Conflict Management Toolkit | Approaches | Peacekeeping

Tasks

The following categories of tasks carried out by military personnel and civilian police can be considered the core of PKOs: the verification of respect of cease-fire agreements, safe areas and troop withdrawal; preventive deployment; the separation of forces and their demobilization (both regular forces and paramilitary militias) including the collection and destruction of weapons; mine clearance, training and awareness programs; the establishment of secure conditions for the delivery of humanitarian aid and return of refugees; direct humanitarian assistance to refugees and disaster areas; and electoral support.

Verification

The task of verification of adherence to cease-fire agreements, safe areas, and troop withdrawal covers the most traditional military activities of first generation PKO. It can be divided into two categories: verification of troop withdrawal and human rights monitoring.

The first task consists of confirming the withdrawal of the different parties' troops beyond the borders agreed upon in the cease-fire or peace accord: international borders in traditional PK, and also regional or intra-state borders or ceasefire lines in Second Generation PKO. However, ceasefires between loosely organized parties in internal conflicts are often unstable, requiring a more active mission and rules of engagement.

Human Rights Monitoring is typical of Second Generation PKOs and is of fundamental importance in countries torn apart by civil wars and ethnic conflicts. The protection of minorities and the guarantee against discrimination and abuses are essential to assure a safe return of displaced people and promote national reconciliation.

Both activities require articulated presence on the ground; actual control of the territory; and tactical mobility. Real control over the region to be monitored can be attained only with a sufficient amount of personnel and adequate equipment.

Preventive Deployment

Peacekeeping deployments traditionally have an indirect preventive function to prevent re-ignition of the conflict and new escalation of violence once the fighting has been interrupted by an agreement. With the UN mission to Macedonia as the first example, Peacekeeping forces can also be deployed in situations of increasing tension in order to avoid escalation or to deter the spillover effect of a neighboring conflict.

Troops deployed with preventive mandate can perform monitoring and observation functions and be kept actively trained to show readiness for rapid deployment and deter bellicose intentions. Operations with Conflict Prevention as their main goal should be formed by heavily armed troops. In many cases long-standing monitoring and observation missions have not provided any form of disincentive for parties to re-escalate the conflict and resume the fighting.

Disarmament and Demobilization

One of the most complicated and delicate tasks of PKOs is the separation of forces; their demobilization; and the collection and destruction of weapons. These are necessary preconditions for a lasting peace. These operations consist of four different components:

• concentration of forces in designated assembly areas
• collection and destruction of weapons held both by troops and civilians
• demobilization of troops
• reintegration of soldiers either into civil society or newly created national military forces.

The process is referred to as DDRR - Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration, and Reconstruction. The restoration of economic and social structures is necessary to facilitate the reintegration. The cooperation of the parties is fundamental, nevertheless peacekeepers must be provided with sufficient means and trained personnel, investigative powers and a clear mandate to enforce agreed measures.

A failure to disarm constitutes a major obstacle to the resumption of peaceful social relations, fuels the continuation of hostilities and eventually the re-escalation of the conflict.

The task is most complicated in the presence of paramilitary forces and irregular militias. These forces normally refuse to cooperate even when an agreement exists between peacekeepers and the major factions or parties to the conflict. In these cases the alternative presented to the peacekeepers is to choose between policing functions and defense of safe areas, or enforcement of the disarmament risking violent clashes. Enforcement requires extended military capabilities and presents high risks. It is often more effective to implement voluntary programs of disarmament offering different kinds of rewards and guarantees in exchange of returned weapons.

Mine Clearance, Training, and Awareness Programs

Land mines constitute a major and notorious feature of modern conflicts. In Cambodia, Angola, Somalia, and Afghanistan hundreds of thousands of land mines have been scattered over large areas of the territory. Even after the end of the conflicts anti-personnel and anti-tank mines continue to cause damage and casualties. Mine clearance is a necessary precondition to the return of refugees and displaced persons, the resumption of normal social life and the recovery of economic activities. Peacekeeping personnel intervene in three different ways: clearance, training and education.

De-mining has become a fundamental activity of every PKO, with specialized personnel constituting the vanguard of every mission. The second phase of the intervention consists of the training of local staff for the identification, marking and removal of land mines. Given the amount of mines scattered, it would take too much time and financial resources to proceed exclusively with Peacekeeping personnel. The third phase of the intervention consists of the organization of education programs to promote awareness in the local population and to teach the recognition and avoidance of mines. These programs are coordinated with a growing number of specialized NGOs.

Establishment of a Secure Environment

The protection of the activities of relief agencies and NGOs constitute an integral part of Second Generation PKOs. The guarantee of secure conditions is fundamental for the success of humanitarian missions and Peacebuilding operations. Nevertheless, military support to humanitarian missions in areas of ongoing conflict constitutes a novelty and remains a controversial issue, posing major problems of coordination between military and civilian personnel possessing different goals and priorities in the operations. Conditions are especially complicated in countries where political institutions have collapsed and humanitarian intervention is authorized without the agreement of all the parties to the conflict and before the end of violence. A military presence is necessary for the protection of aid workers, but at the same time it risks provoking a violent reaction from the conflicting parties. These missions cannot exclusively rely on military enforcement capabilities but rather on the negotiation of local agreements with the forces involved in the conflict.

Direct Humanitarian Assistance

Humanitarian interventions are carried out most comprehensively and effectively by specialized agencies and NGOs. Peacekeepers nevertheless play a fundamental role especially during the first phases of the mission, bringing emergency relief in the form of medical assistance, shelter, water, food and clothing. Military personnel are equipped and trained to intervene at short notice in conditions of crisis, in geographical areas difficult to reach and in situations of scarce security.

Electoral Support

Free and fair elections are an important step in providing areas of conflict with administrations legitimized by popular support. Elections are a delicate instrument and can be effectively introduced only after the stabilization of political and social relations. Once the situation is normalized it is fundamental that every party perceive the process as free and fair. Peacekeeping personnel can support the electoral process in three ways. First it can provide technical and logistical assistance. Second it can assure the security of the equipment and of the personnel charged with running the election; a further step in this task is the provision of security for supporters of every party taking part in the election, to assure that everybody votes freely. The third contribution of the military personnel to the voting process is the physical monitoring and control of every phase of the election, including voter registration, campaigning, balloting and counting of votes. These activities ensure that irregularities and interferences do not undermine the legitimacy of the vote.

The multiple functions of PKOs can be divided as follows into three overlapping categories of tasks: Military, Political, Humanitarian.

Source: Encyclopedia of International Peacekeeping Operations, ABC-CLIO, 1999