UN Peacekeeping

There has been an unprecedented surge in the number and size of UN peacekeeping operations. In November 2006, 77,740 UN soldiers and police were serving in 18 missions. These personnel came from 108 UN member states. Anticipated operations in Lebanon, East Timor, and Sudan are expected to bring the number of military, police, and civilian staff to 140,000 in 2007. The cost of running so many large operations will boost the annual UN peacekeeping budget to $6 billion. Most of these operations will have robust mandates authorizing UN forces to impose peace and maintain stability.

Historically, peacekeeping operations were authorized under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, which provides for "The Pacific Settlement of Disputes" and seeks to resolve conflicts through "negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice" (Article 33). Traditional peacekeeping operations such as those in Cyprus and the Golan Heights provided UN military observers to monitor cease-fire or peace agreements with the consent of the parties to the conflict. Their purpose was to prevent outbreaks of conflict and peacefully resolve disputes. UN personnel were generally unarmed and were stationed along a line of demarcation, such as a national border. Their role was to report any infractions of the peace agreement, not to intervene to prevent violations.

More recently, peace enforcement missions have been authorized under Chapter VII, which provides for "Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression" and authorizes the Security Council to "take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security" (Article 42). These operations, such as those in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Somalia, were undertaken without the consent of the parties to the conflict and involved armed forces that imposed order in the country. Actually, neither Chapters VI nor VII mentions the words "peacekeeping" or "peace enforcement."

In the midst of the Congo Crisis in 1960, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld famously coined the term "Chapter VI 1/2" to describe peacekeeping operations that have functions that reside somewhere between those covered in Chapters VI and VII of the UN Charter.

Continue to UN Peacekeeping, cont'd.