The idea of world peace is, in itself, a relatively recent idea. Not so long ago, all over the world, and in Europe in particular, every generation had had "its" war. A certain fatalism towards war was rooted in our mentalities.
War was almost considered as inevitable and peace was only a vague utopian dream.
WWI and WWII. Faced with the largest catastrophes in human history, men and women around the planet began to dream of a better, peaceful world.
Thus, shortly after World War II, on October 24, 1945, 51 States ratified the United Nations Charter with the hope of freeing our world from the possibility of war. The UN was thus created and equipped with instruments that its predecessor lacked.
The UN established several programs intended to reduce, as much as possible, all the factors leading to outbreaks in conflicts.
These programs did not only focus on peace keepers, who intervene after a conflict has erupted, but also on economic and social development, human rights, and the struggle to end world poverty and hunger.
Indeed, all of these United Nations programs contribute directly or indirectly to the prevention of conflicts and thus to peace on earth.
It is certainly true that, in the last 50 years, not everyone in the world has known peace, but it is gradually gaining ground. The dream of peace in the world is becoming less and less utopian and more and more attainable.
The three preceding fact sheets presented the culture of peace in the context of our daily lives; this one discusses peace at the international level. It describes the role of United Nations agencies, programs and departments in the prevention and peaceful resolution of international conflicts. In addition to these institutions, other international organizations are contributing to peace on earth, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and regional organizations.
The Preamble to the United Nations Charter clearly stipulates the mission of this organization.[1] The Preamble states that the United Nations was founded to prevent and resolve international conflicts and help build a culture of peace in the world. These intentions are reflected in the different agencies, departments and programs of the United Nations.
The United Nations and Conflict Prevention
There are many types of conflicts, with diverse origins and numerous consequences. Conflicts can occur among States or, conversely, within the same State. The former often result from claims for such things as land or natural resources, including water, oil or diamonds (e.g. Sierra Leone).
On the other hand, conflicts within a country generally stem from other types of dissension. The sources can be ethnic, religious or environmental in nature or be due to illiteracy or the unequal sharing of resources.
Indeed, poverty, the depletion of the natural and economic resources of States, the weakness of political institutions, and human rights violations are some of the causes of internal conflicts.
Under the supervision of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), specialized programs and agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP -
www.undp.org), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO -www.unesco.org), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP -
www.unep.org), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR - wwwunhchr.ch), the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR -
www.unog.ch/UNIDIR), and many others are trying to prevent deadly conflicts from proliferating by attacking the roots of these conflicts and not only the acts of violence that are the symptoms.
The UN is taking aim at everything that could be at the source of conflicts. The prevention of conflicts and the promotion of peace therefore take quite varied forms. This UN work has become all the more necessary given that, since World War II, weapons have become ever more deadly. And though there is greater wealth in the world, its distribution is unequal.
This gap between rich and poor is visible everywhere and in all countries, and is increasing, in particular, between "Northern" and "Southern" countries.
The UNDP was created to help solve this problem. Indeed, conflicts grow well in the fertile ground of poverty. The UNDP is mandated to contribute to the elimination of poverty, the social mobilization of women, respect for the environment and the reinforcement of democratic institutions.
The supervision of elections illustrates this quite well. The UNDP is not alone in attempting to accomplish its mission, as thousands of non-government organizations (NGOs) are likewise contributing in one way or another.
Illiteracy also contributes to the birth of new conflicts. Societies whose members have a minimal level of education are less able to understand for whom it is voting or the decisions made by its leaders. Indeed, illiteracy often creates a rift between those in a society who are educated and those over whom, consequently, the educated have power. It can likewise create a gulf between the State and its citizens if the latter can be more easily controlled because they ignore the goings-on of the society. UNESCO is there to promote and give access to education, science, culture and communication. UNESCO is also there to ensure that justice, the law, human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected, irrespective of race, sex, language or religion.
The breakout of modern-day conflicts can also be related to the control of natural resources. Better management of these resources could help avoid the breakout of future conflicts.
Pollution rarely takes into account the borders mapped out by men.
The acid rain in the United States and Canada, the pollution of a chemical factory that flowed down the Danube River through several European countries, and the oil spills that so often occur in the ocean after a ship wreck, these are but a few of many sad examples. The last oil spill in Canada occurred in 1988 off the shores of Newfoundland and involved a tanker named Odyssey. These ecological catastrophes are often due to the inability of countries to adopt common rules for safety and the environment. This inability encourages certain countries to adopt lenient regulations in order to encourage companies to run part or all of their business from these countries.
Nonetheless, the most regular and largest oil spills occur in straits between several countries. This is the context in which the UNEP is working around the world to change mentalities about ecology.
It initiates and organizes multilateral conventions on the environment and thus tries to further the international legal framework for environmental protection. Greater international cooperation will hopefully mean fewer catastrophes and, consequently, fewer potential, environmentally related conflicts.
Respect for human rights is a condition sine qua non for the establishment of peace on earth.
On December 10, 1948, the members of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration establishes basic rights for all human beings.
The role of the UNHCHR is thus to promote respect for human rights.
This organization must demonstrate, through concrete actions, the international community's will and determination to ensure that human rights are respected. Moreover, it tries to have international conventions for human rights signed and ratified. For example, the "Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998. UNHCHR does not only inform us about the necessity to respect human rights.
