UN Peacekeepers: A force for peace, change and the future

Maswood Alam Khan from Cockeysville, Maryland, USA | Published: May 29, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

There is a difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking. Peacemaking is much more daunting than peacekeeping. The United Nations (UN) can do both if only they are not short of resources and have all the major powers solidly behind them. The UN can move forward on any mission only if all the five Permanent Members of the Security Council say, "Okay."
In some circumstances, it is never easy to differentiate between peacekeeping and peacemaking, or peace enforcement. That is the reason why it was virtually impossible for the UN to make a real dent in ensuring peace or resolving a war on many occasions.
Moreover, the present UN Charter does not authorise the world body to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.
Today is the "International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers", which is commemorated each year on the 29th day of May. This is the date on which in 1948 the first UN peacekeeping mission named the "United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation" (UNTSO) began operations in Palestine. The theme for this day of 2014 is: "UN PEACEKEEPING: A Force for Peace; A Force for Change; A Force for the Future." This is an occasion to salute the 'Blue Beret'-wearing peacekeepers.
This is also a special day of pride for Bangladesh. Thousands of active personnel from Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Police have been actively involved in many UN-sponsored peace missions. On this day in 1988, former president Hussain Muhammad Ershad initiated deployment of Bangladeshi forces in a UN peace mission for the first time. Bangladeshi personnel, as members of UN peace missions, have been deployed in many countries. The countries include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Namibia, Cambodia, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique, former Yugoslavia, Liberia, Haiti, Tajikistan, Western Sahara, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Georgia, East Timor, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire and Ethiopia.
As of November 2013, Bangladesh contributed the second highest number of total personnel to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations with more than 8500 personnel from the armed forces and police.
This is a day of poignancy, too, for many countries including Bangladesh. This day is a time to mourn fallen peacekeepers. During its history, more than 3,200 "Blue Berets" enrolled from different countries have died while devoting their lives to peace, including 106 men and women in 2013. Among the fallen peacekeepers are 88 Bangladeshi peacekeepers, out of whom eighty-four belonged to the Bangladesh Army, one to Bangladesh Navy and three to Bangladesh Air Force.
Dag Hammarskjöld, the former UN Secretary-General (1953-1961), played an important role in the development of United Nations Peacekeeping at a time when Cold War rivalries often paralysed the Security Council. The earliest armed peacekeeping operation (the UN Emergency Force (UNEF-I) took place under Dag Hammarskjöld to address the Suez Crisis. He died in an airplane crash while en route to what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo to negotiate peace. After his name the United Nations established in 1997 the "United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Medal", a posthumous award, "as a tribute to the sacrifice of those who have lost their life as a result of service in peacekeeping operations under the operational control and authority of the United Nations"
To mark the Day at UN Headquarters, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony this morning and then will preside over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal will be awarded posthumously to the military, police and civilian personnel who lost their lives while serving in peacekeeping operations in 2013.
Among many peacekeepers who died in 2013 and would be awarded "Dag Hammarskjöld Medal" today are five Bangladeshi peacekeepers: Sainik Md. Sanowar Hossain, died on December 14, Corporal Md Rafiqul Islam, died on December 11, Leader Anowarul Islam Khan, died on April 14, from Bangladesh Armed Forces and Sub Inspector Mossammat Farida Yeasmin, died on  April 18, and Assistant Sub Inspector Md. Azizur Rahman, died on June 05, from the Bangladesh Police.
Today, more than 116,000 UN personnel from more than 120 countries serve in 16 peacekeeping operations in some of the world's most volatile and dangerous environments. At great personal risk, these military, police and civilian personnel help stabilise communities, protect civilians, promote the rule of law and advance human rights. Currently, UN Peacekeeping operations receive contributions of military and police personnel from 122 Member States.
United Nations peacekeeping is modernising to ensure that it can tackle tomorrow's peace and security challenges. It is improving logistics, deploying new technologies, strengthening infrastructure and taking other steps to better protect civilians and boosting the representation of women among its ranks. Since its beginning in 1948, United Nations peacekeeping has evolved into one of the main tools used by the international community to manage complex crises that threaten international peace and security.
Since 1948, the UN has helped end conflicts and foster reconciliation by conducting successful peacekeeping operations in dozens of countries, including Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mozambique, Namibia and Tajikistan. The UN has built up an impressive record of peacekeeping achievements over more than 60 years of its existence. The UN Peacekeeping Forces won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.
UN peacekeeping, however, had many setbacks. They have been challenged and found wanting, for instance in Somalia, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
Most of the UN peacekeepers come from poor developing countries. Often they are asked to keep a peace that never existed or has a little chance to prevail or to restore an imaginary democracy.
Call it peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace-enforcement, or anything else, one thing is clear: Powerful countries decide the missions and poor countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Jordan mainly supply the soldiers who, in their trademark Blue Berets, would have to remain busy operating in the wide grey zone between war and peace.
maswood@hotmail.com