The Charter of the United Nations gives the UN Security Council the power and responsibility to take collective action to maintain international peace and security. UN peacekeeping has 60 years of experience and is an indispensable tool in tackling difficul issues such as illegal trafficing in arms, drugs or people, terrorism, refugee flows and damage to the environment. UN peacekeeping is a aiming to place post- conflict societies on the path to lasting peace and democratic government and is the most efficient form of international intervention.
United Nations department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
The DPKO is planning, preparing, managing and directing UN Peacekeeping Operations. It provides political and executive direction to UN Peacekeeping Operations. Each Peacekeeping operarion has a specific set of mandated tasks, but they all aim to alleviate human suffering and create conditions and build institutions for self- sustaining peace. UN as a third party in a conflict has direct impact on the political process. Peacekeeping operations may consist of a military component, which may or may not be armed. Various civilian components engage in a broad range of disciplines. Peacekeeping missions may be required to prevent an outbreak of conflict, stabilize a conflict situation and assist in implementing peace agreements.
The UN Security Council authorized peacekeeping missions provide legitimazy to any intervention and express the commitment of the entire international commnity to take tangible action to address the risk at hand. UN peacekeeping must accompany a peace process and is often working along side partners such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), The European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) or the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
UN peacekeepers monitor and observe peace processes in post- conflict situations and assist conflicting parties to implement the peace agreement they have signed. UN Peacekeeping is impartial and widely accepted when taking effective action.
More than 90.000 personnel are currently serving on 18 Peacekeeping Operations on four continents. Of these, almost 64.200 are troops and military observers, ca. 7.500 are police personnel, almost 5.250 are international civilian personnel, more than 11.300 are local civilian personnel and about 1.720 are UN Voulnteers.
108 countries contribute with military and poilce personnel.
Since 1945, UN peacekeepers have undertaken 60 field missions and negotiated 172 peaceful settlements that have ended regional conflicts. They have enabled people in more than 45 countries to participate in free and fair elections.
Peacekeepers are increasingly charged with assisting in political processes, reforming justice systems, training law- enforcement and police forces, and disarming former combatants. Exemple: Under the disarmament programme in Sierra Leone, the UN Mission destroyed 42.330 weapons and more than 1.2 million rounds of ammunition and disarmed 75.490 combatants including 6. 845 child soldiers.