It also works in the field to provide technical cooperation or help in the training of police or the military. The UN is not the only organization to work for the promotion of human rights. Just to name two of many NGOs, there are IFHR, the International Federation of Human Rights (
www.ifhr.org), and AI, better known as Amnesty International (
www.amnesty.ca).
It goes without saying that the counterpart of all conflicts is the availability of arms, especially firearms. Since the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 8, 1945, nuclear bombs have sadly made gigantic progress, as has the technology of arms in general. In his millennium report, Kofi Annan called on States to work towards the elimination of all nuclear risk. The majority of States spend too much on arms, and for some States, arms represent the main part of their budget, to the detriment of other sectors such as education and agriculture. The UN has a role to play in promoting disarmament, which is essential for peace. The UN's department for disarmament affairs reports on the state of the armament race in the world and establishes disarmament standards and goals in cooperation with other UN organisms. UNIDIR is conducting research into the potential for a safer future and the possibility of organizing seminars and conferences whose goal is to reach disarmament agreements.
The Other UN Organizations That Contribute to Peace
There are other UN organizations that help promote a culture of peace. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund (
www.unicef.org), helps to protect the rights of children. It carries out both preventive initiatives to help promote the education of children in developing countries and protective actions to help children in times of war, when they are often the most vulnerable victims. Indeed, if the future is to be ensured, it is important that children be educated and not be mistreated. Children ensure a country's future. Ensuring that children are not mistreated helps both to develop a country's capacities and to prevent, as much as is possible, the outbreak of future conflicts.
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund (
www.unfpa.org), also helps to promote a culture of peace by developing information programs for women, especially with regard to sex education. It provides women in particular with all the necessary information and resources. This allows them in turn to make fully informed decisions and thereby contribute to a better management of the planet's population. WHO, the World Health Organization (
www.who.int), promotes scientific cooperation in health matters, helps reinforce health systems and assists governments which ask for emergency aid. The provision of care to populations in distress alleviates many ills, whether they be physical or psychological. The WFP, the World Food Programme (
www.wfp.org), promotes better nutrition by using food aid to support economic and social development. It is helped in this by the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (
www.fao.org), which sets up programs to help foster greater agricultural productivity, thereby fighting hunger and poverty around the world. Hunger and poverty are two important factors in the outbreak of conflicts.
All of these UN programs are attempting, with the means that are available to them, to prevent conflicts and have a world that is free of violence. However, it will be some time before we reach this enviable state on our planet. This being true, the UN will have to continue to separate belligerents by intervening through peacekeeping missions.
The United Nations and Peacekeeping
The UN Security Council is the main organization of the United Nations dedicated to the resolution of conflicts and peacekeeping. It is composed of fifteen members, five of whom are permanent, namely China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, and ten of which are elected by the General Assembly every two years.
When the Security Council is confronted with a problem that can represent a threat for international peace and safety, it must first try to resolve the problem peacefully.
In the past, the Security Council has acted as mediator or, in cases of armed conflict, proposed a cease-fire.
The Council can also reinforce its decisions by enacting sanctions. According to the report " 'We the Peoples'...", sanctions are a way for the Council to apply its decisions, constituting a step between a simple condemnation and armed intervention. Sanctions can include an arms embargo, trade and finance restrictions, the ceasing of air and sea contact, or diplomatic isolation.
Furthermore, the council can also opt for measures that call for more people and material.
Peacekeeping missions allow the Security Council to watch over the cease-fire and participate in the creation of conditions for peace.
On a few rare occasions, the Security Council has authorized member States to use all the necessary means to keep the peace, including collective military action.
General Indar Jit Rktye, the former president of the International Peace Academy who has participated in several peacekeeping missions, defines peace keeping as being
"the prevention, limitation, moderation and cessation of hostilities between or within States due to the intervention of a third party, which is organized and directed at the international level and which calls upon military, police and civilian personnel to restore peace."[1]
Up until the end of the Cold War, the UN only intervened in the majority of cases if the conflict involved two or more States. This is known as the principle of non-interference. The principle of State sovereignty was "officially" adhered to more than it is today. The first UN mission began in 1948 in Palestine and is still in place. It was baptised UNTSO, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine. The missions have changed considerably since then. Indeed, UNTSO was only made up of observers mandated to observe whether the truce was obeyed. However, with the insistence of Lester B. Pearson, UNEF I, the fist United Nations Emergency Force, was set up during the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. It was the start of veritable peacekeeping missions supported by military, police and civilian contingents.
The reason comes from the establishment by former colonial powers of State models in countries that had no tradition of this kind. Totally arbitrary borders were laid down, bringing together different ethnic groups, some of which were able to impose their will on others due to their number and education.
We can no longer allow the powers that be of a State to dictate to other minorities. We must establish or impose peace so as to stop belligerents from committing greater massacres. However, this demands a stronger, more interventionist approach in defiance of State sovereignty and the principle of non-interference. To accomplish this, peacekeeping missions must have greater capabilities.
They must be able to rebuild, disarm, supervise elections and ensure that human rights are respected. Intervening is no longer enough. After such missions, democratic institutions that have never existed or that were destroyed must be rebuilt and be capable of ensuring equal rights for all citizens. This is the type of mission that took place in Kosovo and East Timor.
Still, it may be very difficult to establish a durable peace if justice has not first been obtained. There is often no judicial apparatus left in a country coming out of a conflict.
The UN is therefore working to equip itself with the effective institutions needed to fill the institutional void in countries that are rebuilding after a conflict