Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
Today, UNHCR is one of the world’s primary humanitarian aid agencies, extending
help to more than 20 million refugees in 120 countries. As a humanitarian, nonpolitical
organization, UNHCR has twin aims: to protect refugees in all respects, and to assist them
to return to their original countries or to start anew in a country of permanent refuge.
Given this, UNHCR is concerned with issues pertaining to the maintenance of human
rights, an area it considers to be part of its mandate. It therefore seeks ways to guarantee
a refugee’s legal protection and entitlements, in line with the conventions to which countries
have attached themselves and in conjunction with other UN agencies.
UNHCR has worked actively in assisting refugees in many of the world’s trouble-spots:
in the Balkans since 1991, in Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, and in East
Timor and Cambodia for years on end, to name several. Many other peoples at risk, such
as those who have been internally displaced, also come under UNHCR’s umbrella. The
agency realizes, however, that it cannot solve all the problems of refugee relief by itself, and
consequently it has entered into close agreements with other humanitarian agencies, such
as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization for
Migration, and some five hundred other nongovernmental agencies. The UNHCR is
based in Geneva, Switzerland.
United Nations Peace Forces (UNPF). Established in April 1995, this was the
umbrella term for the three distinct UN peacekeeping missions in Bosnia, Croatia, and
Macedonia following the massive violence that wracked the former Yugoslavia in the
1990s.
United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. All UN peacekeeping operations are established
by the UN Security Council and directed by the UN Secretary-General (usually
through a special representative of the secretary-general). The force commander or the
chief military observer is responsible for all military and on-the-ground aspects of the
operation.
Peacekeeping operations take many shapes and forms, depending on the geopolitical
and sociopolitical circumstances, as well as the situation on the ground. Among some of
the many tasks that peacekeepers undertake are implementation of comprehensive peace
settlements, maintenance of cease-fires and separation of forces, preventive deployment,
and protection of humanitarian operations. Some operations may be carried out by military
observer missions (which are composed of unarmed officers whose job is generally to
monitor an agreement or a cease-fire), while others are handled by peacekeeping forces
on a Chapter VI mandate (in which case the troops have weapons but are mandated to
use them for self-defense purposes only) or a Chapter VII mandate (in which case the
troops can engage in battle, if need be, with the combatants).
Since the United Nations does not have its own military force, it must depend on member
states to provide, on a voluntary basis, the personnel and equipment needed for all
operations. Each member state works out an agreement with the United Nations in regard
to how many soldiers it will provide, the length of their tour of duty, the type of equipment
that will be provided, et al. While individual peacekeepers continue to wear their
own nation’s military uniform, they are identified as UN peacekeepers by a blue helmet,
beret, or badge.
Over the past decade and a half or so (1990–2007), numerous problems have arisen in
regard to UN peacekeeping operations. Many of the problems were directly related to the
fact that the United Nations does not have its own army and that participation by
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