Hank Berger: Human Rights
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BACKGROUND: UN peacekeeping 'stretched to breaking point'"The U.N. is currently responsible for 18 peace missions worldwide that deploy 112,000 uniformed personnel at the cost of almost $8bn a year," the Financial Times of London reported Tuesday, but "United Nations military operations might have reached their limits, with the two largest peacekeeping operations stretched to breaking point in the past year, the organization's chief peacekeeper warns in a report to be published on Tuesday" by the New York-based Center on International Cooperation. -- Last year saw a "near-collapse" of the peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, Harvey Morris said, and "the Security Council has finally taken note. France and the U.K. have launched a review on how best to fix a system that one diplomat at the UN described as 'breaking at the seams.' -- The new report warns of "the steady blurring of the lines between peacekeeping and war fighting" and "It notes that developed countries were willing to fund and supply U.N. peace missions but were reluctant to commit their own forces"; most U.N. peacekeepers come from developing countries, while developed-world peacekeepers are deployed principally in non-U.N. missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans. -- In addition, "[i]n an era of financial stringency, it was unlikely that funding states would agree to increase the current global expenditure on U.N. peacekeeping. -- The economic pressures were highlighted this month when Poland announced it was pulling out of U.N. missions in Chad, Lebanon, and the Golan Heights, in part because of spending cuts." 1. World
U.N. PEACEKEEPING FORCES STRETCHED TO LIMIT
Financial Times (London) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0ad0f4e4-01c9-11de-8199-000077b07658.html UNITED NATIONS -- United Nations military operations might have reached their limits, with the two largest peacekeeping operations stretched to breaking point in the past year, the organization's chief peacekeeper warns in a report to be published on Tuesday. The warning from Alain Le Roy, under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, appears in a foreword to the annual peacekeeping survey of the New York-based Center on International Co-operation. It comes a year after the center's last review criticized the Security Council for authorizing big new peacekeeping missions round the world in spite of warnings that demands on troop contributors were overtaking their ability to deliver. The U.N. is currently responsible for 18 peace missions worldwide that deploy 112,000 uniformed personnel at the cost of almost $8bn a year. "UN peacekeeping is now at an all-time high," according to Mr Le Roy. In the light of the near-collapse last October of the peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo, the U.N.'s largest, the security council has finally taken note. France and the UK have launched a review on how best to fix a system that one diplomat at the UN described as "breaking at the seams." The crisis was highlighted during a rebel offensive in eastern Congo in October, when protesters stoned a U.N. compound over the alleged failure of peacekeepers to halt the rebel advance. National units of the U.N. force refused to deploy without orders from their own officers. Lieutenant-general Vicente Diaz de Villegas of Spain quit abruptly after only three weeks in command of the U.N. force. Defending his decision not to put forces under his command at risk, General Diaz de Villegas told a Spanish newspaper this month: "There was no assessment of the risks and threats. Security plans had to be revised. There was no plan for intelligence gathering and no reserves." Mr. Le Roy acknowledges that in Congo and in Sudan's western Darfur province "U.N. peacekeepers found themselves in dangerous and violent situations that stretched their ability to function to the very breaking point." The center's report warns of "the steady blurring of the lines between peacekeeping and war fighting." It notes that developed countries were willing to fund and supply U.N. peace missions but were reluctant to commit their own forces. A majority of U.N. peacekeepers still comes from developing countries, notably Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, while developed world peacekeepers are deployed principally in non-U.N. missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans. The review sponsored by France and the U.K. will look in part at whether U.N. forces can be scaled back in territories where they have served their purpose. In an era of financial stringency, it was unlikely that funding states would agree to increase the current global expenditure on U.N. peacekeeping. The economic pressures were highlighted this month when Poland announced it was pulling out of U.N. missions in Chad, Lebanon, and the Golan Heights, in part because of spending cuts.
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