the recent deadly attack on the U.N. peacekeepers. Seven U.N. personnel were killed, and more than a dozen were injured in the attack, which took place… as a U.N. convoy moved between two bases” (4). It is no surprise, why such high fatalities exist among the Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers are entering a conflict in which two sides are engaging in armed combat with each other and are at risk of being attacked by either sides. This is due to their neutrality in the conflict. This means that peacekeepers do not join either side of the conflict until one side steps over the line (5). Peacekeepers follow this code in order to create a situation in which they can follow their rule of using minimum force in their missions. Peacekeepers are only allowed to engage in combat and use their weapons in the case of self defence(5). This may be the actual reason behind the recent failures and high fatality rates among UN Peacekeeping mission. Peacekeepers are forced to wait for the enemies to come to them and are forced to stick to the defensive. This causes huge unpredictability in the missions that they take and cause ineffectiveness.

So if defensive operations are not going as well as the UN needs them to, should we go for the opposite spectrum? That is exactly what the UN Security Council has been thinking in the present. They are deciding to test out a new style of operations that they have never tested before, one that is far different from their usual style of defensive operations. In 2013, the Security Council has authorized the creation of a task force specific to these new offensive operations. According to the UN, this task force, known as the “The international brigade—the muscular element, dubbed the “peace enforcer”—will use weapons and equipment that include attack helicopters to mount offensive operations and unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to gather intelligence”(6). These new forces are now able to do what the past Peacekeepers could not have done since their creation, to target dangerous rebel groups and to eliminate them before they can cause a huge amount of fatalities and damage. This force that was created has already shown the huge potential in its operations. According to the International Peace Institute, the intervention brigade in Congo has already seen results in disarming and defecting rebel groups just upon creation(7). The first actual success of the brigade is their defeating of the rebel group M23, which has been causing havoc in Congo for around 20 months(8). This shows the true capability of offensive operations and their ability to solve conflicts. This new reform might be the key to solving the ineffectiveness of defensive operations. Was the success in the offensive operation just a fluke, or was it actually the answer to fixing the UN Peacekeeping Organization? We can only find out, by looking at what the future has to hold for the UN Peacekeepers.
​
1.http://law.wustl.edu/harris/documents/p_69_Wedgwood.pdf
2.http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/present.shtml
3.http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55875/max-boot/paving-the-road-to-hell-the-failure-of-u-n-peacekeeping
4.http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/15/how-dangerous-is-u-n-peacekeeping/
5.http://law.wustl.edu/harris/documents/p_69_Wedgwood.pdf
6.http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2013/un-chief-teams-world-bank-leader-resolve-conflict-and-fight-poverty-congo
7.https://www.pksoi.org/document_repository/doc_lib/IPI_Pub_UN_Intervention_Brigade_%283-Jul-13%29.pdf
8.http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/11/u-n-peacekeeping-goes-on-the-offensive/
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    Aadhavaarasan Raviarasan
    Adam Smith
    Albert Wu
    Alex Liao
    Alex Timoney
    Alicia Jen
    Alison Shim
    Andrea Lan
    Andrew Falduto
    Anvi Mahagaokar
    Atreya Misra
    Ayla D'Silva
    Bardia Vaseghi
    Benny Sun
    Bharat Sanka
    Brandon Lu
    Brian Wen
    Brinda Gurumoorthy
    Caitlin Schiffer
    Camille Shen
    Caroline Margiotta
    Caroline Sha
    Catherine Chen
    Cathy Chen
    Chloe Yang
    Christine Wang
    Daniel Pittaro
    Daniel Zhang
    Davis George
    Deeptanshu Singhvi
    Dilara Shahani
    Ellee Tomaru
    Emily Pan
    Emily Wang
    Erin Flaherty
    Felix Zheng
    Hitha Santosh
    Howard Wei
    Injae Lee
    Jacob Clott
    James Gao
    Jasmine Xie
    Jedson Boyle
    Jennifer Huang
    Joey Walter
    Jonathan Nemetz
    Jon Jen
    Julia Roos
    Kaitlin Smalling
    Katherine Wang
    Katie Kleinle
    Kevin Tang
    Kevin Yang
    Kishan Gandham
    Kunal Damaraju
    Kyanna Ouyang
    Logan Aviles
    Lucas Canteros-Paz
    Maggie Hsu
    Mariam Khan
    Mark Stachowski
    Mason Krohn
    Meghan Mangini
    Michael Shaw
    Mimi Petric
    Namita Kalghatgi
    Noah Smith
    Oliver Tang
    Omar Bekdash
    Pasha Saidi
    Priya Mullassaril
    Raheel Abubakar
    Ranen Miao
    Rayhan Murad
    Robert Johnson
    Ryan Walsh
    Saamia Khan
    Saloni Singhvi
    Sam Klein
    Sarah Ouyang
    Shaina Spector
    Shaurya Ganjoo
    Shiam Kannan
    Sunjay Melkote
    Tim O'Shea
    Tim Tang
    Vicki Liu
    Victoria Lu
    Vivek Gurumoorthy
    Wei Wen
    Willa Yu
    Zayna Kutty

rpr

About
Home
Read All
​
Contact

Sections

International
Domestic
Economics
​Opinions
Local
​
Search Site
© COPYRIGHT 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Domestic
  • International
  • Opinions
  • Economics
  • Local
  • About
  • Contact
  • All Articles