ConflictBarometer_2015

MEASURES OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION
advanced after the United Kingdom terminated its mandate
over Palestine in 1948. In the follow-up, the newly-founded
UN assumed responsibility for peace efforts in Israel and
its neighboring countries. Since then, 69 peacekeeping
operations have been deployed, with a big majority - 56 in
total - since 1988. UN military personnel served to alleviate
political tensions on international, and, more recently, on
national and subnational levels. Their activities are guided by
the notion of international peace and security by non-military
and preventive actions.
In 2015, the UN Department for Political Affairs (UNDPA)
and the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
administered 28 country missions in total. Out of these,
16 were peacekeeping missions which in total deployed
106,245 uniformed personnel and 16,791 civilian personnel.
The UNDPA conducted eleven missions with the assistance of
its special envoy system and other regional representations,
employing a total of 838 uniformed personnel as well as 915
international officers and 1,819 local staff.
Most peacekeeping missions were carried out in the Middle
East and Maghreb (Western Sahara, Syria, Lebanon, and the
UN Truce Organization) as well as in the Sub-Saharan region
(Côte d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Liberia,
Mali, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan). In Asia, the DPKO
oversaw the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the
state of Jammu and Kashmir [→ Pakistan India]. In Europe,
the DPKO mandated two missions in Cyprus and Serbia,
respectively [→ Cyprus (TRNC / Northern Cyprus); Serbia
(Kosovo)]. In the Americas, one mission was carried out in
Haiti in order to support national reconstruction after the
2009 earthquake.
UNDPA supervised 24 operations and offices, among which
five consisted of political representations to regional organizations
and coalitions (AU, West Africa, Cameroon-Nigeria,
Central Africa, and Great Lakes). Eleven missions were
field-based operations, five missions were conducted in
the Middle East and Maghreb (Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Middle
East, and Afghanistan), three missions were located in Sub-
Saharan Africa (Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, and Sudan - South
Sudan), and one in Central Asia. In the Americas, one UNDPA
mission was present in Guyana and Venezuela. Eight new
missions supervised by the UNDPA were launched under
the special UN envoy system to the UN Secretary-General
(Cyprus, Yemen, Sahel, Syria, Western Sahara, Myanmar, and
FYROM-Greece). In total, 123 UN personnel was killed in
the course of operations, amounting to a slight decrease
compared to the previous year (126).
EUROPE
As of 1990, a common European security policy for conflict
prevention was created with the objective to promote regional
dialog and a permanent basis for political consultation.
After the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, a ''mutual
assistance and solidarity clause became the politico-military
foundation which allowed for the creation of the European
External Action Service (EEAS). Since then, about 30 civilian
and military operations have been launched under the EU's
Common Defense and Security Policy (CSDP).
In 2015, six military and eleven civilian missions were
conducted under the CSDP. Further, EEAS targeted crisis
situations concerning the Syrian civil war, the situation in
Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as several ongoing conflicts
in the Sub-Saharan region. On May 18, the European Council
approved the Crisis Management Concept for a military
CSDP operation to prevent smuggling and human trafficking
networks in the Southern Central Mediterranean. In collaboration
with NATO, military operations were conducted
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the EU deployed 7,000
troops for the purpose of capacity building and training.
The OSCE commits itself to politico-military cooperation in
its 57 participating countries in and beyond Europe. Its
mandate encompasses the development of ''security-related
concerns, including arms control, confidence- and securitybuilding
measures, as well as counter-terrorism, political
state building, and economic and environmental activities.
In 2015, the OSCE administered 17 operations, primarily
in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in order to foster the
development of national rule of law and the expansion of
democratic institutions. The largest mission was carried out in
Kosovo, where the OSCE accompanied and supervised judicial
institution building and national reconciliation processes
[→ Serbia (Kosovo)]. The war over the status of Ukraine's
Donbas region with at least 4,000 fatalities was of concern
to the members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission [→
Ukraine (Donbas)]. Due to disagreements between the EU
and Russia, inter alia over the political status of Crimea, the
EU suspended several bilateral agreements and negotiations
and imposed a range of economic and political sanctions [→
USA, EU et al. Russia]. The OSCE mission in Baku, Azerbaijan,
expired as of December 31.
AMERICAS
In 2015, various UN agencies observed and assisted with the
political situation in Haiti, continuous drug trafficking activities,
subsequent cartel rivaling, anti-corruption measures,
and internal displacement of large populations [→ Haiti (opposition);
Mexico (drug cartels); Colombia (FARC); Colombia
(ELN)]. With regards to DPKO's Stabilization Mission in Haiti
(MINUSTAH), operations aimed at providing assistance to the
political and economic reconstruction of the country. UNDPA
conducted one other mission in Guyana and Venezuela,
where it helped to assist the implementation of national
elections. The UN with the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
(CND) passed several resolutions targeting drug trafficking
in the Americas. Further, OHCHR - in order to alleviate the
humanitarian situations of IDPs in Colombia - maintained
nine offices operational in approx. 80 communities affected
by armed conflicts.
Regional cooperation on a supranational level in the Americas
was only slowly emerging. Although the Organization
of American States (OAS) was considered the oldest international
organization of regional cooperation, it lacked power
to bind and sanction its members if these were not under
the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
(IACtHR). Colombia's request to the OAS for a meeting concerning
the lack of security at the Colombian-Venezuelan
border failed to muster the necessary votes, whilst offers of
support by UNASUR and the UN were ultimately not taken up
[→ Venezuela Colombia (border security)]. Building upon
the activities of the UN-led anti-impunity body in Guatemala,
Honduras indigenous peoples sought to establish a similar
institutional mandate against government corruption [→
Honduras (opposition)]. Despite OAS-led and UN-backed negotiations
advocating for a comprehensive national reform,
the government rejected the proposal.
The IACtHR passed 18 decisions in 2015, of which most
were related to questions of subnational predominance and
autonomy between indigenous peoples and state authorities.
Another important decision concerned the case of
Ayotzinapa calling responsibility on 80 suspects for the alleged
abduction and killing of 43 students [→ Mexico (public
security)].
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