The Burden of Disarmament: UN Peacekeeping Operations & Illicit Weapons

I leave this paper open ended with a question that will perhaps apply time and time again to come: “When would it begin to make sense to states that not only is human security on the line, rather state security as well? The two simply go hand in hand”. In an age of intensifying interconnectedness, to address one issue is to address another and vice versa; “multilateralism” that minds and attends to all the variables related to an issue is an approach that applies to humanitarian action as well. While the UN-PoA attempts to recognize this link, it barely raises a convincing strategy: We the states are - “Concerned also by the implications that poverty and underdevelopment may have for the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects” (UN/A/Conf.192/15) Unfortunately we remain at the mercy of time in pursuit of an answer to the question raised above… all the mean while peacekeeping operations are threatened, arms proliferated, and the future of the both the developed and developing worlds is jeopardized.

X. Appendix

•a lack of political will to negotiate an instrument that meets states’ different interests and concerns;

•a lack of capacity on the part of some states to implement such an instrument; and

•a concern that some of the major exporting states will not constructively participate in negotiations on an ATT. 

Fig B - Some examples of recent Peacekeeping missions and outstanding Issues:

Note: Not only do peacekeeping operations come at a high material cost, but they too come at a high humanitarian cost. The examples above demonstrate how even when deployed under an international set of standards, unprofessional soldiers, usually from developing countries, engage in inhumane behavior, which in turn lays the grounds for further instability. On a further note, even collaboration between numerous organization is a difficult issue (such as the case of former Yugoslavia) - NATO, the EU and the UN carried out operations without a clear system of the chain of command or structural order.

Fig. C – The Costs of Peacekeeping14:

Fig D- Some examples on UN Peacekeeping Fatalities and operational costs>[15]:

Note: 18 current peace operations directed and supported by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations yield a 2008-2009 total cost of 7,057,751,600 USD16. Now when taking into consideration the fact that: “to ensure improvements in fundamental human needs by 2015 approximately $75 billion (7. 5 Billion USD per year) will be required over the next decade to achieve these eight Millennium Development Goals”17. It becomes apparent that while the world is overwhelmed with raising money to meet annual MDG goals, the United Nations already spends what is required per year to meet the MDGs on UN Peacekeeping Missions. Let aside the philosophical debate in this regard, one must admit that SALW and eventually conflict itself poses a serious threat to overall human security. Although total costs may appear to be alarming, it is important to remember that the annual operating budget for the 18 peacekeeping-related missions is roughly equivalent to one month of operations, U.S. operations, in Iraq—about $5 billion18

XI. Work Cited

Amnesty International . “Blood at the Crossroads:Making the case for a global Arms Trade Treaty” - ACT 30/017/2008 - http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT30/017/2008/en/b7fe1dda-83e0-11dd-8e5e-43ea85d15a69/act300172008en.html

Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress. “The Arms Trade Treaty: A Nobel Peace Laureates Initiative” P.6 2008 - http://www.armstradetreaty.org/att/why.we.need.an.att.pdf

Amnesty International. “Guns or Growth? Assessing the impact of arms sales on sustainable development” June 2004 P.4 – http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT30/011/2004/en/9183aede-d5c6-11dd-bb24-1fb85fe8fa05/act300112004en.pdf

Arms Without Borders. “Why a globalised trade needs global controls”. Control Arms Campaign. P.4 Oct 2006. http://www.controlarms.org/en/documents%20and%20files/reports/english-reports/arms-without-borders

Amnesty International. “Compilation of Global Principles for Arms Transfers”. Arms Trade Treaty Steering Committee. P.4 2007. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/POL34/003/2007/en/9b02b99b-d3ae-11dd-a329-2f46302a8cc6/pol340032007en.pdf

Buchanan Cate.“Peace agreements, DDR and weapons control: Challenges and opportunities”. IANSA Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue P.2/2006 - http://www.iansa.org/un/documents/Peace-agreements-DDR-weapons-control.pdf

Control Arms Briefing Note. “UN arms embargoes: an overview of the last ten years”. March 2006. http://www.controlarms.org/en/documents%20and%20files/reports/english-reports/un-arms-embargoes-an-overview-of-the-last-ten

Faltas Sami, Glenn McDonald, Camilla Waszink. “Removing Small Arms from Society- A Review of Weapons Collection and Destruction Programmes”. Small Arms Survey .8 / July 2001 - http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/o_papers_pdf/2001-op02-weapons_collection.pdf

GenevaDeclaration, Small Arms Survey. “The Global Burden of Armed Violence”. Geneva: Geneva Declaration Secretariat. P.III 2008 http://www.genevadeclaration.org/pdfs/Global-Burden-of-Armed-Violence.pdf

Garcia Denise. “Small Arms and Security – New Emerging International Norms”. 2006.

