The United Nations peacekeeping forces are an important force of the international community for the maintenance of world peace under the leadership of the United Nations Security Council, and are designed to uphold the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations, to calm conflicts and to create conditions for the peaceful settlement of disputes while respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries concerned, with the aim of maintaining world peace.
The United Nations peacekeeping forces were originally non-combat operations of the armed forces, but the international situation after the Cold War prompted the peacekeeping forces to expand the scope of their functions to other areas, such as large-scale humanitarian assistance, relief for refugees and victims of disasters, international supervision of nuclear installations, and forced to stop the internal conflicts of the countries in which they are stationed, etc.; the emergence of a well-equipped regular forces in the peacekeeping forces; the United Nations peacekeeping forces are involved in a series of more complex, but the The mission is more ambiguous, but the UN peacekeeping forces are involved in a series of more complex but more ambiguous activities to rebuild the country, such as supervising ceasefires, dismantling armies, destroying weapons, supervising the repatriation of refugees, providing humanitarian assistance, supervising the administrative structure of the country, training new police forces, and supervising and organizing general elections; the sources of peacekeeping forces have been expanding, and the five permanent members of the United Nations have begun to contribute peacekeeping forces. UN peacekeeping operations have placed greater emphasis on the use of force; between 1990 and 1995, the Security Council adopted 11 resolutions authorizing military action against Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and so on. Moreover, the number of mandatory sanctions imposed by UN peacekeeping has also increased. From 1990 to 1998, the Security Council adopted 12 mandatory resolutions authorizing economic sanctions and arms embargoes against Iraq, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Libya, Liberia, Haiti, Angola, Rwanda and other countries. The forms of United Nations peacekeeping operations have diversified. Regional organizations have formed their own peacekeeping forces in various forms, and so-called "non-UN peacekeeping forces" have emerged.
U.N. Peace-keeping Activities (联合国维持和平行动) refers to the use of non-forceful means under the authorization of the UN Security Council to help parties to a conflict to maintain, restore and ultimately achieve peace.
As of May 2004, the U.N. had 15 peacekeeping forces deployed in Asia, Africa, and Latin America***, including 53,000 troops and 11,000 U.N. staff from 94 countries. 2004 budget for U.N. peacekeeping operations was more than $4 billion. Of the 15 peacekeeping operations, the longest running is the Middle East Truce Supervision Organization (METSO), established in 1948, which was also the first UN peacekeeping operation. The shortest was the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, established in July 2000. Of the 15 peacekeeping operations, 4 are in Africa (UNMEE, UNMEE, UNAMSIL, MINURSO), 2 are in Asia (UNTAET, UNMOGIP), and 5 are in Europe (UNMIBH, UNFICYP, UNOMIG, UNMIK, UNMIK, UNMOVIC, UNMISET, UNMIT, UNMIT). Mission, UNMIK, UNMIK, UNMOP), and 4 in the Middle East (UNDOF-Syria Golan Heights, Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission, Lebanese Forces, Middle East Truce Supervision Organization).
Peacekeeping is one of the key functions of the United Nations. UN peacekeeping is an operation to restore or maintain peace by dispatching a peacekeeping force or military observer mission to a conflict area in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Security Council or the General Assembly. Its purpose is to prevent the expansion and resurgence of conflicts in localized areas, thus creating conditions for the realization of a political settlement. The tasks of a peacekeeping operation include supervising ceasefires, truces and troop withdrawals; disengaging the two parties to a conflict; observing and reporting on the situation; helping to implement a peace agreement; preventing illegal border crossings or infiltration; and maintaining law and order in the conflict area. In recent years, as the international situation has changed, the scope of the mandates of United Nations peacekeeping operations has expanded to include many non-traditional tasks such as supervising elections and referendums, protecting and distributing humanitarian assistance, and helping with mine clearance and the return of refugees to their homes. Participants in peacekeeping teams include civilian police and civilian personnel in addition to military personnel.
The establishment of a peacekeeping operation is generally decided by the Security Council, and has occasionally been decided by the UN General Assembly throughout history. Its implementation is decided by the UN Secretary-General in consultation with the Security Council. Peacekeeping operations take two main forms: military observer missions and peacekeeping forces. The former are generally composed of unarmed military personnel, while the latter are composed of armed military contingents. Because peacekeeping operations are non-compulsory, military observers are not allowed to carry weapons; although peacekeeping troops are armed, they are not allowed to use force without authorization, unless they are compelled to do so in self-defense. United Nations peacekeeping operations are temporary measures, generally for a certain period of time, and can be extended by the Security Council on a case-by-case basis upon the recommendation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The most basic requirement for peacekeeping operations is that they must not interfere in the internal affairs of a country.
