the process of security sector reform - ISAC Fund

Robert S. Tomasovic PEACE KEEPING MISSIONS
Robert S. Tomasovic PEACE KEEPING MISSIONS
• The UN Civilian Police Division (Department of Peacekeeping Operations)
goals are to: Support the Civilian Police component of the UN
peace operations, enhance planning capacity of police component of UN
operations, assist in enhancing the performance, effectiveness and efficiency
of local criminal justice systems, enhance the ability to deploy a
functional police component rapidly, improve the quality of Civilian Police
representation in the field
• The European police best practice vs. traditional (classic) policing is the
construct under which UN Civilian Police officers work.
• Two traditional measurements of how democratically a police force
operates are: they are responsive to the needs and desires of the public
they serve and they are held accountable within the rule of law.
Part III Civilian Actors in Peacekeeping Operations are characterized by these
points:
• Civilian authorities/politicians authorize peacekeeping operations.
• Host nationals must, at the end of the day, become the government of the
country and of its civil institutions.
• The role of the International humanitarian civilian community − IGOs
and NGOs are to offer assistance, often first in the form of relief to help
meet initial basic humanitarian needs: water, food, shelter, medical care,
etc.
• When the acute humanitarian effects of the conflict have been mitigated,
IGO and NGO civilian organizations should transition to development
assistance to help host national civilians to establish sustainable institutions:
education, rule of law, civil administration − sustainable nation
building.
• International and national civilian agencies that help host national military
personnel to transition to civilian status are essential to disarmament,
demobilization, reintegration, and reconciliation (DDRR).
PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
The first peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Truce Supervision
Organization (UNTSO), was established in 1948 in the Middle East and is still
active today. Since that time, there have been 56 United Nations peacekeeping
operations. Since 1988 there has been a significant increase in Peace Support
Operations, 43 of the 56 have been established since 1988 with 13 still ongoing,
focusing attentions on both United Nations and Multi-National missions.
Peacekeeping in the beginning was a means by which the international community
could encourage the establishment of sustainable peace in places and situations
where conflict threatened or had been recently subdued. Initially developed as
a means to resolve inter-State conflict by deploying unarmed or lightly armed
military personnel from a number of countries, Peacekeepers didn’t fight fire with
fire, but rather observed the ceasefire from the ground and reported impartially on
adherence to it. Therefore for 40 + years peacekeeping was Classic or Traditional
Peacekeeping.
The Classic Peacekeeping period lasted from 1948 – 1988 and the 13 missions
were characterized by these eight points:
• InterState conflict
• Governments functioning and in control
• Government infrastructure intact
• Military and police structures operating
• Judicial systems in place
• International rules operable
• Minimum contact with population
• Minimum involvement with civilian agencies
Following the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s Peacekeeping
challenges changed and can best be characterized by what we can term Nontraditional
peacekeeping. It has involved implementation of complex agreements
and settlements, preventive deployment’s, non-UN Peacekeeping Forces,
UN forces co-deployed with regional peacekeeping Forces, the provision of
Humanitarian Aid, and missions involving peace enforcement. The 43 missions
established since 1988 are characterized by these 10 points:
• Intra-state Conflict
• Governments ineffective or not in control
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