UN Member States Responsibility towards Peacekeeping Deployments

1. ABSTRACT

Peacekeeping has become a norm in today’s society, without which many of today’s stable nations would be locked in turmoil and internal conflict.  Finding the funding to support these missions often rests as a burden on the developed nations whilst the developing countries are often the first to offer their troops for deployment.  Member States of the United Nations have a responsibility and obligation towards international peacekeeping deployments.  Member States understand the benefit that developing countries gain through their deployment and will better allow nations looking to contribute to plan and identify suitable partners from industry, regional governments and the international community to assist these nations in equipping and preparing for these missions.

2. INTRODUCTION

Before understanding the responsibility of countries that are members of the United Nations (UN) towards contributing both physically and financially in global peacekeeping operations, it is important to understand exactly what peacekeeping is and how peacekeeping has evolved since the establishment of the UN on the 24th of October 1945.

In addition to the responsibility that nations have towards their involvement in peacekeeping missions there are a number of benefits to the contributing nations, which cannot be viewed in isolation. In many instances these benefits become such a driving force for nations to decide to participate in peacekeeping missions that it often outweighs the moral obligation to do such.

3. PEACEKEEPING AND ITS EVOLUTION

The UN defines peacekeeping as “a way to help countries torn by conflict to create conditions for sustainable peace.1”  The UN Security Council is chartered with the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security and as such it is also the international body which takes the collective decision to deploy peacekeeping operations.  Peacekeeping operations have become incredibly complex in nature and have become more than being solely responsible for observing the implementation of peace agreements reached by conflicting parties: Peacekeepers now been tasked to oversee the rule of law, assist parties in disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes, as well as to ensure the safety and security of the civilian population in areas of conflict. These multidimensional peacekeeping operations draw on military, police and civilian personnel in order to carry out the objectives defined by the Security Council mandate for a particular mission2.

Not all peacekeeping operations have been successful; however, over the development and evolution of the UN and with the implementation of the Brahimi Report3 and the guidelines outlined in the United Nations Handbook on Multidimensional Peacekeeping Operations4 these missions have become so critical in today’s era that the alternative is simply not an option nor worth mention.

Peacekeeping missions have become so entrenched in the operation of the UN that all member states are required to contribute towards the funding of the various missions globally, of which the total budget is agreed on an annual basis by the UN Administrative and Budgetary Committee.

4. COSTS OF PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS

The UN is highly cost effective organisation in relation to the costs which would be incurred by Nations in conflict should it not involve itself in peacekeeping operations.  There are 92,000 peacekeepers from 113 countries deployed in 20 UN Missions5. The UN is responsible for all of the logistics in terms of moving equipment and personnel and in ensuring all the personnel have shelter and provisions on a daily basis

Conflict in war-torn countries leads to the unnecessary loss of civilian life, casualties of both parties, life debilitating injuries, infrastructural destruction and economic collapse – all of which would cost far in excess of the cost of the UN’s involvement in the maintenance of peace and security.  The UN peacekeeping budget for the period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010 was estimated at $8.2 billion at the Fifth Committee on Administration and Budgeting6. This represents less than 0.5% of world expenditure on defence equipment and services.  Each member state of the UN is “legally obliged to pay their share of peacekeeping costs under a formula that they themselves have established.7” Despite this legal obligation many nations have accrued substantial debt with the UN thus directly affecting their standing within the UN. The United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, China and the Netherlands are the leading nations in terms of contribution towards peacekeeping operations8.  Interestingly, these nations are not the leading nations in terms of personnel contribution towards the various UN peacekeeping missions.

5. CONTRIBUTING NATIONS

In contrast to those nations who are the leaders in meeting their contributions to the UN, the 10 leading nations contributing troops are all developing nations, namely; Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Nepal, Rwanda, Ghana, Jordan, Egypt and Italy.

These nations contribute towards 60% of all UN military and police personnel9. The Chart below graphically depicts these nations contribution in relation to the other 107 troop-contributing nations.  It is not surprising to find developing nations eager to deploy troops into various UN Missions as these nations are compensated for the deployment of their troops and equipment.  These nations often have a history of internal instability and military coups, low-paid military and police personnel as well as rising UN Debt. In addition, many of these nations neighbour the areas in which the UN has or will be deploying missions.

6. BENEFITS TO CONTRIBUTING NATIONS

As many of the contributing nations are developing countries, these countries often do not have sufficient equipment in order to meet the requirements stipulated by the UN. Contributing Nations are tasked by the UN to deploy into a particular mission under 3 different criteria10:

A recent trend within UN Mission deployment is to request nations to contribute under self-sustainment, particularly in new UN Missions where existing UN infrastructure is not established and where the contributing nation can deploy at the same cost, or more cost effectively than the UN would be able to do from their own resources. For such deployments the UN typically requests nations to deploy a full battalion comprising between 500 and 1500 personnel. The illustration below depicts a typical deployment structure. Contributing nations may not be required by the UN to establish Platoon level Camps and may opt to combine the Battalion Headquarters with one of the Company Camps.

The equipment required for nations to deploy under self-sustainment often puts huge pressure on these nations to acquire equipment from numerous suppliers thus making co-ordination with deployment incredibly complex. In addition many of these suppliers cannot offer flexible financing structures and often call on the purchaser to effect 50% down-payment and the balance by way of a Documentary Credit.

Even in instances where contributing nations have planned these acquisitions and incorporated the cost of the equipment into their budgets, many of these countries simply cannot procure all of the required equipment in a single budget period, and often require this equipment to be supplied on a turnkey basis coupled with a financing structure which allows the Governments to pay for the equipment over several budget years.  This presents its own challenge as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have regulations in place to ensure developing economies do not over extend themselves in debt.

Thus the need to find a sole source supplier able to offer medium- to long-term financing, in line with IMF and World Bank Regulations, is an immense challenge. In instances where contributing nations are able to meet these deployments from their existing inventory, this reduction in inventory creates a reduction of equipment for internal security, border patrol and ongoing training of military and police personnel.

The benefits that accrue to nations contributing military and police personnel is evidenced by the number of developing countries contributing towards UN missions throughout the world. These benefits clearly outweigh the challenges illustrated and nations are searching for organisations to assist them in meeting their commitments and obligations to UN Peacekeeping missions.  Military Personnel in many developing countries struggle to cover the costs of operating their own military.

Families of soldiers often rely on them as a sole source of income. These families often grow as the soldiers have to take up responsibilities for siblings when family members are taken through injury and illness. This naturally leads to depression, anxiety and rash actions as the individual fights to find means to provide for his family.

This presents new challenges for senior command and Governments striving to maintain internal stability in these developing economies. By contributing towards peacekeeping missions the individual is able to earn compensation from the UN which greatly assists the…

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