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Third, to better look into lessons learned, it is critical that we examine some missions that have impacted the concepts of peacekeeping and peace-building. There have been many things learned from these missions but only the observations made regarding peace-building need to be examined for the purpose of this paper.
In Cambodia “the overall mandate for UNTAC stemming from the peace agreements was too ambitious, unrealistic, and this included giving the military component more than it could handle (e.g., disarmament, cantonments, demobilization, assuring security throughout the country); the peacekeeping troops were used flexibly and selectively under its UN command in peace-building activities, including transportation of goods and supplies, support of refugee repatriation and reintegration, de-mining, some road-building and farming-livestock training, and the invaluable role they played in providing security for elections…some interesting peace-building projects were taken on by the Cambodian military, but it [was] difficult to tell how much they were inspired by the UN model and how much they were motivated by politics and commerce as distinct from a commitment for the military to play a genuine nation-building role.”18 The notions of clarity of purpose and setting an achievable mandate were born from UNTAC.
One of the most encouraging efforts in peace-building can be found in both Haiti and Kosovo. Here, the United Nations learned that cooperating with or intervention by regional organizations is a good idea. Although UNMIH’s basic mandate was to provide security, aid in the electoral process, and assistance in the establishing of a functioning police force, a partnership between OAS and the UN in MICIVIH was created. This collaboration, ”which worked to monitor, protect and advance human rights and also engage in training and institution-building with the judiciary, prisons and the police, and its relations with peacekeepers and with UNMIH, deserves careful attention”19 In Kosovo, peace-building has been undertaken from a development standpoint leading to the recovery of communities thus enabling the Kosovars to participate in the rebuilding process.
The mistakes in the UNOSOM missions have made it clear that peace-building has to involve the local peoples. It is pointless to build peace for the short-term; rather, the people should be actively involved in the process so they may shape their own future. Somalia and all the other examples mentioned have paved the way for the UNTAET mission in East Timor. The United Nations now seems to be applying the lessons they’ve learned. UNTAET so far seems to be empowering the local communities; it is engaging in capacity building for policy building and implementation, it has a mandate that involves a wide range of activities with emphasis on development for basic institutions of the state, and it is coordinating with other humanitarian organizations. This is true peace-building.
It is not the intention of this paper to claim that peacekeeping is of no value and that it is less important than peace-building. Of course peace-building is vital, but in a world connected through globalization and communication, we ought to do more. We shouldn’t simply solve problems as they emerge, but should actively work towards their prevention. We have witnessed that states, often with the encouragement of many of their citizens, are reluctant to pay some of their arrears to the United Nations. It might be fair if states are reluctant to pay their arrears and contribute to civic education in the formal school systems that can build positive social values and promote democratic governance. We should encourage educators to integrate the concept of peace-building into school curricula and teach our youth about peaceful co-existence, the importance of good-governance, respect for human rights and peaceful means of conflict resolution. Although peacekeeping might evolve as the world changes, we need to have our youths ready to cope with those changes. They must be well equipped to fight for peace.
Peace-building, as witnessed in Somalia, will never work if the people whom the peace-builders are attempting to help are not involved. An equal amount of time should be spent on addressing the long-term root causes of conflicts such as underdevelopment, environmental degradation, poverty and gender inequality. We should promote self-sustainability and self-sufficiency - after all peacekeeping missions are seen as third parties and do not work as a long-term solution.
It is indeed a serious reflection on the callousness and indifference of the international community that, in the case of developments in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Rwanda, the states who were involved were not provided with all of the available information and data on the events that led to the crisis, the stances of the political leaders, the nuances that were to significantly affect the attitudes of the parties of the conflict, factual details of the mission area, and so forth. This lack of honesty has cost the international community greatly.
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Ahmad Rashady
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Nice! Yambwa, Nziya Jean-Pierre | Jun 17th, 2004
A very comprehensive explanation on peacebuilding and peacekeeping. Well detailed and useful for peacebuilders
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