According to the Charter of the United Nations, the United Nations can stop international conflicts in the following two ways: first, a purely diplomatic way, that is, through good offices, mediation to resolve disputes; second, a coercive way, through blockades, embargoes, economic sanctions and even the dispatch of the United Nations forces and other coercive measures to stop the conflict. Peacekeeping operations are the so-called "third way" between diplomacy and coercion that has emerged in the practice of mediation and settlement of regional conflicts by the United Nations.
Peacekeeping operations are mainly divided into two categories: UN peacekeeping operations under the direct leadership of the Secretary-General (in the form of military observer missions and peacekeeping forces) and peacekeeping operations approved by the Security Council and authorized by the Secretary-General, with the participation of regional organizations or major powers in the command of the peacekeeping operation (in the form of multinational forces and "humanitarian intervention forces").
The United Nations peacekeeping operations have three main characteristics: international: organized by the United Nations, with members from all Member States, under the command of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and accountable only to the United Nations; non-compulsory: a peacekeeping force can be established only with the consent of the country in question and with the voluntary participation of Member States, and it is not authorized to take coercive measures in the case of peacekeeping and can only use force in self-defense; neutrality: the peacekeeping operation must be impartial, unbiased, and interfering. Neutrality: peacekeeping operations must be fair, impartial and non-interference in internal affairs.
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) was established under the United Nations Secretariat and is specifically responsible for peacekeeping operations. However, each specific peacekeeping operation has to set up a special body, each peacekeeping body is generally composed of military personnel and civilian personnel, have a set of perfect systematic organization. Usually, military personnel are responsible for peacekeeping duties, while civilian personnel are responsible for administrative and logistical work.
The personnel participating in peacekeeping operations are mainly composed of three parts: first, peacekeeping troops equipped with light weapons for self-defense; second, military observers without any weapons; and third, logistics sub-units such as engineers, medical personnel, and transportation. Peacekeeping troops and military observers remain members of their own national armies and are subject to the military rules, orders and regulations of the contributing countries. They are under the command of the United Nations in peacekeeping operations. Peacekeeping officers and soldiers wear their national military uniforms. To identify themselves as peacekeepers, they always wear a blue beret or helmet and the UN insignia.
Soldiers in UN peacekeeping missions owe no allegiance to the UN. Governments that voluntarily contribute military personnel and civilian police retain ultimate authority over their respective troops serving under the UN flag. The United Nations reimburses countries that voluntarily contribute personnel to peacekeeping at a flat rate of approximately one thousand dollars per soldier per month, and the United Nations also reimburses countries for the cost of equipment.
Traditional peacekeeping operations can be divided into two basic categories: observer missions composed of unarmed military observers to monitor ceasefires, troop withdrawals, or the implementation of related agreements; and peacekeeping forces equipped with light weapons for self-defense to secure ceasefires, de-escalate the situation, and create conditions for the resolution of disputes.Since the late 1980s, the number and size of U.N. peacekeeping operations have increased dramatically. At the same time, in addition to continuing to undertake traditional duties such as monitoring ceasefires, their mandates have expanded dramatically to include organizing and supervising elections, maintaining law and order, resettling refugees, creating a secure environment for humanitarian relief operations, disarming factions, clearing landmines, and rebuilding the country, among other things.
According to the statistics of the UN peacekeeping department, in the more than 50 years since the dispatch of the Truce Supervision Organization (TSO) to Palestine on May 29, 1948, the United Nations has carried out more than 50 peacekeeping operations in various conflict areas, with peacekeeping expenditures exceeding 19 billion U.S. dollars, and more than 800,000 military, police, and civilian personnel*** participating in the peacekeeping operations, and about 1,800 people have been killed in peacekeeping operations. In 2003 alone, 98 peacekeepers from 40 countries lost their lives in the line of duty. Peacekeeping operations have become one of the most important means for the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. UN peacekeeping forces were awarded the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2002, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating May 29th of each year as the International Day of Peacekeepers.