Hubert Don, S. Neil MacFarlane. “The Landmine Ban: A Case Study in Humanitarian Advocacy”. P. X/2000

ICRC. “Arms transfer decisions: Applying international humanitarian law criteria — A practical guide”. Annex 3.P.20 May 2007 http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/p0916/$File/ICRC_002_0916.PDF

Mitsuro Donowaki. “The UN and the Small Arms Crisis: Preparing to Meet the Challenge”. Issue No. 49, August 2000. http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd49/49unarms.htm

Parker, Sarah. “Implications of States’ Views on an Arms Trade Treaty”. United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research P.2/January 2008

Parker, Sarah. “Analysis of States’ Views on an Arms Trade Treaty.” P.3 Oct 2007

Prins, Daniël “Engineering Progress : A Diplomat’s Perspective on Multilateral Disarmament”. United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). P.110/2006

Richard Gowan. “The Strategic Context: Peacekeeping in Crisis”. 458/2006. http://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/0722peacekeepingcrisis.pdf

Small Arms Survey, Mike Bourne, Malcolm Chalmers, Tim Heath, Nick Hooper , Mandy Turner, Department of Peace Studies. “The impact of arms transfers on poverty and development, September 2004“ P.10

Small Arms Survey website. “Practical Disarmament”. http://smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/spotlight/disarmament/disarm.html

Small Arms Survey 2003. “Making the Difference? Weapons Collection and Small Arms Availability in the Republic of Congo”P.8 - http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/year_b_pdf/2003/2003SASCh8_summary_en.pdf

Small Arms Survey, Mike Bourne, Malcolm Chalmers, Tim Heath, Nick Hooper, Mandy Turner, Department of Peace Studies. “ The impact of arms transfers on poverty and development, September 2004” P.8 - http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/issueareas/victims/Victims_pdf/2004_CICS.pdf

Saferworld. “Making it work: Monitoring and verifying implementation of an Arms Trade Treaty”. P.3/May 2008. http://www.saferworld.org.uk/images/pubdocs/Making%20it%20work%204th%20prf%20%282%29.pdf

Tamara Duffey. “Cultural issues in contemporary peacekeeping”. Centre for Conflict Resolution, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford. P.142/ 2000 - http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/547177_731202505_784176095.pdf

UN A/CONF.192/15. “Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects”.

UNDP. “Human Development Report 1994”, UNDP. http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/peaceday/facts.asp

UNDPKO website. United Nations Peacekeeping. “Home”. http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/

UN General Assembly.“Towards an Arms Trade Treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms”. UN General Assembly A/63/334, August 26 (2008).

UNNC. UN News Centre. “Ban Ki-moon details plans for restructuring UN peacekeeping, disarmament work”. February 2007 – http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21601&Cr=restructuring&Cr1

UNOCHA . UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “Cote D Ivoire: UN sends peacekeepers, but disarmament on hold”. February 2004 - http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2004/02/mil-040229-irin01.htm

UNOSSAA. United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa. “Disarmament, Demobilization,Reintegration (DDR) and Stabilityin Africa” P.7 2006 http://www.un.org/africa/osaa/reports/DDR%20Sierra%20Leone%20March%202006.pdf

UN Security Council. S/2008/258. 17 April. P.6/2008. http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/SALW/Docs/SGReportonSmallArms2008.pdf

UN Security Council S/2000/101. “The Role of United Nations Peacekeeping in Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration”– http://reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/PANA-7DLGMV/$file/sc_feb2000.pdf?openelement

USGAO. United States Government Accountability Office. “United Nations Peacekeeping Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate” P.4/ December 2008. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09142.pdf 

XII. Footnotes

1.) NATO, African Union, etc.

2.) Available from UN Information Centre and UNA

3.) Max Boot. Paving the Road to Hell: The Failure of UN Peacekeeping. Foreign Affairs. March/April 2000. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55875/max-boot/paving-the-road-to-hell-the-failure-of-u-n-peacekeeping

4.)Committee on Conscience. Burundi Current Situation. United States Memorial Museum. Spring 2008. http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/burundi/contents/02-current/

5.) Nile Gardiner, Ph.D.The U.N. Peacekeeping Scandal in the Congo: How Congress Should Respond. The Heritage Foundation. March 22, 2005. http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/hl868.cfm

6.) BBC News. UN probes 'abuse' in Ivory Coast. 23 July 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6909664.stm

7.) United States Department of State Travel Warning. December 15, 2008. http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_915.html

8.)The Haiti Support Group. Haiti News. March 3 2009. http://haitisupport.gn.apc.org/fea_news_index.html

9.) BBC News. UN probes 'abuse' in Ivory Coast. 23 July 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6909664.stm

10.) IBID

11.) Max Boot. Paving the Road to Hell: The Failure of UN Peacekeeping. Foreign Affairs. March/April 2000. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55875/max-boot/paving-the-road-to-hell-the-failure-of-u-n-peacekeeping

12.) David Smock. On the Issues: Somalia. United Sates Institute of Peace. January 9, 2007. http://www.usip.org/on_the_issues/somalia.html

13.) CNN.com. U.N.: 100,000 more dead in Darfur than reported. April 22, 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/22/darfur.holmes/index.html.

14.) The Heritage Foundation - http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/images/Chart2-lg.gif

15.) United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. “Background note: 31 May 2009”. http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/bnote.htm

16.) United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. “Background note: 31 May 2009”. http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/bnote.htm

17.) Mercycorps. “Millennium Campaign”. October 4, 2005 - http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/809/

18.) Council on Foreign Relations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno. “Key Challenges in Today’s UN Peacekeeping Operations” [ Rush Transcript; Federal News Service, Inc.] 2006. http://www.cfr.org/publication/10766/key_challenges_in_todays_un_peacekeeping_operations